our Story

Bambeco was founded in 2009 by Susan Aplin and Carolyn Wapnick; it was inspired by a trip to Alaska where they saw extreme glacial recession and other impacts of climate change up close. That’s when Aplin set off on a personal quest to understand her impact on the planet, which led to several carbon reduction changes in her life.

After making household, energy usage, and commuting changes, Aplin wanted to extend her environmental values to eco-conscious home décor & furnishing purchases and discovered that fashionable, environmentally responsible home products were not available in the marketplace.

After conducting extensive market research and confirming that she was not alone (more than 59% of Americans wanted to purchase eco-responsible home products), she quickly set out to solve the market problem with a simple goal: consumers should not have to sacrifice style, price, or quality to go green.

To realize this mission, bambeco CEO Susan Aplin implemented core philosophies that continue to shape the business:

• We believe incremental steps add up to a big impact.
• We give more than 1% of each sale to organizations working to improve the environment.
• We only work with partners who share our environmental and human dignity values.

Our Giving

During its first year in business, bambeco partnered with the World Wildlife Fund. Since then, bambeco has formed additional key environmental partnerships and alliances including Chesapeake Bay Foundation. Aplin’s passion and love for the outdoors and our waters propels her desire to work to protect it, and is the driving force behind the company’s environmental mission focused on supporting organizations and initiatives that address climate change, water conservation, the Clean Water Act, and land preservation.

Bambeco donates time, services and more than 1% of its sales to environmental causes. The company gives each employee five hours of paid time off each month to volunteer for environmental causes.

Awards and Recognition

• In 2012, Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley recognized Aplin and bambeco in his State of the State address for the great work she and the company have done in Maryland.
• SmartCEO recognizes Aplin with top CEO Award for her leadership and philanthropy
• Internet Retailer names bambeco to the HOT 100 sites in the US
• Baltimore Business Journal names bambeco top Green Retail Company in Baltimore