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Jeff Kaplan is a man driven by his passions. That’s why the native Houstonian quit his job two years ago as a commercial retail real estate broker to start his own business. It’s called New Living and Kaplan and a small group of employees are determined to make sure the company lives up to its name. Thegoal is to inspire customers to start a new way of life by making responsible, healthy, eco-friendly decisions when selecting everyday essentials. In other words, Kaplan wants New Living to be the general store for Houstonians who are seeking a greener way of life.
Kaplan felt an authentic neighborhood hardware store would be the best place to see the birth of New Living. In November of 2007, that idea took him to Houston’s legendary Wagner Hardware on Kirby Drive. The owner, Nancy Wagner Abernathy, who was planning to soon close the family business, allowed New Living to start selling its eco-friendly paints and household cleaners on one aisle. A year later, New Living took over the entire store.
“We’re trying to make green living accessible,” says Jennifer Touchet, co-owner of New Living, “and you don’t have to compromise style, we cater to design as well.” Inside the New Living showroom, builders can find countertops made from 100% recycled glass and concrete, and environmentally sound wood and Bamboo flooring. And for folks like you and me, who want to create a safer environment in the homes we already have, there are soybean candles, organic cotton blankets and mattresses, and of course, non-toxic household cleaners. And the labels on those cleaners proudly state, Made by Houstonians. “We wanted to do something to maximize local labor,” says Kaplan, “Part of the green movement is using local resources.”
It was the spring of 2008 when New Living decided to hire a crew to make its general cleaner and laundry detergent. Jeff Kaplan didn’t hang a “now hiring” sign on the store window. Instead he contacted the Jewish Family Service Alexander Institute. The Alexander Institute offers social services to people with special needs in Houston’s Jewish community. It was then that a new partnership was born.
Now twice a month New Living brings the necessary supplies to the employment workroom at Jewish Family Service and something special happens. With a little supervision, six special needs clients mix up an age-old recipe of soap flakes, washing soda, borax and baking soda and create New Living Laundry Detergent. With similar ingredients, plus water and lavender essential oil, they make the company’s non-toxic cleaning spray. “We want to provide a meaningful opportunity to people. I think we’re meeting that need,” says Marni Litvack, project director for the Alexander Institute. Not only is New Living giving back to the community, “our clients feel they are giving back in a meaningful way,” says Litvack.
Jeff Kaplan could not agree more. “Everyone has something they can offer the world,” he says. “New Living is a business and we need to make a profit. But instead of measuring our success solely on how much money we make, we want to measure success on the social, economic and environmental impact we have,” adds Kaplan.
New Living hopes to be a model for other companies. Kaplan believes that social change starts from the ground up, or in this case, from one aisle in a hardware store. That dream that started on Kirby Drive is really much bigger than the space it now takes up within its four eco-friendly walls. “If we can change Houston, we can change the rest of the country, because whatever works here can work in other American cities,” says Kaplan. Kaplan paints a much greener future for our city (with non-toxic paint of course). It’s a city that leads the nation in green living. Visit them online at: www.newliving.net
