Alina Ali Rawji is passionate about the intersection of design and business, using creativity to solve problems and shift perspectives. With a Master’s in Management in Retailing (Bensadoun School of Retail Management, McGill University) and a BBA in Strategic Design and Management (Parsons School of Design), she explores how nature-inspired principles like biomimicry and circular thinking can drive sustainable innovation.
The Retail Council of Quebec presents the 2nd edition of the Next Gen Retail Perspective, a series of 4 articles, each written by a student from McGill University’s Bensadoun School of Retail Management (BSRM).
This series offers an opportunity to explore the ideas and perspectives of young professionals who are shaping the retail world of tomorrow. Discover Alina Rawji’s perspective!
Alina Ali Rawji is passionate about the intersection of design and business, using creativity to solve problems and shift perspectives. With a Master’s in Management in Retailing (Bensadoun School of Retail Management, McGill University) and a BBA in Strategic Design and Management (Parsons School of Design), she explores how nature-inspired principles like biomimicry and circular thinking can drive sustainable innovation.
With a foundation in design thinking, trend forecasting, product development, and marketing strategy, she brings a global, interdisciplinary approach. Her cross-industry experience, from fashion and home décor to business consulting, fuels her drive to help businesses and retailers become more responsible, resilient, and future-focused, while staying dynamic and pushing creative boundaries.
In today’s business landscape, “Sustainability” has often become a buzzword, but is it merely a trend or has it evolved into a fundamental business expectation? Perhaps the answer lies in embracing the age-old wisdom of the natural world, where efficiency and sustainability are not aspirational goals but inherent design principles.
Throughout history, nature has served as humanity’s most profound source of inspiration, a concept known as biomimicry. Consider the curve of an airplane wing, echoing the effortless flight of birds, the grip of Velcro, mirroring the burdock plant’s ingenious hooks, or the optimized efficiency of wind turbine blades, sculpted after the hydrodynamic fins of whales. We are already looking up to ants and bees to learn about efficient organizational structures and collaborative work. So, what other secrets might the forest floor, coral reef, or other desert ecosystems hold for revolutionizing sustainable business practices?
Nature operates within a closed-loop system: a continuous cycle of regeneration, renewal, and interconnectedness. Nothing is wasted. In stark contrast, our business systems often remain stubbornly linear: we take, make, and dispose. This fundamental disconnect begs a critical question: Why aren’t our businesses as circular as the world we operate in?
The cost of ignoring nature’s blueprint is increasingly clear. In Canada, climate change is already disrupting retail cycles: warmer, unpredictable winters have pushed brands like Sports Experts, Kanuk, and Maguire to rethink seasonal strategies, shifting toward lighter, multi-season products. For example, for Canada Goose, unusually warm temperatures in 2024 delayed the start of the parka buying season. These shifts highlight a growing business risk, one that linear models struggle to absorb. In contrast, circular systems offer adaptability, waste reduction, and operational resilience needed to thrive in an increasingly unpredictable climate.
Sustainability is often seen as a costly challenge, from compliance pressures to the investment needed in sourcing, product development, and operations. However, by drawing on nature’s design principles, businesses can reframe it as a strategic opportunity. While it may not immediately lower costs, sustainability can create long-term value by enhancing resilience, opening new markets, and helping retailers ease into regulatory transition.
Retail businesses, like living organisms, exist within complex, adaptive systems that are dynamic, evolving, and can deeply affect nature. Just as we adjust our habits to stay healthy, retailers must evolve with changing markets, technologies, and new environmental realities. In my opinion, “Sustainability” should be so deeply woven into how you operate that it’s simply who you are, supporting resilience, credibility, and long-term growth without needing to advertise it.
The traditional retail model has long championed “sell more, make more.” Sustainability challenges this mindset by promoting “better, not more.” Can these seemingly opposing forces find harmony?
Sustainability isn’t just about how products are made; it’s also about how brands interact with customers. Retailers can shift their focus by offering value-added services that deepen loyalty and extend engagement beyond the initial sale.
For example, reimagine the “pick-up in-store” experience by offering curated add-ons or personalized consultations. Fashion and apparel brands could host creative sewing workshops using leftover fabric. Similarly, beauty brands could offer personalized skin analyses, while furniture retailers might provide virtual design advice or even co-design sessions.
Many brands focus on the moment of purchase but forget that loyalty is earned after the sale. By developing new service offerings, Quebec retailers can engage with their customers in meaningful ways, promote sustainable practices, and differentiate themselves through memorable brand experiences.
In nature, every resource is reused or repurposed to sustain the system. Retailers can apply the same principle by adopting circular models that extend product lifecycles and offer alternatives to “purchasing”.
Furniture, fashion, and outdoor equipment brands, for example, can set up rental, leasing or buyback programs and offer repair services. Outdoor retailer La Cordée, for example, offers bike and ski maintenance services, helping customers extend the life of their gear.
Circular strategies like repair memberships, product buybacks, or offering certified refurbished collections not only reduce waste but also open new revenue streams, strengthen customer loyalty, and prepare businesses for a future where extended producer responsibility will become the norm. Sustainability doesn’t mean sacrificing growth; it means we need to rethink our business models as of right now.
Nature designs for regeneration and longevity. Businesses can mimic this in product development.
Biodegradable packaging mirrors nature’s cycle, breaking down like plant matter to enrich the earth and support new growth. Épicerie LOCO successfully operates with zero packaging, setting an example for grocery stores that still rely on packaging. Inspired by their commitment, such stores could adopt biodegradable plant-based wraps, inspired by corn husks, that naturally decompose or dissolve in water.
Modular products: built to be easily repaired, upgraded, or disassembled for reuse, extending their lifespan and reducing waste. Cozey’s modular sofas exemplify this by featuring interchangeable and expandable sections, allowing customers to assemble, reconfigure, add new pieces as their needs evolve, or replace only a damaged section rather than having to replace the entire unit.
If sustainability is a genuine value, it should be integrated into every stage of product design, not as an afterthought.
In nature, every element has another use. Every output serves another purpose, no excess, no landfill, just a perfectly efficient cycle. This is the essence of circularity in business: every material and action feeds the next, allowing the system to thrive.
Closed-Loop Systems: This can be enabled by new technologies or through collaborative partnerships that mirror nature’s mutualistic relationships. Companies from different sectors can exchange by-products to mutually help each other and maximize their growth.
For example, coffee roasters could supply their used coffee grounds to cosmetic brands for scrubs, to farms for compost, or partners making natural dyes, fertilizers, or cleaning products. Such collaborations reduce waste, build local supply chains, and open new sources of revenue, all while mimicking the closed-loop logic of thriving ecosystems.
Crème Boulangerie Pâtisserie embodies this mindset. Founded by a baker and a pastry chef with a shared vision to reduce food waste, they repurpose spent grain from a nearby brewery in their baked goods and work with local farmers to use surplus produce.
Take-back programs invite customers to return used products for recycling, repair, or refurbishment, extending product life and reducing waste.
Reusable or refillable packaging models also help reduce waste and lower emissions across the supply chain.
If nature can be circular, so can businesses and retailers. Circularity shouldn’t be extraordinary; it should be the norm.
Promoting one-time, superficial fixes like single “green” product lines or switching to eco-friendly packaging, without addressing deeper systemic issues, risks falling into greenwashing. These gestures may signal progress, but on their own, they’re not enough to drive real change. Sustainability should be a journey, not a checkbox. Starting small is valid, but brands must build on those efforts with long-term commitment, transparency, and action across their operations.
Nature has always been our greatest teacher. Its circular rhythm of renewal and regeneration can inspire us to design businesses that thrive without waste. Without harming our planet.
Sustainability doesn’t have to be daunting or expensive if approached thoughtfully. But ignoring it or relying on superficial fixes can be far more costly in the long run. Climate change is already triggering disruptions in the retail sector in Quebec. At the same time, new regulations like Quebec’s Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) law are tightening compliance timelines. Businesses that delay adaptation risk steep fines and will rush operational changes under pressure.
The adoption of sustainable practices in retail may not single-handedly save the planet, but it can significantly reduce our environmental footprint and support the regeneration of ecosystems we depend on. And while sustainability alone may not guarantee a business’s prosperity, making it a core value can strengthen your ability to adapt, innovate, and meet the environmental challenges of tomorrow with resilience and purpose.
After all, the most successful species aren’t the strongest; they’re the ones that adapt. So, take a cue from nature: evolve, regenerate, and grow.
