the environment: every gesture counts
Less is more
This mantra has guided us since day one, like a thread through which we write Avril's story in conscience.
We believe that every company has a role to play in the ecological transition: to act, to inspire, to share solutions.
Our actions seek to respond, on our own scale, to the major challenges of our time: global warming, the collapse of biodiversity, the overstepping of planetary limits.
The challenges are immense, our actions modest, but we're taking them step by step with envy.
For us, taking action means relentlessly questioning our practices and moving optimistically towards two priorities: reducing our waste and our CO₂ emissions.
Behind every decision, the same course: the long term rather than immediate gain. The planet before profit.
Profitability allows us to move forward, but what drives us is to act simply, concretely and with passion.
Supporting those who act
Avril is a member of the 1% for the Planet collective: since 2023, we have been donating 1% of our annual sales to associations working for the living world.
In 2025, more than €384,000 went to support the actions of two associations:
Terres de Liens , which buys farmland to enable farmers to set up there and cultivate organically. These are living farms that respect the soil and biodiversity, recreating the link between the land and the people.
The Fonds pour l'Arbre, which helps farmers replant hedges and trees in the French countryside to protect soil, shelter biodiversity and breathe new life into landscapes.
The Collectif les pieds dans le plat , which promotes healthy, 100% home-cooked, organic and local food.
We're delighted to be able to help those who contribute to preserving the environment!
Taking the train
Today, 56% of our supplies travel by train.A real logistical challenge, but a great step forward in reducing our emissions.
And when trucks are still necessary, we choose those running on natural gas: up to 80% less CO₂ emissions.
For shorter journeys, we do better: our stores in Lille are supplied by bike via Les Coursiers de Flandres. And for longer journeys, we exclude air travel: shipments to French overseas departments and territories and outside Europe are sent by boat.
Beyond transporting our goods, we also try to reduce the impact of our travel: our company cars are electric, we pay €0.20 per kilometer to our colleagues who come to work by bike, and all our business trips are by train. We take the train and we take our time.
Every journey counts when it takes the right direction.
Our little (and big) steps
Every gesture counts
At head office and in our stores, we run on green electricity (Enercoop) and our offices are designed to be energy-efficient (triple glazing, timers). We let our vegetation live its own life, without unnecessary mowing, and most of our computers are reconditioned. As for our cash flow, it's growing in the right direction: it's invested with La Nef, a cooperative bank that finances only ecological projects.
Stores alive by day, switched off by night
Our boutiques are designed by local architects with a simple mandate: preserve what already exists. Reuse, reinvent and remake only when necessary. More ecological, more economical, each boutique keeps its history. And when evening comes, the lights go out. No window displays lit up all night just to look pretty.
Sober, responsible packaging
With us, no ribbons or sequins, just the essentials. Your orders are prepared with care, but without superfluity: shipped in second-hand cartons and cushioning. No printed logos. No flyers or paper. No samples.
Raw, anonymous parcels that tell a powerful story: the story of a conscious choice.
We chose the environment over marketing. Because every package counts, we chose to reuse rather than print, to simplify rather than overpack.
What keeps us busy
Testing, adjusting, making mistakes, progressing
At Avril, we like to follow our intuition... but we also like to verify it. Our choices are guided by logic but confirmed by facts.That's why we've embarked on a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) process: to measure the real impact of our products, from their creation to their end-of-life.
Our ambition: to display the carbon footprint of each product, so that everyone can make a conscious choice.
Eco-design sometimes holds surprises
For over a year, we've been looking for solutions to enable us to offer our products in glass containers, convinced that this would be more virtuous. The result of all this research? The transport and weight of glass add to our carbon footprint.In the end, when all the factors are weighed up, our plastic tube, optimized and recyclable, remains the best option today. This frustrates us and annoys us too, but above all it stimulates us and pushes us to find other ways of thinking.
Another example is our in-store liquid shower gel refills. We were proud to offer this solution to our customers, who were eagerly awaiting one. Unfortunately, it wasn't as successful as we'd hoped, and the strict hygiene rules for bulk containers were too stringent, which led us to stop offering bulk products... only to relaunch the refill concept, this time in the form of a powder to be diluted in water at home, to reconstitute shower gel. But also shampoo, toothpaste, micellar water and facial cleansing gel!
We're constantly testing, adjusting and advancing until we find the right solution.
Every purchase means 1% of the price is donated to the planet.