Max Kunz, Graphic Designer on the Visual Merchandising team at Nordstrom, doesn’t have the kind of role most people think about when they hear the word “sustainability.” As a matter of fact, sustainability isn’t anywhere in Max’s job description.
But it’s become central to how he approaches every project.
As a designer who sits at the exact intersection where creative vision meets material reality, Max has made it his mission to make sure the right questions get asked before anything goes to print.
Because in visual merchandising, every campaign ends up somewhere. And for most of retail, that somewhere is a landfill.
That tension — between the short life of a retail campaign and the long afterlife of the materials it’s made from — is what drives Max’s work. And it’s a tension that every retailer, visual merchandiser, and print partner in the industry is navigating right now, whether they’re talking about it or not.
We sat down with Max to talk about what sustainability actually looks like inside a major retail organization: The trade-offs, the wins, the cultural shifts, and the process changes that make the biggest difference.
What came through wasn’t a checklist. It was a mindset.
The Campaign Ends. The Material Doesn’t.
Every sustainability advocate has an origin story. For Max, it was a large-scale order pickup campaign that required plastic floor mats across more than 100 store locations.
Back when buy-online-pick-up-in-store was still a new concept, a major retailer wanted to create a “breadcrumb” experience — guiding customers from the entrance all the way to the pickup station. The solution involved floor clings, column wraps, and sign holders at every touchpoint. And every single one of them was plastic.
“Every touch point was plastic … it was just all landfilled. I felt so bad at the end of the day about it, because I knew that it had maybe a six month, and hopefully a year long — that’s the best we could hope for — lifespan.”
When the campaign ended, all of that material went to the landfill. Across more than 100 stores, the volume was staggering. And at the time, even the vendors didn’t have better options to offer.
“When that was over, it would just go into a landfill and it would live there forever… I realized, I don’t ever want to do that again.”
That project became the lens through which every future material decision was evaluated.
The Material Tradeoffs That Actually Matter
One of the most practical things Max shared is how specific the sustainability conversation needs to be at the material level. It’s not enough to say, “We want to be more sustainable.” You have to know which substrates are recyclable, which aren’t, and what the real alternatives are.
At Nordstrom, silver metallics are a recurring request. It’s part of the brand’s heritage — the iconic silver box, the silver bag. Creative teams love the elevated, luxurious feel. But the reality of metallic substrates is less glamorous: Once you put metallic on paper, that paper can no longer be recycled.
The approach Max takes is strategic. For high-volume signage — the small signs a store might produce a million of — keeping metallics off is critical. That’s where the landfill impact is the largest. For a single large-format statement piece that exists in limited quantities, there’s more room to compromise.
“For example, if it’s a 7 by 5½” sign, we might make a million of them. Let’s choose to keep that out of the landfill. Let’s keep the metallics off of it. A pure paper product that can be reused, that can be recycled.”
Max also described the ongoing hunt for alternatives to rigid plastics like Sintra. Can it be replaced with a rigid paper product that has the same dimensionality, the same thickness, the same professional look — but can actually be recycled at the end of a campaign? These are the questions Max is constantly asking vendors, including SuperGraphics.
And Max is transparent about where the gaps still are. Clear vinyl clings — widely used for window graphics — still lack a recyclable alternative that works nationally. But rather than treating that as a reason to give up, Max frames it as a challenge worth solving.
The honesty in that approach is what makes it effective. Max doesn’t pretend sustainability is simple. But he wants to prove it’s possible — one substrate at a time.
The Designer as the Sustainability Advocate
What makes Max’s role so compelling is that graphic designers in visual merchandising aren’t typically seen as sustainability decision-makers. But Max has carved out that space by being the person who understands both what’s technically feasible and what’s environmentally responsible.
As Max describes it, the VM team occupies a unique position in the chain. They’re the last step before creative strategy actually hits the stores and ends up in customers’ hands. The teams higher up the chain are working with “pie in the sky ideas.” Max’s team is the one that has to make it real — and make it responsible.
“That’s always my point — we can make this decision. We don’t have to do this. We’re the people who make these decisions. So let’s think about what our impact is.”
That kind of influence is quiet but powerful. It means sustainability doesn’t have to come from the top down as a corporate mandate. It can grow from the middle out — from the people who actually touch the work every day and understand what’s possible.
“Fortunately, I’m in a position where I do get to think about this stuff, and I do get to have an influence. We’re the ones making those decisions.”
Sustainability in VM doesn’t need a title. It needs a person willing to have the conversation.
Building Buy-In Without a Mandate
One of the most encouraging parts of our conversation was hearing Max describe how sustainability culture is shifting inside the organization — not because it’s been mandated, but because it’s been demonstrated.
Max shared a specific story from a recent holiday campaign. The creative team wanted to use a metallic finish on large 40-inch heart-shaped hanging department signs. The signs were made of Falcon board — a pure paper product that’s fully recyclable. But adding the metallic coating would have made them unrecyclable.
Max raised the concern. And the team listened.
“They heard my concerns and they took it back and they were like, yeah, let’s not — it’s not worth it. We agree with all of it.”
What’s powerful about that moment is that it didn’t require a policy change. It required a conversation. And Max has found that when you frame the trade-off clearly, people almost always make the right call.
“It’s nice to just remind people every now and again to say like, all right, but there is a cost. And it’s not just financial.”
That insight matters for anyone trying to advance sustainability in their organization. You don’t always need a policy. Sometimes you just need a clear picture of what’s at stake.
Max also described how feedback loops between campaigns help reinforce the shift. Store teams contact Max’s team directly with feedback — they’re the connection between headquarters and the floor. That feedback gets translated back up the chain, ensuring that lessons about sustainability don’t get shelved when a campaign wraps.
The Process Changes That Unlock Everything
When we asked Max what he’d change about the VM process if sustainability were the main goal, the first answer was immediate: time.
“Lead times in designing — I think that would help with your ability to choose the right materials, to source the right materials … there’s a tendency in our culture to just want everything tomorrow or today.”
When campaign timelines are compressed, sustainability gets squeezed out — not because people don’t care, but because the process doesn’t leave space for it. Rush orders mean defaulting to whatever’s available. And what’s available isn’t always what’s responsible. Max described how compressed timelines create waste across the board — wasted money, wasted materials, and a bigger carbon footprint from expedited shipping.
Beyond lead times, Max proposed something that could benefit any retail organization: making a clear commitment to eliminate certain materials entirely.
“If you say that we’re not going to use Sintra — then it takes some ideas off the table, but it doesn’t mean that there’s no solutions out there.”
That’s a powerful reframe. Setting sustainability parameters doesn’t limit creativity — it focuses it. And Max has confidence in the creative teams to rise to the challenge.
“Everybody I work with is really creative. They’re smart, and they’re talented. So I don’t think that the solutions don’t exist. I think they do exist, but we just kind of go with what we know already instead of really rethinking about what is possible.”
Why Vendor Partnerships Are The Multiplier
One thing that came through clearly is that sustainability in visual merchandising isn’t a solo effort. The relationship between retailer and print vendor is one of the most powerful levers for change.
Max described actively pushing vendors to develop products that don’t exist yet — telling them directly that if they can provide a sustainable solution, they’ll earn the business.
“I’m in the market for this. If you guys can find this, if you guys can start developing this product, you’re going to make a huge difference and you’re going to be our client. You’re going to be the ones I call every time.”
Max also emphasized the importance of not letting the sustainability conversation end when a project wraps — a trap that’s easy to fall into in campaign-driven retail.
“It’s easy to say, “Oh, the project’s done, let’s move on.” But, let’s carry some of these conversations forward. If we use you guys again, let’s pick that conversation up the next project that we have.”
And when asked if sustainable materials simply don’t exist for certain applications, Max’s response was clear: that’s not a reason to stop looking. Supply and demand works — and the industry has the power to drive it.
“I know something might not be on the shelf now, but maybe through supply and demand in two years, it’ll have been developed. So, I like to remind our teams here and our vendors that we work with — I’m still looking for this.”
That’s the real takeaway: Sustainability isn’t just a set of material choices. It’s a relationship. And the strongest progress happens when retailers and vendors push each other forward.
A Takeaway For Every Retailer Thinking About Sustainability In Print
Max Kunz’s perspective is a reminder that sustainability in visual merchandising doesn’t require a complete overhaul overnight. It requires intention. It requires knowledge. And it requires people willing to ask uncomfortable questions before a project goes to print.
It starts with materials — knowing what’s recyclable, what isn’t, and what the alternatives are.
It grows through culture — when teams understand the impact of their choices, they choose differently.
It scales through process — when lead times, guidelines, and planning make sustainability the default, not the exception.
And it accelerates through partnership — when retailers and vendors work together to demand and develop better options.
Every retail campaign ends up somewhere. The question is whether we’re thinking about that destination before we hit print — or only after the dumpster is full.
We’ll leave you with Max’s own closing words:
“Don’t just accept what’s available. Always push the envelope, always try to find something. If it doesn’t exist, then let’s see if we can make it exist. There’s so many possibilities out there.”
Max is proof that one person, in the right role, asking the right questions, can shift an entire organization’s relationship with sustainability.
Every Campaign Ends Up Somewhere. Let's Make Sure It's Not a Landfill.
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The Imagine Shop by SuperGraphics helps national retailers bring big creative to life on sustainable substrates, with the speed, precision, and white-glove service to back it up.
