Patagonia
How Superficial Interpretations of Sustainable Business Metrics Can Be Totally Off-Base: Part 13
7 years ago - In 12 earlier parts of this series, Claire Sommer and I developed 22 pitfalls in the sustainable business metrics field, based on the experiences of many mostly non-business fields. (Find them here.)
Patagonia Invests in Natural Textile Treatments
7 years ago - Patagonia today announced a strategic investment in a chemical company focused on making high-performance textile treatments based on natural raw materials.Beyond Surface Technologies, a Swiss firm, was founded in 2008 by scientists and marketing experts with more than 40 years of experience in the textile industry. They left careers at big chemical companies to build a business based on the premise that it is possible to make textile treatments based on natural raw materials — without sacrificing performance or reducing the lifespan of a product.
Documentary Looks at Innovations, Sustainable Practices in Fashion That Could Become 'The Next Black'
8 years ago - The Next Black, a documentary that explores how out-of-the-box thinking and more conscious design are shaping the future of our clothes, had its first screening in Brooklyn earlier this week. The event kicked off a weeklong exhibit at the BF+DA about the growing intimacy between technology and fashion.
REI, adidas, Timberland and More Commit to Sourcing Down Responsibly
8 years ago - Six more global brands have committed to the Textile Exchange’s Responsible Down Standard (RDS). The adidas Group, Black Diamond, Kathmandu, NAU, REI and Timberland have agreed to bring certified, responsible down to the marketplace.
New Global Traceable Down Standard Addresses Animal Welfare, Supply Chain Traceability from Farm to Factory
8 years ago - In 2013, after years of efforts to develop the highest standard for animal welfare in the industry, outdoor goods retailer and manufacturer Patagonia published its 100% Traceable Down Standard to provide a roadmap for other brands to meet the same high bar and prevent needless animal suffering. Patagonia says it is the only company to date to have fully implemented this rigorous standard, which it achieved in 2014.
How England Took Its First Rugby World Cup: A Lesson in Marketing Sustainability
8 years ago - On a balmy Sydney night in November 2003, a squad of 31 English rugby players fulfilled their dreams. They won England's first rugby World Cup, led by a brilliant coach, ex IT-leasing company founder, Clive Woodward. Their journey under his leadership can teach us a lot about where we've gone wrong marketing sustainability.
Cause vs. Purpose: What's the Difference?
8 years ago - Statistics and surveys make it clear that people want brands to do good in this world. According to the latest Cone/Echo Global Study, 93 percent of today’s shoppers would buy a product associated with a cause, and 65 percent have already purchased a cause-related product in the past 12 months.Accordingly, marketers and the ad agencies that serve them are viewing "cause" as a massive opportunity to sell us more stuff. After all, many of us, myself included, find ourselves regularly paying just a bit more for brands that support our favorite charities. (Shopper marketers call this behavior "cause-to-close.")
IKEA, Mars, Novelis, Unilever Among 233 Companies Expressing Support for EPA's Clean Power Plan
8 years ago - Marking the end of the comment period on the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan, 223 companies have announced their support for EPA’s proposed carbon standard for electric power plants, including IKEA, Mars Inc., VF Corporation, Novelis, Levi Strauss, Unilever and Nestlé.
New Patagonia Video Highlights Painful Truth Behind Conventional Down
8 years ago - Call it the veal-calf concern of this decade: The down in many winter coats and other apparel is obtained through oppressive animal-welfare practices, and Patagonia has taken the lead in trying to right that wrong with the introduction of its Traceable Down Standard — and an explanatory video to boot.
New Patagonia Collection Returning 'Truth to Materials'
8 years ago - Patagonia has launched Truth to Materials — a capsule collection for Fall/Winter featuring seven styles of jackets, sweaters and scarves made from raw, reclaimed or alternatively sourced materials. The company says the collection represents “radical new methods of manufacturing” — it features fabrics such as undyed cashmere, and reclaimed cotton, wool and down.
Fair Trade USA Kicks Off Fair Trade Month with Expanded Product Categories
8 years ago - Alongside Fair Trade Month, Fair Trade USA has announced the launch of several new Fair Trade Certified™ products across new categories, including home goods, apparel and coconut.In 2014, the third-party certifier of Fair Trade products in North America partnered with 109 new companies (for a total of 915), and helped launch 455 new Fair Trade Certified products into the North American market. The growth and increased availability of Fair Trade products empowers shoppers to choose items that make a positive difference — from ensuring that factory workers have safe working conditions, to helping farmers and workers improve their communities and environment.
How Understanding Your Products' Social Footprints Helps Create Business Value
8 years ago - Recent significant advances in both sustainability assessment and societal awareness have resulted in businesses placing growing importance on full product value chain transparency. This relates to the need to investigate social impacts throughout products’ values chains and make them visible. Understanding and addressing social impacts has become an increasingly important value driver for frontrunner companies in the sustainability arena.
Patagonia Sharing Proprietary Biorubber to Advance Sustainable Surf Industry
8 years ago - In 2012, Patagonia announced that, after four years of research with partner Yulex Corporation, it had developed a sustainable, plant-based replacement for neoprene — the petroleum-based material used to make wetsuits, which has a highly toxic manufacturing process. Now, not only is Patagonia moving toward making a suit entirely from its proprietary biorubber, it is making the material available to the rest of the surf industry.
Life-Size Living™: How to Find Meaning Within Our Means Once More
8 years ago - The time when we were happily seduced into reaching far, far beyond our means with a promise of infinite everything and the glittering lure of a‘larger-than-life’ life, seems, to some of us at least, quite archaic now.But even in our socially enlightened, austerity-shredded, community-conscious, light-speed-connected present, we still struggle to get to grips with a smarter, lighter, less financially and materially burdensome style of life.We’re all still living ‘larger-than-life’ lives. We seem to struggle to find meaning in the things that exist comfortably within our means.
Regenerating Trust, Connection, Engagement Key Keynote Themes on #SB14sd Day 4
8 years ago - Annie Longsworth of Saatchi & Saatchi S served as MC for our last day at SB’14. Reminding cause-marketers that we do things when we want to and need to and not when we’re told to, Longsworth eloquently introduced a series of plenaries with themes of authentic stories and focused purpose.
Fashion and Textile Leaders for Forest Conservation Begin Shift to Forest-Free Viscose
8 years ago - The newest trend in social responsibility in the apparel sector emerged in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam on Monday as several of the world’s most influential clothing brands gathered to develop a roadmap to creating a more sustainable supply chain and conserve endangered forests.
Patagonia, GoLite Are 'Best for the Environment,' B Lab says
8 years ago - Patagonia, GoLite, Seventh Generation, New Belgium Brewing Company and 80 other global companies have been named “Best for the Environment” by the nonprofit B Lab.The ‘B Corp Best for the Environment’ list honors businesses that earned an environmental impact score in the top 10 percent of all Certified B Corporations on the B Impact Assessment, a rigorous and comprehensive assessment of a company's impact on its workers, community and the environment. Honorees were recognized among micro, small and mid-sized businesses.
Patagonia Invests in Waterless, Energy-Efficient Textile Processing Company
8 years ago - Patagonia has announced a strategic investment in CO2Nexus, a company that has developed a sustainable method of processing (cleaning, disinfecting and coating) textiles and garments using liquid carbon dioxide — which uses zero water, consumes less energy and generates very little waste.Patagonia made the investment through its $20 Million & Change fund, launched in 2013 to help innovative, like-minded startup companies bring about solutions to the environmental crisis through business. The investment caps a Series A round of investment for CO2Nexus, Patagonia says.
With Timbuk2’s 'Life Cycle,' Customers Can Reuse, Repair, Recycle and Reimagine Its Products
8 years ago - San Francisco-based Timbuk2, famous for its ubiquitous messenger bags, has launched the Timbuk2 Life Cycle — a robust environmental responsibility program to reduce, reuse, repair, recycle, and reimagine Timbuk2 bags — in partnership with yerdle, iFixit, and Terracycle.The company has also added a full-time tailor to implement the ‘repair’ aspect of the program.
Gazzara to Future Sustainability Leaders: Embrace Failure, Avoid 'Analysis Paralysis'
8 years ago - Arizona State University’s School of Sustainability recently launched the Executive Master’s for Sustainability Leadership (EMSL), a 13-month program designed for mid-career professionals currently employed in or near sustainability roles. The program features a hybrid curriculum of virtual learning and immersive, in-person experiences at ASU and abroad.