Imagine a future where winters stayed cold and snow fell endlessly. Where climate change was a crisis we talked about in the past tense. Picture an era where high environmental standards aren’t just an occasional practice, they are a way of life and a mode of doing business. This is a vision shared by many of the brands we carry at evo, companies with stringent and passionate sustainability principles. But we wanted to take a closer look at four companies in particular, brands where sustainability is as much a part of the company’s origins and ethos as outfitting people for their next adventure. So, we called up those in the know at Picture Organic, Burton, Patagonia, and Icebreaker, and asked: What is your vision for the future and what is your company doing to get us there? Here’s what they said.

Picture Organic

In 2008, childhood friends Jeremy Rochette, Julien Durant, and Vincent Andre, who grew up skateboarding and snowboarding together in their hometown of Clermont-Ferrand, France, decided to launch a clothing company focused on environmental and social responsibility. Nevermind that they knew next to nothing about how to design and manufacture products. They could learn that. The trio called their brand Picture Organic, and from the beginning, they used entirely organic, recycled, or responsibly-sourced materials—their goal has always been to create new, technical fabrics from plant-based sources to reduce the reliance on petroleum-built materials.

This is the company that brought us boardshorts from recycled plastic bottles, ski helmets made from corn-based polymer and a liner from discarded automobile dashboards, and a neoprene-free wetsuit. They did this all from a solar-powered French design headquarter and factories run on renewable energy. They’ve switched to bio-sourced and compostable polybags in their packaging and they ship products via the least impactful modes of transportation possible.

Nowadays, Picture Organic is tackling even bigger world goals. “The first few years, it was mostly about products, sourcing organic, bio-sourced, recycled, reused materials, and knowing every step and impact of the product life cycle,” says Florian Palluel, sustainability and transparency manager at Picture Organic Clothing. “Lately, it’s all about a global company commitment: wiping out a reliance on fossil fuels. We believe that moving away from fossil fuels is one of the most effective ways to fight climate change.”

That goal goes company wide, from every step of the process. “Making products with recycled polyester and recycled down these days is not enough,” says Palluel. “It is a drop in the ocean. What’s the point if that product was manufactured in a facility run by electricity from coal, packaged with a polybag that ends in the ocean, and finally, the finished products reaches stores by plane?”

Burton

Since Jake Burton started making snowboards in his barn in Vermont in 1977, Burton has always been ahead of the curve. “Disruption and leading innovation on the mountain has always been part of our DNA,” Burton’s co-CEO Donna Carpenter has said. They were the company that first urged ski resorts to allow snowboarders, that started making polyester baselayers from recycled plastics in the 2000s, and is now committed to making snowboards with wood cores from responsibly-harvested wood.

“As a company dedicated to snowboarding and the mountain lifestyle, we recognize that it’s imperative to protect the outdoor places around the world where we play,” says Jenn Swain, global senior sustainability manager for Burton. “Over the life of the company we’ve done this and recently, we’ve doubled down on our efforts.”

Burton officially launched their global sustainability department in 2012, and they’ve ramped up their environmental efforts significantly since then. They’ve pushed their factories to run on renewable energy, partnered with the non-profit organization Protect Our Winters on a co-lab outerwear kit, and over 90 percent of Burton outerwear is now bluesign® approved, the highest environmental standards for textile production. The company’s goal are big and ambitious: By the end of 2020, they plan to use Durable Water Repellents that are entirely free of perfluorinated chemicals, have all packaging be recyclable or compostable, reduce carbon emissions by 20 percent and divert 75 percent of their waste at their U.S. headquarters, and make their marquee snowboarding contest, the Burton U.S. Open zero waste (the event has been carbon neutral since 2017).

It’s not just Burton’s products that are made with environmental footprints in mind, the entire company culture is about promoting community and inclusivity and reducing impact on the planet. At their Burlington, Vermont, headquarters, where some 400 employees work, solar arrays and other renewable energy power the building, there’s an organic garden out back, cruiser bikes on loan, electric vehicle charging stations, and lunchtime seminars on subjects like winter bike commuting and waste reduction. This year, the company introduced a new policy that enables all employees to take two days each year of paid leave for community service, whether that’s a river cleanup or lobbying for a political cause.
It's important to us that we're leveraging our brand influence to make change that's bigger than ourselves. We're facing a global climate crisis and if, as a global community, we don't take action immediately, we're not going to have the same mountain lifestyle. That is a big part of the Burton culture and a huge issue that we're going to be continuing to extend our reach on.
Jenn Swain
Burton Global Senior Sustainability Manager

Patagonia

Patagonia’s very mission statement, which they rewrote in 2018 to be even more direct, is simple and to the point: “We’re in business to save our home planet.” What started as a climbing gear company founded by Yvon Chouinard in the 1970s has grown into arguably the most powerful and influential outdoor brand in the industry. Patagonia puts all of their weight into environmental causes.

They were the first company to start making fleece from recycled plastic bottles in 1993. Now, 69 percent of their fabrics come from recycled materials. No longer are fabrics from old soda bottles second-tier—some of the most technical, waterproof, breathable jackets they make comes from materials that were once thrown away. Their entire line of Black Hole duffel bags, for example, is made from recycled goods. “We know the world doesn’t really more clothes,” says Helena Barbour, Patagonia’s vice president of global sportswear. “But if we can make clothes with recycled materials that lasts a lifetime and is equal in quality to what we make with virgin materials, we can contribute to solving the waste problem.”

Working at Patagonia means working for the planet. Since 1993, Patagonia employees have been allotted six weeks of paid leave each year to volunteer for environmental causes. Staffers clean up beaches, plant trees, and work on regenerative farms.

The brand has never been afraid to speak out about major issues impacting the planet. Patagonia filed a lawsuit against the Trump Administration after the President announced plans to shrink three National Monuments, the brand has endorsed candidates running for senate who are champions of public lands, and they recently took out full-page ads in major newspapers urging tech companies to prioritize social responsibility over sales.

Patagonia made headlines for putting out an ad on Black Friday in 2011 that boldly stated: “Don’t Buy This Jacket.” It was a powerful message about over-consumerism and the amount of waste produced in the clothing industry. It also hammered home how durable and long-lasting Patagonia’s gear truly is. The brand has donated at least 1 percent of sales to grassroots organizations working to protect public lands, wildlife, and biodiversity, which has translated into over $100 million in grants since 1985. Sometimes, it’s way more than 1 percent: On Black Friday in 2016, Patagonia gave away 100 percent of sales from that day—some $10 million—to local organizations working to promote positive change.

In 2017, Patagonia again made headlines for pulling out of the largest outdoor industry gear trade show, the Outdoor Retailer show, which had been held in Salt Lake City, Utah, since 1996, after Utah Governor Gary Herbert signed on to shrink public lands like Bears Ears National Monument. The message was loud and clear: Don’t protect public lands and we won’t spend money in your state. Other companies followed suit and the trade show moved to Denver, Colorado, the following year.

The future goals of the company are just as ruthless as its history. Patagonia will use 100 percent renewable energy at all stores, distribution centers, and offices by late 2020 and the plan is to make the entire company and its supply chain carbon neutral—possibly even carbon positive, removing more carbon from the atmosphere than they emit—by 2025.

Icebreaker

When Icebreaker founder Jeremy Moon first tried on a merino wool shirt handed to him by a farmer in New Zealand, it wasn’t at all what he expected. “It felt soft and silky and incredibly comfortable—nothing like the itchy, heavy wool I wore as a kid,” Moon has written. “It was knitted from superfine merino wool shorn off the backs of the merino sheep at Pohenui Island.” It was the early ’90s and Moon, then 24 years old, had just finished a five-day sea kayaking trip wearing polyester fabrics, which, he says, felt sweaty and started to smell badly two days in. “I was shocked to find out that all synthetic outdoor fabrics—such as polyester and polypropylene—are made from plastic. It seemed crazy to escape into nature wearing a plastic bag,” he wrote. Wool, he figured was the solution.

In 1995, Moon launched Icebreaker, the merino wool outdoor clothing company, and by the end of that year, his products were sold in 14 shops across New Zealand, and within a few years, globally. Sustainability was an integral part of the company’s origins: Using natural products like wool meant they didn’t have to use plastic-based fabrics, thus creating less waste and using less energy to manufacture. Animal welfare has been critical since day one as well. Icebreaker was among the first companies to ban the mulesing of sheep, a potentially harmful practice used by many wool producers.

They’ve also explored other natural fibers beyond wool, including organic cottons and blends made with Tencel, a plant-based fabric that comes from dissolved eucalyptus wood pulp, which helps regulate temperatures and wick sweat, much like wool. If polyester fabrics are used in Icebreaker products (which is less than 5 percent of their line), they use a majority of materials created from recycled post-consumer plastics. They’ve also eliminated water repellent coatings with perfluorinated chemicals.

Future priorities at Icebreaker include making all of the company’s packaging centered on the circular economy by the end of 2020, meaning only using materials that can be decomposed, recycled, or reused. Already, they are using vegetable-based inks and water-based glues in all their packaging, and recycled, degradable plastic bags for their protective polybags. By 2022, Icebreaker plans to implement a return and recycle product program, so you can send your unwanted Icebreaker wear back to them for reprocessing.