Entries tagged with ‘brands’
Merrell, the world renown shoe manufacturer, has recently launched a major overhaul of their brand but kept their fantastic tag line – GET OUTSIDE!
I especially like that instead of flooding consumers with facts, technical jargon and fancy unpronounceable marketing slogans, this one is basically what it’s all about – getting outdoors to enjoy the best nature has to offer. Merrell believes in encouraging and equipping everyone to get outside. It doesn’t need to be complicated to get outside. It has to be easy and being outdoors, is wherever you find it. Whether encompassing the wonder of the natural world or the heart of an urban landscape, it’s the journey that spurs them on, serving as the inspiration for everything they do.
While talking with my longtime friend at Merrell in Europe, Adiba Sadik (Marketing Manager Europe) introduced me to the new Merrell Bio-Blend™. Adiba said that Merrell has “committed ourselves to increasing the amount of sustainable, organic fabrics that are produced without unnecessary chemicals, processes and waste”. Their “Merrell Bio-Blend” fabrics are selected not only because they are comfortable, durable and great looking, but because they help reduce the impact on the global environment. I can’t tell you how happy I am to hear that.
Merrell began in the Green Mountains of Vermont, USA some 26 years ago and now spans the world. Originally, they produced quality performance footwear for outdoor enthusiasts but as their needs have changed, so too has Merrell’s approach to addressing those needs. Over time, the concept of “outdoor” has broadened to include all types of activities and environments – both natural and urban. I can honestly say Merrell is one company that has done a great job of bridging the gap between the two environments. They have recognized that the urban jungle is in fact an environment all its own and deserving of its own appreciation, support and equipment.
Whether it’s a natural or an urban landscape that serves as your playground –the next time you’re in the market for some new gear – be sure to test try some of the new products made with Merrell Bio-Blend. Just by the simple act of choosing to buy products that are sustainable and produced without unnecessary chemicals, processes and waste – you do your part to help the environment.
Posted by: andrew |
Tags: brands
I first met Erik Burbank of Mion Footwear™ (Co-Founder and Director Sales & Marketing) at my first tradeshow and right around the same time that I started putting together Laneo. Mion had just begun selling their first line of outdoor active footwear and what struck me most at the time was the simplicity of their whole brand, their product – a sports sandal that was actually floating in a see-through aquarium, and their ultra-simplistic booth, that really stood out from the rest of the crowd. (There are some pretty elaborate booths at sports tradeshows. Some of are more like hotel lobbies and first class lounges at airports, which for me, is pretty peculiar).
Anyway, I clearly remember that I had hardly gotten close to their booth and this big guy (Erik is about 1m95 or 6’4) comes bounding out and practically squashes my hand with a vigorous bone-shattering handshake! We very quickly understood the obvious connection there was between our two aspiring initiatives but what startled me at the time, and even today, is that “environmentally friendly” means so much more at Mion than at majority of the companies that I have been in touch with.
You basically can’t finish a sentence when talking to Erik without him commenting on what measurable aspect of manufacturing process they’re working on to improve or what new compound they’ve just discovered. Even today, as I passed by their booth, Erik shouted to me from the other side of their demo area. It seems that they just got some sort of scientific recognition on a hyper sophisticated glue that is going to make it possible for their sandal to “naturally disintegrate” if buried in soil (that’s another one of his passionate subjects). And if that’s not impressive enough, Mion created the industry’s first “EcoMetrics” label to help them make better choices and to give us (consumers) visibility into the impact of ours.
Aside form the environmental aspect of these products, Mion’s products are truly unique and don’t look like anything else on the market. They are the result of Martin Keen’s (Co-Founder and Director of R&D) desire to create innovative performance footwear that represents his two primary passions: the ocean and his sculptures. Martin invents with a combination of imagination and pragmatism. The fruit of these passions is footwear that looks completely unique and performs like nothing else you’ve ever worn.
While their job is to make shoes, Erik say’s, Mion’s mission is to help the industry evolve toward better environmental practices. “We all know that making performance shoes is not a “green” process. But we don’t have to accept that.” He’s right of course. Every choice we make as consumers and athletes has an effect on the environment. If we wish to make a difference, all we have to do is make educated purchase decisions.
As for Mion, they’ve committed to not only reduce their footprint but to move towards products that are actually good for the environment. Their aggressive goal should inspire all of us to test what’s possible.
Posted by: andrew |
Tags: brands, shows
I think a lot of people (probably more so in Europe) have forgotten about a great USA brand that is once again pushing the headlines – GoLite. This company, based in beautiful Boulder (Colorado) has some very aggressive objectives in its “GoLite on the Planet” campaign that I recommend you visit on their website. What caught my eye amongst other things was their goal to be carbon neutral by 2010 – which is pretty impressive for a company that size!
While I was talking with Mark Flannagan (European General Manager), who has a remarkable talent for story telling, he kept repeating their deep down engagements for minimizing their footprint and it felt really good to hear all the examples he had. What really came across was that each employee was personally engaged to do his or her part to change course.
GoLite also subscribes to the concept of the “triple bottom line” where a company is judged not only by its financial results but by its impact on its community and the environment.
Some of things that I came away with from our conversation:
1) they encourage a lifestyle shift to a “less is more” approach
2) they use all non-solvent, water-based fabric membranes in their apparel
3) they do not use PVCs in their apparel line
4) products are packaged using soy-based inks and recycled paper and materials.
At the show they had a number of eco-friendly products but we specifically looked at the DriMove Performance layers, made from 100% recycled polyester waffle knit and Cocona panels. Cocona is made from discarded coconut shells whose meat and juice have been sourced for produce. Activated carbon from the shells is bonded to polyester, creating a fabric that has superior moisture management, absorbs odors without chemicals and blocks harmful UV rays from the sun.
I think GoLite is far more than a collection of products. It has a mindset, a mission, and an ideal that influences every design, concept and idea. I like its philosophy to do much more with much less and about being unburdened by the superfluous, over-engineered, or obsolete.
Now if only we could only convince more companies to start working with this mindset…
Posted by: andrew |
Tags: brands, shows
While some manufacturers strive to “invent” new materials to develop products with, others “find” them by turning to Mother Nature. After all, she has been producing substances with remarkable qualities a lot longer than any of us have been around.
Lundhags, a 75 year-old Swedish company that originally specialized in outdoor shoes and boots (and which has recently broadened it’s product line to textiles, backpacks and sleeping bags amongst other things) has just introduced me to a wonderful new product – Bamboo shirts.
What I first liked about this product, besides the obvious eco-factor, was that the shirts don’t look and feel like “all the other stuff”. When you try them on, they feel like nothing you’ve ever touched before. Lundhags is also declining Bamboo in other products in their line-up and Sven Sixtensson (Marketing & Communications Director) told me that they’ve even been able to use this plant byproduct to some extent in sleeping bags, backpacks and drybags.
After coming to the Outdoor Sports show 3 years in a row now – I can tell you – it’s not easy to differentiate apparel products between manufacturers. There is an overwhelming supply of options – but very little distinction between any of them.
Beyond the usage of eco-materials, which I personally push for, I think it’s imperative that companies pay more attention to the distinctiveness of their products, especially in the sustainable market. Lundhags, which has a heritage some brands would pay a fortune for, has done a really good job of keeping to its authentic style while pursing their company mission.
The lesson to be learned here?
If a company located in a country covered in snow for a great part of the year is able to find success with an eco material grown in the tropics located half a world away – imagine the possibilities that lie out there!
Posted by: andrew |
Tags: brands, shows
It often happens that you find some super new product only when you ask the right people. Here I was at the Lundhags booth talking with Sven Sixtensson (their Marketing & Communications Director) and telling them about our great partners in eco-accessories (Magic Potion & Wet Women Surf Wax) when he say’s; “What about Nikwax?”
Well I never heard of this company so off I went to find their booth in search of a product while it is often overlooked, would have the most incredible impact on the planet if we all used it.
You see Nikwax makes cleaning and waterproofing products for clothes and shoes. You know, the stuff you spray on your outdoor gear once in a while to keep them water impermeable.
Well Instead of the chemical based junk they sell you down at the local hardware store, Nikwax is all water based and contains no propellant gases, no toxins and no fluorocarbons.
Now if I understood correctly, according to Katie Callis (Marketing & Communications Director), Nikwax products can renew your gear and reduce the impact on the earth’s resources. Plus, without going into scientific detail, this stuff is very concentrated so you don’t have to use a lot of it and Nikwax treatments can withstand several washings, whereas competing products must be re-applied after each wash.
Plus they have other neat stuff like a cleaning solution that restores synthetics original values, which as we have all experienced at some point in outdoor life, become sticky and stinky. I was also blown away by a “map spray” that once dries, you can write on it but it will never get wet again – no more worrying about pulling out that map when it’s raining.
Nikwax is exactly the type of product we all need to pay more attention to about because of the negative repetitious factor of using standard chemical based goods to maintain our equipment. It’s not a sexy or cool product, and you can’t “see” anything so there’s no social factor – but it is one small thing we can all do to make a BIG difference.
Posted by: andrew |
Tags: brands, shows
Twice a year for the past 3 years at Tradeshows such as this, I meet for an hour with Hervé Chabert, Patagonia’s European General Manager. We even manage to run into each other at different eco-events around Europe as he does quite a lot of speaking at conferences on Planet and Climate related issues.
When I first dreamt up Laneo a few years ago, the very first brand I thought about was Patagonia. When you create something, you need some form of perspective. A starting point essentially, and ultimately a direction. To put it visually, Laneo was setting out to sea and Patagonia was the only “lighthouse” we could see at the time.
On Patagonia’s website resides the following statement for all to read:
“Everything we do pollutes or taxes the Earth in some way. It’s a sad and inescapable fact. But there are things we can do as individuals and businesses to lighten our impact on the environment, such as buying and throwing away less, reusing products whenever possible, and recycling everything we can.”
“We realize that our efforts are far from perfect, but we’re trying and making headway. We currently use the following e-fibers – environmentally friendlier fibers – in a number of our products. They include recycled and recyclable polyester, organic cotton, hemp, organic wool and chlorine-free wool.”
To me, that’s pretty darn good and I think they’ve proved themselves over and over to be leaders, not followers in environmental protection.
Today Hervé and I talked about eco-certification processes and the manufacturing chain. As always, our discussion was rich and enlightening. Eventually our talk turned to Patagonia’s recycling program called, “Common Threads Garment Recycling” a program where you turn in your old Capilene based clothing and Patagonia makes new clothing out of it.
Of course, there have been other customer oriented recycling programs around the world in the past, but most have died off. With the recent rise in ecological awareness, there are some new ones sprouting up today, but because of lacking customer support many of them are facing a very hard uphill battle.
This is where Laneo is positioning itself to play a major role. I want us to help these companies run their recycling programs (amongst other things) by providing them with access to a broad based interactive community, eco-intelligent logistics and customer feedback initiatives.
Way too much of what is made these days ends up in the trash and one of Laneo’s many goals is to change that. Just as Patagonia was the lighthouse that guided Laneo’s quest out to sea. Laneo hopes to one day be the lighthouse that guides outdoor sport manufacturers in their quest for material reclamation initiatives.
Posted by: andrew |
Tags: brands, shows
Every once in a while I meet someone who really sweeps me off me feet. Well today I met Yoki Gill, Founder & President of Source Vagabond. I have been in touch with other executives at his company over the past 2 year’s, (notably Eran Alony who’s also a really great guy) and each time I sit down with them in their tradeshow booth, I feel like I’m home. They even serve you natural herbal tea and home made organic cookies from Israel!
Source Vagabond makes an array of outdoor sandals and portable drinking systems. But what is really inspiring is that these people “live their values” and don’t just use them as marketing schemes. Their whole story sounds like something you’d find in a dusty old book shop in some far off imaginative world. It is that rare.
Business? While I was there waiting for my meeting, I witnessed, unobserved, a Sales Rep seriously writing down a distributors negative feedback comments on a new product and exchanging with him, his own personal improvement ideas! Remember, most of the time, Rep’s only listen to their “own” words and “nothing” is ever wrong with their products.
People? Well, you can tell when the person in front of you really is what they say they are. Everyone at Source Vagabond looks like they’ve just returned from a 2 week trek across Patagonia – there’s no faking it here.
Back to Yoki Gill, our conversation was based essentially on words like harmony, respect, and education. Harmony, because he has been successful at maintaining a very balanced lifestyle (it shows) at his workplace. He even has some nice stories about the effect it has had on his own employee’s families. Respect, because as he told me, “you never possess that value, you have to earn it everyday”. Education, because doing something on your own is not enough to make a durable difference (for example, preserving the Planet). Is is only when you teach and exchange that the “good” lasts. What’s unique about Source Vagabong is that these are not “clever words” on a company brochure. These are the words and truths the people of Source Vagabond live by.
I won’t dwell on the products because they speak for themselves but there is one object I saw for the first time at this show. Yoki has developed and launched an absolutely fabulous new item that will be for sale soon and that I really hope Laneo can help spread around the world. The object is for collecting and transporting plastic bottles you find tossed away in nature. Alone, it is a very simple loop that you attach to your belt or knapsack and it has a stunningly easy method to grab on to plastic water bottles. It’s surprisingly cool and an incredible statement of who you are as an individual. What’s even more moving is the story behind it, what it is made of and who makes it. This encounter was one of my favorites at the show because they live and breath the same values as we do at Laneo. To find out the details take a minute and their website to read more > Source Vagabond.
Posted by: andrew |
Tags: brands, shows
Marmot is another brand at the Outdoor Show that really started taking action in the eco-friendly trend. They just recently launched a major company wide initiative called “People / Product / Planet™” which not only beautifully encompasses the mainstays of a responsible strategy but also infuses the whole concept throughout their product line.
I met with Marc Wachter (Director Marketing & PR for Europe) and he was ecstatic about this new program and equally enthusiastic when describing the new products illustrative of this new direction. In the course of its new marketing campaign, Marmot’s team has designed a new range of products that include frequent use of environmentally friendly materials and recycled products. They call this “Marmot Upcycle™”, which I think is a pretty nifty name and it includes the usage of raw materials derived from renewable resources such as organic cotton, soy, bamboo and hemp.
The product Marc and I talked a lot about (see picture) was the EcoPro sleeping bag series, 80% of which is made of “Upcycle” insulating material and 100% recycled polyester. The rest of the eco line-up is long, so I won’t go into detail (you can check out their website for more information) but it includes many different sportswear articles (over 45), backpacks and tents.
Because both Marc and I enjoy stories, he told me how Marmot was founded in April 1971. According to the story, University of California Santa Cruz students Eric Reynolds and Dave Huntley were in Alaska on the Juneau Icefields on a school project in Glaciology. It was here on the glacier, amongst these students, that the idea of a Marmot club began. To become a Marmot, you had to climb a glaciated peak with another Marmot. One of the rules of the club was that everyone was president. Most of the other rules dealt with the collegiate fascination with bodily functions.
That summer and through the semesters until 1973, Eric and Dave made prototypes of down products in their dorm room in Santa Cruz. Their first products were a down vest, a sweater and a parka and, later, three down sleeping bags. The warmest bag, the PIKA (now known as the CWM) was rated at -45 degrees F and retailed for $168 at the time. Eric did a winter ascent of the Grand Teton in Wyoming with Tom Boyce of Grand Junction, Colorado in 1973. Eric and Dave joined Tom in Colorado that next Spring. There, the threesome rented a 100 year old stone building near downtown that used to be a grocery store, and opened a rental and retail shop under the name of Marmot Mountain Works. They taught cross-country skiing in the winter to get by. Thus, in the spring of 1974, Marmot the company was born.
Colorful stories such as these are not common. It reminds us that there are real people with authentic values and a true love of the outdoors behind companies that sell outdoor gear. I for one was happy to see that a company which started out as a “club” and grew to sell it’s products worldwide; has taken the time to reorient itself along the same lines that brought it together in the first place.
Posted by: andrew |
Tags: brands, shows
Osprey just brought out a line of recycled backpacks (called the “Resource Series”) and I really liked their catchy advertising campaign that stood out at the show (see photo). Gareth Martins (Director of Marketing) explained that customers were the one’s that really pressed Osprey for the product.
Osprey Packs was founded in Santa Cruz, California in 1974 and at that time the company was making custom backpacks on a customer-to-customer basis. The story behind the Resource Series Backpacks goes back 2 years when the company challenged itself internally to build a backpack almost entirely of recycled materials. What resulted was a long quest to source environmentally sustainable fabrics, put in place specific quality control systems for these new materials and redesign traditional pieces in order to optimize the usage of recycled base products. Today Osprey produces a 70% recycled product composed of a great deal of items that are individually 100% recycled – such as the PET plastic main body fabric, mesh pockets and binding tape.
Being open about the origin of the fabric that produced this backpack is also pretty new to the consumer world. “Rubbish” is often related to something dirty, stinky and repulsive but here, Osprey makes it sound friendly and cool. This brings me to the importance that manufacturers need to place on marketing these new products. The “social influence” factor is key to bringing environmentally friendly products into the mainstream. This point is especially important in terms of spreading the word. After all, the more people see an object being used, the more they see how easy it is to bring eco-purchases into their daily lives.
A lot of people I talk to in the industry tend to think that “sustainability” is boring. That’s a big mistake. Producing sustainable products is not at all contradictory to growth. It’s just a question of time. Volume (units of sales) will eventually bring down the cost of raw materials, and with continued increase in demand, we’ll start to see more and more environmentally friendly products out on the shelves of our local sports stores.
Posted by: andrew |
Tags: brands, shows
As I was walking around the Trade Show on my way to meetings today, I passed in front of a booth that had an unusually simple statement which caught my eye. It said “Nothing is more natural than wool”. Why hadn’t anyone proposed that solution before? Or should I say, why did we abandon that solution? Everyone my age remembers putting on that long woolen underwear in the winter and wishing you just didn’t have to go outside in the first place…, because the darn things itched so much. And yes, woolen bike jerseys weren’t so fun to have on when you sweated or got caught in the rain. But, times have changed and wool-processing techniques have progressed and today, well, the stuff feels fabulous.
So while I was talking with Hannah Lee (European Marketing Manager) of Icebreaker, a New Zealand based, base wear and outdoor wear manufacturer, it became quickly apparent that there was something else besides Hobbits and Orcs that came from the land that produced us The Lord of the Rings.
She underlined their simple philosophy by saying, “it’s about our relationship to nature, and to each other. And it’s about new ideas and doing things differently; being an authentic natural choice in an age of synthetics, and seeing how far we can develop this simple idea”.
Each year Icebreaker procures the best Merino wool in the world, directly from the best growers in the world, high up in the very pure Southern Alps of New Zealand. From there, the hand-picked pure Merino goes in search of the best technology, ethical manufacturing, and environmentally sound practices before it completes its transformation into a hand-made garment. Sure you’ve heard a lot about what happens during the transformation process and yes there is room for improvement, but wool is sustainable and it makes up 90% of the whole process.
I personally think it’s great that wool is making a “come back”. It makes me happy to know that rural farming communities in New Zealand are once again flourishing and that their skills are once again being recognized worldwide. G’day mate !
Posted by: andrew |
Tags: brands, shows
As I was coming into the show this morning, I took a different entrance gate and landed right in front of a giant poster depicting the steps needed to transform a plastic bottle into a knapsack. Then I heard a, unmistakably warm American greeting and turned around to find a very large smile, and deep blue eyes behind glasses waiting for my answer.
Greg Thomsen, President of Mountainsmith, (the maker of travel storage, backpacks, urban and camera accessories since 1979) took me through the whole technical process with passion and determination. It sounded almost as if he wrote the book on industrial recycling, at least in the sports industry.
Did you know that Mountainsmith’s Tour and Day Lumbar Pack is made of between 13 and 16 plastic bottles? Pretty cool huh? Even more interesting was the candid explanations on why the pack is “not technically 100% recycled” because the zipper is not made of recycled materials. But of course my host had a perfectly logical explanation for that and showed me with a paper and pen, how “he” was in the process of producing a recycled zipper and when it was going to be on the market.
What Greg also pointed out was that some aspects of his lineup “can” be made with recycled material and others just plain shouldn’t. We can get a bit carried away with the “recycle everything” craze. I mean what is the real future usage of the article I’m about to buy? So many of us buy equipment and materials designed to survive far more than we will ever venture to use them for. After all, most of us aren’t really going to climb to the top of Everest, or sleep out in the pouring tropical rain while on a 2 month solitary trek. So if we don’t really need the expert version, why not choose the recycled or recyclable solution?
In the end, Greg pointed out that he would be much better off if only he knew in advance what people really needed and wanted. He said it would make a big difference in the manufacturing and distribution chain because the result would mean less waste and a more optimized distribution network. “Eco footprint is not only about recycling” said Greg, “it’s about integrating consumption right into the product, which would really make a big impact on the Planet”. Well guess what Greg …, that’s exactly what Laneo is here to help you with.
Stay tuned for more adventures with Greg.
Posted by: andrew |
Tags: brands, shows
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