Recently I took a snowboarding trip to Utah and needed to do a little pre-trip shopping. For someone with such an interest in outdoor gear I’m not one of those people with a garage full of goodies. The most sustainable piece of outdoor gear is the one you DON’T buy. But the couple pair I had were so stretched out from years of use that it was finally time to bite the bullet. So I went to REI and picked up a pair of Farm to Feet socks.
The sustainability story at Farm to Feet is overwhelmingly focused on Made in the United States. Sustainability is such a fluid concept with very few absolutes about which strategy is better than another in the inevitable give-and-take world of business, and I think this company brings up some interesting topics.

• For instance, the wool in their socks is made from American sheep. The good part is that the greenhouse gases from transportation for their raw materials from farm to manufacturing is low, and it supports American farmers. But they don’t address animal welfare, in particular the act of mulesing (Info on Responsible Wool). This may be more than you ever wanted to know about sheep butts, but this painful practice involves cutting away the skin around their anus so the hair doesn’t collect feces and attract flies that cause disease. It is a practice that has alternatives that are starting to become more common, but it is not addressed by either the manufacturer or the American Wool Council they refer to on the website.
• 100% U.S. Nylon and Spandex: Again, I think it’s great that they are sourcing locally, but what is the nylon and spandex made from? The positive is less greenhouse gases from American production and resulting American jobs, but it’s most likely made from traditional sources of petroleum.
• Paperboard and inks used in packaging are made in the USA as well, but the content itself isn’t addressed. If it’s virgin wood pulp from old growth forests with toxic inks, then that isn’t really helping too much.
• They also don’t address the dyeing process, one which is inevitably filled with a variety of toxic chemicals that can pollute the waterways around the factories and subject employees to off-gassing from working around the chemicals everyday.

So as for Farm to Feet the jury is still out for me. I think producing in the USA is a great goal and is very admirable to employ our fellow Americans. Sourcing local materials also cuts down on greenhouse gas production and keeps domestic jobs at the suppliers as well, but it seems like little attention is paid to the toxicity of the materials themselves, renewable materials, or animal welfare. Hopefully this is just the start of their sustainability journey.

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The story of Econyl recycled nylon is one of beauty. It comes full circle by taking old fishing nets that are polluting the ocean and trapping sea life and turning them into yarn that becomes swimwear. Brands like Loka and pro surfing legend Kelly Slater’s Outerknown are using this fabric to make sure their impact on the environment is as minimal as possible.

Along with other pre- and post-consumer waste, they partner with organizations like Healthy Seas and Net-Works to reclaim the fishing nets from oceans. Closed-loop recycling means taking less from the earth and using more of what we already have. Well played Econyl!

Here’s a short video that explains the process:

Think water can make snowboards? Well, Capita has built one of the most innovative, environmentally-friendly factories not just in snowboarding, but in the world. The video below shows how they take water from a river in Austria, use it to heat and cool their building and run the snowboard presses, then return it to the river without doing any harm. The MOTHERSHIP is 100% Hydro Powered! The science is ridiculous, and I think every physics teacher needs to use this to get kids stoked on learning!

On top of that they use water-based inks, plant-based resins to hold the boards together, and finishes with no solvents to gunk up your lungs with toxic chemicals! This is a perfect example of taking a product normally made using traditional sources of energy and crazy chemicals that's now manufactured with free energy from the earth and pieced together with materials from nature. And this is all without sacrificing performance or affordability.

​Please support their mission by buying your next board through either their website or through your favorite online retailers by clicking on the following links:

• Capita Snowboards
• EVO.com
• Backcountry.com
• The House​

Can I get a golf clap for Columbia Sportswear?! Nah, let’s make that High-TENS all around, baby! It looks like they’ve gone all out on their latest attempt to make sure the products we wear on our adventures don’t have negative impacts on the gorgeous places we want to keep that way.

Without getting too techie (I’ll let the folks at Columbia explain it all in the video), PFCs are a nasty chemical that even the most well-intentioned outdoor companies have been using to make gear like jackets waterproof. The problem is that just like everything, it breaks down over time, and by simply wearing it on that rainy hike in the woods we’re dropping little bits of laboratory-made chemicals onto the plants and into the streams we love. The pocket-protector Earth gods at Columbia, though, have taken it upon themselves to turn that notion on its head.

A few highlights of the OutDry Extreme ECO (to be released in spring 2017 for $199)

• Fabric made from 21 recycled plastic bottles
  
• Initially offered only in white, saves 13 gallons of water without using dyes
  
• Zippers and pulls made from recycled material
  
• Informational hangtag made from 100% Post-Consumer Recycled content with soy inks
• Shipped in a specially-designed plastic bag made from renewable sugarcane instead of petroleum. Developed in partnership with packaging company Avery Dennison.
  

Keep your eye out, let’s support Columbia and buy this rain jacket as soon as it hits store shelves next spring!

For many people Patagonia embodies the very meaning of sustainability. It’s an organization that was founded on a set of principles as much as it was fulfilling the need for a product, climbing gear. Named for the iconic mountainous region in South America, Patagonia doesn’t just aim to make good clothing and outdoor gearing while “doing no harm,” but to actively involve themselves in issues and educate the public on how to make sure their actions can have a positive impact. These are just the tip of the iceberg...

1. MAKE IT LAST: The most sustainable piece of clothing is one that doesn’t need to be purchased because you continue to use your current one. A quality-constructed garment that is repaired uses less resources than one that is made from 100% recycled materials. They have embraced a program they call Worn Wear, employing 45 people that perform an average of 40,000 repairs per year on their clothing. They even have a video series and a tour vehicle that travels the country doing on-site repairs. Check out a short video here.
   
2. MAKE IT WELL: The fabrics that go into a Patagonia product are some of the most innovative pieces of materials technology in the apparel industry. Hemp is a durable fiber with a low environmental impact. Their organic cotton comes from fields not sprayed with harsh chemicals. Their recycled nylon, down, wool and polyester mean new materials don’t need to be sourced. A solid example of demonstrating the true ethos of sustainability is their use of Yulex®, a natural rubber substitute for petroleum-based neoprene in their surfing wetsuits. It doesn’t contain harmful chemicals, it’s produced in Forest Stewardship Council-certified forests, and just as important, performs better than the traditional material.
   
3. MAKE IT KNOWN: It’s one thing to say you’re a protector of the environment, but it’s quite another to actually do it. Patagonia realized that their employees have a passion for protecting nature, so they created the Patagonia Employee Internship Program where they give any employee up to 2 months PAID leave to go work for the environmental nonprofit of their choice. In 2015 there were 34 individuals who took advantage of this opportunity, donating over 10,000 hours for 43 organizations.