Cotopaxi

Last week, our impact team was honored to attend this year's Climate week in New York City. From discussing how we are streamlining and democratizing our circularity alongside Donatela Bellone and Dana Davis at La Positive Society, to sitting down with like-minded leaders at The Climate Pledge and host, Nacho Garcia-Valdecasas, in order to scale plastics reduction, we remain invigorated and firmly focused on the opportunities ahead in sustainability. This year's conference felt productive, focused, and collaborative. Our principal takeaways are that collaboration and attention to operational realities are what will get us the wins our planet needs from business. Problems are dynamic, complex, and require systems approaches that bring together suppliers, civil society, business peers, and policymakers. This week we are focused on taking the momentum from the previous week and building out additional collaborations and revised internal efforts around issues like micro-plastics, packaging, materials, repair, and public lands. #NYClimateWeek #DoGood #sustainability #circularity #impact #connection

We’re proud to share that our CEO, Lindsay Shumlas, has been elected to the Outdoor Industry Association Board of Directors. OIA brings together leaders from across the outdoor industry to help shape its future, strengthening outdoor businesses and advancing meaningful progress across the issues that impact our industry, our communities and the places we all love to explore. At Cotopaxi, we’ve always believed that business can be a force for good and that the greatest progress happens through collaboration. Lindsay’s election is an exciting opportunity to bring that perspective to the broader outdoor community while learning from and working alongside fellow industry leaders. Congratulations, Lindsay. We’re excited to see the impact ahead.

Last week our CEO Lindsay Shumlas was in NYC for the Fast Company's Innovation Festival where she spoke about business with purpose alongside Brendan Vaughan, Jason LaRose CEO of Bombas, Emily Heyward of Red Antler, Alex Wiltschko of Osmo, Chase Harrow of Elm Biosciences, and Abbie de la Campa of Spotify. We're proud to continue showing up with purpose in everything we do. Read Lindsay's thoughtful reflection of this discussion here.

Climate Week NYC is here, and our team at Cotopaxi is proud to be part of it. This week is a reminder of why partnerships matter. From The Climate Pledge to Nature Is Nonpartisan to Positive Society, we're grateful to stand alongside organizations who share our commitment to a healthier planet. But our work doesn't stop when the week ends. We'll keep advancing planetary goals and protecting public lands, one product and one partnership at a time. See you at the panels! #ClimateWeekNYC #DoGood #Cotopaxi

“If you want to donate more, you have to sell more.”  That quote from Jason LaRose, CEO of Bombas, was typical of a session I moderated this morning to kick off the 12th annual Fast Company Innovation Festival, our biggest event of the year.  🧦 Bombas was founded on the “buy one, donate one” model of mission-driven retail. For every pair of socks Bombas sells, the company donates a pair. (They’ve donated 215,000 “essential clothing items” – socks, t-shirts, and underwear – to date.)  LaRose was answering a question I’d asked about how he manages to not let the company’s values slip as he pushes it to expand around the world. Why do I call the answer “typical” of the panel? Because of its direct, no-B.S. pragmatism.  🎒 His co-panelist, Cotopaxi CEO Lindsay Shumlas, was just as straightforward. Purpose isn’t an add-on at Cotopaxi, known for its colorful outdoor gear and policy of donating at least one percent of its profits to the fight against global poverty. That mission has been baked into the company’s cake since it was founded in 2014. As Shumlas said, the work has to be “authentically built through everything we do”—not treated as a marketing layer that disappears when conditions get difficult. As the live audience may have noticed, I tried to get LaRose and Shumlas to comment on the many companies that draped themselves in a cloak of social goodness when that was in peak vogue a few years ago, only to quietly retreat when the trend shifted. Neither accepted my not-so-subtle invitation. I got the sense they weren’t just trying to avoid saying something controversial. Their focus simply isn’t on that outside noise. They know who they are and why they do what they do, and they see no tension between doing well and doing good.  I wish more CEOs agreed with them.

A few weeks ago, our CEO Lindsay Shumlas joined Yasmin Gagne for Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies podcast. They covered a lot, including Cotopaxi’s approach to sustainability, our international expansion and how we think about building credibility while continuing to grow. A great conversation and opportunity to share more about where Cotopaxi is today and where we’re headed next. Give the full episode a listen here: Spotify: https://lnkd.in/dB5E4i2t Apple Podcasts: https://lnkd.in/dDT8huDT

Our partnership with The Conservation Alliance comes during an important time as many of our public lands are under threat. One of the largest concerns is the reduction in size of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante. Being Utah based and founded, these incredible landscapes hold deep meaning for our brand and our communities, especially within our own herd. Today we’re taking time to celebrate the time our team has spent in these beautiful places, and what it means to them by highlighting experiences in Bears Ear and Grand Staircase-Escalante through their photos and fine memories. We will continue to stand up for our public lands, and work with The Conservation Alliance to ensure these lands are protected. We respectfully acknowledge Bears Ears National Monument and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument as the ancestral homeland of the Hopi Tribe, Navajo Nation, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, and Zuni Tribe, along with the Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah & Ouray Reservation and the Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians and Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah, whose ancestral and cultural ties extend across both landscapes. We recognize the historical, spiritual, and ceremonial significance these monuments hold for Indigenous communities today. #publiclands #FromtheHerd

Yesterday our team members from across the country celebrated Impact Day, where we took time away from our offices to Do Good and volunteer with our local communities. 🧡 From SoCal to Denver, and right in our hometown of Salt Lake City, you could spot us out and about with colorful gear and smiles on our faces. Thank you to our herd for supporting the following nonprofits: Salt Lake City: International Rescue Committee Southern California: The Surfrider Foundation Seattle:Puget Soundkeeper Portland: Forest Park Conservancy Denver: Children's Hospital Colorado #ImpactDay #DoGood #volunteering #impact #Cotopaxi

We couldn’t have said it better. As a Utah founded brand, we’re proud to stand with our CEO, Lindsay Shumlas, and alongside The Conservation Alliance, the Outdoor Industry Association, and our peers across the outdoor industry in support of protecting Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante National Monuments.