Brooks Sports, Inc. designs and markets a line of high performance running shoes, apparels and accessories in more than 40 countries. Building a strong brand through community support and outreach programs, Brooks encourages healthier minds and bodies, healthier planet and a healthier bottomline. As an organization that is not only committed to encouraging long-term health in people but in providing this impetus through environmentally friendly product innovations, ‘Brooks’ has discovered and successfully implemented the mantra of sustainability.
Patagonia defines the quality of its company by the degree to which it can reduce its impact on the environment. To that end it has celebrated the cultural histories of the communities it is located in by recycling and restoring existing structures whenever possible. From 1996-1998 the company restored two buildings - one in Reno and one in California - and became more energy efficient with the goal of demonstrating that alternatives to conventional, waste-intensive construction practices and energy generation exist and yield structures that are more sustainable and in harmony with the environment.
In 1993, Patagonia adopted fleece made from post consumer recycled plastic soda bottles into its clothing product line, becoming the first outdoor clothing manufacturer to do so. Known as PCR® clothing, it created a positive step towards a more sustainable system. Today, the company uses PCR® fleece in about 31 products, and has saved some 86 million soda bottles from the trash heap and reports the addition of PCR® filament yarn to some products in its line. PCR® filament yarn contains 30-50% post-consumer feedstock and the remainder is post-industrial feedstock, allowing Patagonia to make both lining and shell out of recyclable materials.
In 1996, Patagonia converted its entire sportswear line to 100% organically grown cotton. This decision followed the findings from an independent research company commissioned by Patagonia to give an environmental impact assessment of four major fibers. The company learned that oil-based polyester and nylon were big energy consumers and sources of pollution, but nowhere near that of cotton. They made a decision in the fall of 1994 to take the cotton sportswear 100% organic by 1996, giving the company eighteen months to make the switch for 66 products – and only four months to line up the fabric.
