This Week in The B.O.S.S. Report

This week is the first week of our annual show review. While some folks may not think that the on-going greening of our industry warrants a cover story, walking around the show floor certainly hammered this message home - at OR, if you are not telling an environmental story with you product, you are not in the game.

Here are some excerpts from our review:

Patagonia made headlines around the world with the announcement that they will be accepting all Polartec garments ever made into their polyester recycling program, which was created in conjunction with Teijin. This means that any of the millions of TNF Denali Jackets hanging in collegiate dorm closets, and the thousands of Cloudveil Gridlock Jackets and Arc’Teryx Delta AR Jackets could be recycled into Patagonia products as early as next year...

TNF president of the Americas, Steve Rendle, said that the company will be looking at more eco apparel construction and “working to bring our environmental message up to the same level as our social message.” Currently, the company already has some unique programs, such as working with Conservation Fund’s “Go Zero” program, which offsets greenhouse gas emissions by reclaiming urban land and planting trees...

Topo Ranch continues to expand their line, which started off as a simple offering of funky tees. With over 100 SKU’s, the company is now offering their first fully-merchandised women’s line. At the same time, they are moving their lines towards organic and sustainable fabrics, with 65% of their offering currently organic. The end goal is to have every piece telling some kind of sustainable story...

Timberland is expanding their apparel line even as the company transforms itself into an environmentally-friendly holding company, giving authentic eco-friendly brands the capital and infrastructure needed to expand beyond the start-up phase. In addition, the company showed up at OR this year with a new booth made of 98% repurposed materials by re-using shipping containers and recycled materials...

Kulczycki said that he wanted to be careful not to “Patagonia-ize” Filson, but he would be exploring ways for the brand to leave less of a footprint with its manufacturing and product development...

Static Mountain had a larger presence in the climbing area of the show than they had at previous shows. The six-year-old company has been specializing in climbing and yoga apparel with bamboo as a key material throughout much of the line...

Blurr is also continuing to ramp up its organic offering...

prAna more than doubled the size of its wind power initiative and added all of its U.S.-based factories to the program. prAna still manufactures the majority of its line domestically...