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Woolrich, the oldest outdoor clothing manufacturer in the United States, will fight to preserve the communities and natural resources that have contributed to its proud history by establishing the Woolrich Outdoor Foundation. As one of the newest business members of the nonprofit 1% for the Planet, the foundation plans to donate a minimum of $3 million to nongovernmental organizations in the United States and throughout the world within its first three years of inception towards the objective of “preserving the great outdoors.”
“Giving back to the people and planet that inspired and helped build our brand is important to us,” said Woolrich CEO Stefano Saccone on the foundation’s webpage, “and that’s why we are contributing 1% of our Direct-to-Consumer sales to fund impactful environmental projects through a partnership with One Percent for the Planet.”
Saccone made sure to elaborate further on the new organization in his interview with WWD. “The idea behind the Woolrich Outdoor Foundation is simple — we want to protect and safeguard outdoor spaces for the local communities… We are boosting a fundamental shift in our business model. We are not only a profit-driven brand anymore, we are becoming also a purpose-driven one.”
The foundation’s three core pillars will be to reverse coastal erosion, allocate investments towards the human capital of underserved urban communities, and fund projects to repopulate forests around the world to battle global warming. Accordingly, the foundation said it’s very first step will be to finance the restoration of a green space in New York City.
This is the latest move in Woolrich’s journey towards a full model of environmentally conscious behavior and sustainability. Four years ago, the company launched the Eco Rich collection, a line of clothes made from renewable and recyclable fabrics. The next year, Woolrich teamed up with British designer Jeff Griffin for the first in a series of Griffin x Woolrich collections, which sought to highlight excess waste in the fashion industry by incorporating premium fabrics from styles which had been discarded in past seasons, reusing recycled ripstop, and utilizing pre-printed 60% organic cotton and 40% recycled nylon. And currently, in the European market, only recycled plastic is used for all Woolrich hangers.
