prAna like many companies makes our products all over the world. I have a unique job in that I get the opportunity to visit many of the suppliers who make our products and check on their business practices as well as working conditions. I recently returned from a trip that mixed both work and vacation in Vietnam and Cambodia. In my visit I was reminded about the need for a global commitment to sustainability and how everyone regardless of who we are needs to be a part of this commitment.

Countries like Vietnam and Cambodia are developing at a rapid rate. Buildings, roads, electricity and opportunities arrive every day to places where they didn’t exist before. And this can be done in a sustainable way or not. You may have heard before the concern “what if the entire world lived the way we do in North America or Europe”.

This really struck me on my trip. The people I saw lived in such a frugal way, homes were small, many people lived in them, people didn’t have the amount of “stuff” we seem to fill our closets and garages with. It is a more simple life, but that is dramatically changing. The opportunity to buy stuff in these developing countries is growing increasingly. There are more retail outlets for any type of product than ever before. And we are noticing it first hand, workers in the apparel industry are harder to retain in factories as there are other job opportunities in electronics factories or even retail stores that people can take.

Not only did I think about consumption as a global society, but as I was there visiting factories it is important to think about HOW things are made and the impact of our decisions. I visited two factories that I was impressed with and rivaled some of the better garment factories in the world. This is not something people think of when they think manufacturing overseas. But the dyeing factory I saw had state of the art waste water treatment, which is a requirement for sustainability. The sewing factories were well lit, clean and one even with air conditioning. With the need to retain workers, changes have been made to meets worker’s need above the legal requirements. Otherwise the factories loose talent – and brands like prAna need to see consistent quality out of our suppliers. In my visits I was reminded of the trickle down affect of decisions that we make back in the USA, selecting where our products are made and how that leads to global sustainability. There are opportunities to support companies further down the supply chain who are trying to make a difference as well.

We are all so connected, in the water, air, and land we share. And so as we live we do have to think beyond the product in our hands but the world in which it touches and what impacts that might have. Every decision we make has an effect and there is evidence in this once we leave and see what is happening on the other side of the world. Luckily globally people are aware and there are commitments to both social and environmental responsibility.

~Nicole Bassett, Director of Sustainability

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It was so good that I just decided to have another one this winter, too. Even better, this winter I found an even more local source of the meat than I did last time – I’m buying my half a cow from someone who lives less than five miles away, as opposed to the two hours’ drive away required for my meat that I got last year. I bought a quarter of a cow last February from a nearby rancher, stuck it all in my freezer, and I’m just now finishing eating it (with Kevin’s help, of course). Time to have another cow, for sure.

It makes so much sense, really, this whole buying local thing, but I didn’t really get the kick in the pants I needed to do it until I read two books pretty closely together, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, by Barbara Kingsolver and Healing With Whole Foods: Asian Traditions and Modern Nutrition, by Paul Pitchford. I also watched the movie Food, Inc. Like a lot of people, I guess even though I knew better, I’d gotten a bit apathetic about the ease of just buying whatever looks good/tastes good/fits the right price range in the grocery store, without reading the ingredients or considering how far things have traveled to reach me (and the resources consumed by those journeys).

Reading these books and watching this movie, I found myself wondering why so many of us are willing to spend extra money on gourmet prepared coffee drinks, shiny new cars, and other such concoctions and objects, and yet we’re somewhat or totally neglectful and inconsiderate about how we fuel our physical beings, our containers for life. Why put high-octane fuel in a car and pay extra for that if you’re not willing to pay a little extra for better fuel for your very own (and only) personal machine, your body? Not to mention the negative impact on the planet that mass-produced food has.

Wondering why I hadn’t really taken charge of exactly what I choose to put into my human machine, I reconsidered much of my already healthy diet (by typical American standards) and made some adjustments accordingly. I starting by thinking about why I became a vegetarian at age 16 (and stayed one for 11 years), and I realized that my convictions are still the same – I wasn’t opposed to meat consumption, but I was (and am) opposed to atrocious and appalling ways of raising animals for human consumption. Ranching is huge in Wyoming, and I thought there had to be a way to buy local beef from someone – and I was right. I found the first rancher I bought beef from on Eat Wild. Right after that, I discovered that I could’ve bought beef from someone even closer, which is what I’ll do this year.

What else changed? I’ll give you a couple other examples. From the Pitchford book, I was shocked to discover the prevalence of refined sugar in just about everything (including table salt), so I started reading labels and trying to find products that had less refined sugar or none at all. Unable to find a single loaf of bread at a grocery store that didn’t have refined sugar as an ingredient, I started making my own honey-sweetened bread in a bread machine (you can pick one up for pretty cheap on Overstock.com or Amazon), using flour from Wheat Montana. Wheat Montana is close to local; it’s a five-hour drive from my house to its location in Three Forks, Montana. The Kingsolver book, among other things, got me to stop eating bananas all the time after considering how far they travel to get to me and the resources consumed by that journey. Nothing against bananas, but it just made sense. I also try now to always buy humanely produced meat and dairy, and I try to incorporate organic foods when it’s feasible (harder than you might think living where I do).

It’s really no big deal, and I’m not a fanatic about it, but the way I see it, just having my consciousness raised has helped give a little bit back to the planet in terms of alleviating its suffering and overuse/abuse, both small-scale and large. I’m encouraging family ranching and the local economy by buying my meat locally, and I’m also endorsing humane practices by choosing local beef, as well as by being considerate when I do buy eggs or chicken to make sure I read how they’re raised. I look for produce and products produced locally or regionally first, and I choose organic products when they’re practical and affordable for me. I can’t buy 100 percent organic or local, not yet, anyhow, but no matter. Even baby steps make a difference. The more people making those baby steps, the bigger those steps become…and the larger the footsteps they leave for the future to follow in.

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These qualities infuse not only our name, but also our aspirations, the things we make and how we make them.

Welcome to mindfully designed, built to last products – born from the experience.

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THE ADVENTURES OF KATE MCGINNIS

This weekend was the 7th year of Triple Crown at Horse Pens, AL. I have been there every year for the past seven and it is starting to make me feel very old. I can still hang with the big guns though, placing a very close second to Alex Puccio. Go Team Five Ten! The weather was beautiful with temps a little on the warm side for the ancient sandstone slopers that characterize this amazing little boulderfield. The comp was full of the usual sending energy that brings people back, year after year, to try their hardest. Having just returned from the Greece trip, my endurance is there, but my bouldering power is still not back at full force. Highlight sends of the day included Slider (V9), Ghetto Superstar (V9), and repeating some of my favorites in the boulderfield (Consumption, Chevy, Stepchild, and Great White). Kenneth and I had a great time hanging out with old friends and getting back to bouldering. We headed out to the ranch Friday afternoon to set up the prAna tent, climbed all day Saturday, and stayed up making tea and giving away clothes to a bunch of really psyched folks throughout the night. The booth was a huge success: the prAna presence at the event was definitely strong! Here’s a few pics from the event. . . more to come