Innovating the Future of Supply-Chain Sustainability

Mission statement

Create sustainably designed outdoor gear that fuels both adventure and global change, by dedicating a percentage of our revenues to nonprofits working to improve the human condition.

Opportunity

Technological innovation, regulation, and societal pressure for sustainable products and services are uprooting the viability of harmful value chains, providing opportunity to invest in and support products and business models that are both environmentally friendly and socially impactful.

Solution

Cotopaxi takes a holistic approach to sustainability – considering the impact of their products and supply chain, as well as the impact they have on their employees and workers. Cotopaxi became a certified Climate Neutral company after measuring, reducing, and offsetting their entire carbon footprint across Scope 1, 2 and 3. Additionally, Cotopaxi is committed to dedicated at least 1% of their product revenue to the Cotopaxi foundation, which supports communities facing extreme poverty.

Examples in action

Cotopaxi is a B Corporation and Public Benefit Corporation that is fully committed to sustainability throughout its supply chain – by designing apparel made from eco-friendly materials that mitigate waste and promoting fair labor practices with its manufacturing partners across the globe. This dedication to sustainability has played a large part in differentiating Cotopaxi from its peers and driving strong commercial growth.

Since its founding, Cotopaxi has piloted new ways of producing functional products using sustainable principles and materials that reduce as much waste as possible. Currently, 97% of products contain repurposed, recycled, or responsible materials—or what it calls the Three R’s – and by 2025, they hope to make 100% of products using those materials.

• (Re)Purpose™: Cotopaxi’s (Re)Purpose™ collection uses remnant fabric, which is fabric leftover from other companies’ larger production runs. For example, Cotopaxi’s signature Del Día bags are made of unused, high-quality nylon that would have otherwise ended up in a landfill—uniquely reassembled and given new life.
• Recycled: Cotopaxi prioritizes recycled fabrics in its design processes, which limits dependence on fossil fuels for sourcing raw materials and reduces landfill usage.
• Responsible: To qualify as a "responsible" product at Cotopaxi, that item or material must carry a third-party sustainability designation such as Fair Trade Certification, Responsible Down Standards or Global Organic Textile Standard. Cotopaxi is constantly seeking new ways to design products in a more sustainable way and looks to partner with credible certifications and collaborators.

However, in the fashion and clothing industries, a commitment to environmental sustainability alone is not enough. Unfortunately, human rights abuses – poor or unsafe working conditions, forced or child labor, low wages, and stagnant career growth – are rampant in the fashion and clothing industries. Cotopaxi is committed to addressing these issues at all levels of the supply chain through alignment with the UN Global Compact and UN Principles of Responsible Business and in 2021, the company adopted the Ethical Trading Initiatives’ Guide to Better Buying. Each of Cotopaxi’s partner factories agrees to a rigorous code of conduct, completes an anonymous audit and employee survey, and commits to fair labor practices. Finally, Cotopaxi provides direct grants to workers in cut-and-sew factories to empower their career development and wellbeing.

Cotopaxi’s holistic approach to supply chain sustainability that focuses on promoting positive labor practices around the world and designing products using the Three R’s can serve as a model for the apparel and gear industries, where human rights abuses and material waste are abundant.