One Percent for the Planet

Long before the idea of Earth, Wind and Rider was born, the desire to do something to help the environment was burning inside us.  For me it started when I was in my family’s Sheet Metal business.  We had the opportunity to build a fuel cell and it was just about the coolest thing I thought I could ever do.  It was the first time I had the chance to do something really good for the planet and it felt great.  To be exact, it felt like my purpose.

Unfortunately, the company we worked with pulled the project and life went back to making what seemed like useless metal boxes.  I got out of that business back in 2004 with the focus of building something better.  So when I started Earth, Wind and Rider it was clear to me that the first order of business was joining One Percent for the Planet, and that is exactly what I did.  At the time I first joined there were only 33 members and by the time my registration was complete I ended up as member number 107.

Since that time, One Percent for the Planet has grown to nearly 1000 members and we are proud of the contributions we have been able to make during our first three years in business.  It isn’t easy but nothing that is truly worthwhile ever is and our planet is absolutely worth it.

We have put this section together to talk a bit about what we believe in and exactly what our commitment to the environment means.  In regards to One Percent, our commitment is 1% of our sales dollars go to organizations that support the health and wellbeing of our planet.   Now this may seem small to many of you reading this but think about it this way.  Go out, start a business and before you sell one widget or get your first customer make a commitment to take 1% of your total sales, whether you made money or not and give it away.

Now why would anyone ever do that?  Because they believe in a greater cause and I am willing to bet that you would not being reading this if you didn’t believe in it as well.

So we created Earth, Wind and Rider to help live out our dream of having a healthy planet for our children and generations to come by giving to organizations like Carbonfund.org and Amazon Watch.  First offset our footprint and if we have anything else, we try and preserve what we still have.


Our Culture

We strive to be good citizens by consciously working to make a difference in the world, because we can and it’s our commitment. We view the outdoors as a place for us to enjoy and we do this by following four simple beliefs regarding people, the environment, action and innovation.

    * Our most precious resource is our people, our customers, employees, and neighbors and our number one job is to serve our people by creating a positive place for everyone to prosper.
    * We believe in leading by example, in how we conduct our business and by giving back to the environment, so that we can create sustainable practices and a future for our planet.
    * Always be in action! Live, enjoy and adventure, whether on bike or on foot, have fun, be healthy and don’t look back.
    * Passion is the mother of innovation. While we like to make great products, we don’t need to be rocket scientists, just people with a desire to build on what we have already done. By always looking at what is next, we believe that greatness is never far around the next bend.

Sustainability

The American Heritage dictionary defines the word Sustainable as: Capable of being continued with minimal long-term effect on the environment.  We think this is a great meaning for the word and one that we have been working at since the beginning. 

We first looked at creating jerseys with a fiber that is renewable, biodegradable and performed when worn in all conditions.  We know that no process is perfect or harmless and that we would leave footprints but at the end of the day, we realized that our product will last for years, reduce the amount of washings needed to get it clean in comparison to other “Technical Fibers” and can be worn everyday to go just about anywhere.  Now if this is not sustainability, I am not sure what is. 

The best part about it is that our understanding of sustainability has grown over the years and even though we are small and have little impact or say with our larger manufacturing partners we are continuing to move towards products and processes that have the least impact on the environment from the grower to the shelf.  Aside from our Merino Wool jerseys we have introduced a new line of Bamboo and Organic Cotton T-shirts and are currently working on organic wool that we can incorporate into our jerseys.

We have also been experimenting with some interesting blends that add a new level of protection for the skin from wind and rain and will always take our impact on the environment into account when doing so.  Ultimately, the most important thing that we can do is let you know why we do what we do and that the journey to sustainability is exactly that, a journey.  So when you peruse our store and decide to make a purchase, we want you to know that 1% of your purchase is really making a difference and we would like to thank you for helping us make that difference.

Live Absolutely!