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Is it ethical and moral for a retail pharmacy company to sell tobacco products? Not if you ask Walgreens shareholders and members of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR). They recently filed a shareholder resolution requesting that Walgreens' board of directors review the risks of tobacco sales in the company’s pharmacies. The resolution is expected to appear on the ballot at the company’s annual meeting on Jan. 26, 2017.

The resolution asks the board of directors to issue a report within six months of the 2017 annual meeting “assessing the financial risk, including long-term legal and reputational risk” of continuing to sell tobacco products in Walgreens’ stores. The mission statement of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Walgreens' party company, reads: “We help people around the world lead healthier and happier lives.” But as the resolution points out, nearly every public health organization has identified cigarette smoking as the leading contributor to the top four causes of death in the nation: heart disease, cancer, stroke and emphysema.

TriplePundit spoke with Tom McCaney of the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia, the lead investor on the resolution, to understand more about the resolution. He broke it down simply: “We’re asking the company to review the financial, reputational and legal risks of continuing to sell this deadly product, but the motivation behind it is we want them to stop selling it.”

So, why not just file a resolution asking Walgreens to stop selling cigarettes? “Because any shareholder resolution is subject to SEC rules, we can't necessarily ask for what we really want,” McCaney explained. “We're asking [the Walgreens board] to review, and they know our motivation. We've had dialogue with the company, and we've made it clear what our intentions are."

The U.S. is the only country in the industrial world where cigarettes can be sold in pharmacies. In 2014, CVS became the first national retail pharmacy chain to stop selling tobacco products in all of its stores. Several other national chains followed suit, including Wegmans and Target. In 2014, 28 attorneys general sent a letter to Walgreens urging the company to “follow the example set by CVS ... and to cease selling tobacco products in your retail stores throughout the United States.”

CVS conducted a study in 2015 over an 8-month period on the impacts of its decision to stop selling tobacco products. What the study found is a 1 percent reduction in cigarette pack sales across all retailers in states where CVS had a 15 percent or greater share of the retail pharmacy market, compared to states with no CVS stores. The study also found that the average smoker in those states purchased five fewer cigarette packs, and about 95 million fewer packs were sold. Nicotine patch purchases also rose by 4 percent during the 8-month period.

“Our message to the company is that we want them to align their operation with their mission,” McCaney told TriplePundit. Large pharmaceutical companies “have really positioned themselves as partners in healthcare,” he pointed out. While they have “always been a part of it,” they now employ nurses at some locations, have health clinics at some of their stores and do various types of healthcare testing, he continued. They are healthcare companies, and that’s what bothers the shareholders who filed the resolution.

As McCaney declared: “To us, it's egregious not only that they would sell the disease, but they're selling the cure right next to it as well with cessation products.” Or as the letter sent by the attorneys general stated: “There is a contradiction in having these dangerous and devastating tobacco products on the shelves of a retail chain that services health care needs.”

Image credit: Flickr/Mike Mozart

Twelve teams at the recent Capital One Women in Tech Demo Day competition took on the task of building a solution to help girls of color see themselves in the world of tech. The ideas ran the gamut, ranging from innovative messaging platforms linking students to professionals for development and mentorship, to interactive games routing young girls through math and logic problems teaching them to code as they mastered each level.

On Saturday in Washington, D.C., each team presented their ideas as a solution for Capital One’s community partner, Black Girls Code.

Since 2010, Oakland-based Black Girls Code has spread its programs throughout the country, teaching basic computer-science literacy in cities like New York, Boston, Chicago, Miami and Raleigh, North Carolina. In six years, the organization reached over 6,000 students through after-school programs and summer camps. Every year, students are latched into the support of local tech communities and have access to a diverse group of mentors across a variety of fields in the technology industry.

Judges from Capital One, Black Girls Code, Virginia’s House of Representative and Women@Forbes ultimately selected interactive storybook platform Alika’s Treehouse. The platform teaches coding techniques through the adventures of a young black girl named Alika. And the team took home a $10,000 scholarship to global tech training boot camp General Assembly (which they immediately donated to BGC students), as well as a $15,000 donation in their honor to Black Girls Code.

Kimberly Bryant, founder of Black Girls Code, inspired student and mentor attendees with her stance on equality for women and women of color. She spoke candidly about her goal to get young women from underrepresented communities sustained in the technology industry by creating community hubs and ecosystems to provide the necessary connections.

Bryant went on to acknowledge that the breadth of the technology industry can reach even those who are not inclined to go into computer science. Take for instance an art student who may want to learn necessary coding skills to sell art via a homemade platform. Bryant's goal is to see young women decide how they want to learn and use their skills to choose their own path, be that through a corporate career or through entrepreneurship built on the platform of technology.

“The next Steve Jobs will be a woman of color [...] and without a doubt, the next innovation will come from a woman," Bryant said in Washington, D.C. "We have the untapped talent and creativity, because our ideas have not been brought to the table."

The Women in Tech hackathon event has been held in New York and will head to Dallas later this fall. The events are open to designers, developers, entrepreneurs, and general audiences interested in participating on a team in support of connecting young women to the tech industry.

“At Capital One, we’re passionate about supporting women in tech across all stages of the pipeline,” said Julie Elberfeld, Capital One Commercial CIO and Women in Tech executive leader. “Women in Tech Demo Days gives professional women and male allies across three cities the chance to use their tech skills to help young girls develop a love of tech at an early age.”

Images courtesy of Martini Media Solutions, used with permission 

Mike Jeffries, the former CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch, is the kind of guy who reminds women, and men, of their first husband – and not in a good way. That could be because his personality reminds us of the awkward guy who couldn’t date the cheerleader or quarterback in high school, so he took it out on those around him as he advanced well past middle age. The septuagenarian, long notorious for making it clear that he did not want “fat chicks” shopping at Abercrombie & Fitch stores, resigned from the company in 2014 as it struggled during two years of decreasing sales.

But as is the case in many scarring marriages, Abercrombie & Fitch also chose not to enter into another relationship, and has not replaced Jeffries since he left the company. The rudderless organization saw its sales plunge, which is partly why leading business publications have been screaming at the company to hire a new CEO. Now, Abercrombie says it is ditching six-pack abs in favor of a more “wholesome” image, but its attempt to ditch its fashion bully reputation may be too late.

A recent CNBC report highlighting the company’s new strategy reveals that instead of targeting the “popular crowd” (whatever that means), Abercrombie’s apparel and stores will focus on customers’ “best self and inner confidence.” The company realizes it is now competing against fast-fashion giants such as H&M, Zara, Uniqlo and even Target. So, hanging out with the cool crowd means foregoing sales, a tactic that for years has driven Wall Street analysts insane.

As the company’s chief merchandising officer, Fran Horowitz, told CNBC: “Image is less important than character.” Gone are the shirtless ads that made many of us feel unworthy as we entered Abercrombie's dark mall dungeons full of clothing that 20-somethings are now less inclined to buy. And in another move to compete with brands such as Forever 21 and American Eagle, Abercrombie & Fitch says it will change its marketing focus to one that carries a more “casual luxury” message.

It may be too late for the company, which also owns Hollister (the surfing brand, not the California town). The cool kids are no longer shopping at Abercrombie & Fitch, evident in the fact that sales have declined for 14 consecutive quarters. The teens who once shopped at those stores are now 20-somethings, and the brand Bloomberg describes as now “amorphous” is not succeeding at luring them in. Gone are the A&F logos on apparel that attracted customers on their own, leaving shoppers even more confused. Hence the company recently announced that it will close 60 more stores.

The fact that mall traffic is down, and flagship stores designed to attract international visitors in big cities are also failing, also explains the company’s decline. By the end of the year, Abercrombie & Fitch will be down to 684 operational stores, down from 946 locations in 2012. Business journalists responded in kind, with Barron’s describing the company as a “teenage wasteland.”

But the bottom line is that Abercrombie & Fitch dug its own financial grave due to having an overgrown teenager’s personality dictate its mission. From discriminatory hiring practices based on looks, to cultivating a brand that emphasized exclusion, not exclusivity (as in Prada or Louis Vuitton), Jeffries left a stain on the company that its current posse of executives cannot bleach out.

The cool kids who once flocked to these stories have grown up, can no longer rely on their parents to fund their fashion tastes, and many millennials now want to shop at stores that at a minimum display some trace of social and environmental responsibility. Abercrombie & Fitch offers none of the above. Jeffries' legacy could leave the company with a similar fate to the country's first retail brand, a high-end outdoors sporting goods company founded in the 1890s that eventually declared bankruptcy in 1976.

Image credit: FaceMePLS/Flickr

By now, you've likely heard about Mylan's recent EpiPen price-hike, from $461 to $608.61. It’s not the first price increase on the product. From 2007 to 2015, the average wholesale price of an EpiPen increased by 461 percent, from $56.64 to $317.82. During the same time period, Mylan CEO Heather Bresch's salary increased by 671 percent, from around $2.5 million to nearly $19 million. 

Other executives' pay also increased, NBC reported. In 2015 alone, base pay for Mylan President Rajiv Malik increased by 11 percent and chief commercial officer, Anthony Mauro, saw his base pay rise by 13.6 percent. 

Back in 2007, Netherlands-based Mylan bought medicines from Merck KGaA and one of those was the EpiPen. Now, it’s a $1 billion a year money-maker for the company, making up about 40 percent of Mylan’s operating profits. And as Bloomberg reported, Mylan curated these profits from the EpiPen “with a massive public awareness campaign on the dangers of child allergies.” While it spread awareness about child allergies, the price increases became “among the biggest of any top-selling brand drug,” Bloomberg's Cynthia Koons and Robert Langreth reported last year. 

There’s something else that is interesting about Mylan. Open Secrets shows that it increased the amount it spent on lobbying in 2008, one year after it acquired EpiPen. 

Mylan’s response to the backlash about the price increase of the EpiPen is to release the first generic of the drug at $300 for a two-pack carton. It touts the generic version as a “discount of more than 50 percent to the Mylan list price of the branded medicine.” The generic is expected to launch in several weeks. 

Bresch claims that Mylan understands “the deep frustration and concerns associated with the cost of EpiPen to the patient.” And she added that Mylan has “shared the public's desire to ensure that this important product be accessible to anyone who needs it.” The trouble is that even the cost of the generic may be too much for some families.

Five senators wrote a letter the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) after finding out about the price increase of the EpiPen. They pointed out that the two-pack of EpiPens costs far less in other countries than it does in the U.S. In France they cost $85, in the U.K. they cost $119, and in Canada they cost $131. Alternatives to the EpiPen are available in France, Canada and the U.K. And in the U.K. a competitor, Jext, costs $32 for just one injector.

The U.S. senators mention that epinephrine, the main ingredient in an EpiPen, is “extremely inexpensive.” In some parts of the world, it costs less than a dollar per milliliter. They also pointed out that the lack of competition in the U.S. helps drives the price of the EpiPen up. “It is imperative to understand the FDA's role with respect to EpiPens and its approval of generic equivalents that could help to increase competition and lower prices if introduced,” the letter stated.

Doug Hirsch, co-founder and co-CEO of GoodRx, told CNBC: “I think we're seeing a classic scenario that we see in the drug world, which is less competition equals higher prices.”

What about the CSR implications?

The real kicker here is that Mylan regularly touts its corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts. The company’s "sustainability booklet" contains a section titled, “Acting With Integrity.” It defines acting with integrity as doing “what’s right and not what’s easy.” That is interesting given the price of a drug that saves the lives of people going into anaphylactic shock.

Does the price-gouging of the EpiPen affect Mylan in a CSR sense? From the public’s perspective, must and undoubtedly will. The price increase greatly affects families, and those families will be loath to care that Mylan’s CEO brags in the sustainability booklet that it “is not just a company, it’s a cause.”

Something in that booklet, which details all of Mylan’s sustainability efforts, stands out. The company aims to “set new standards in healthcare and provide the world’s 7 billion people access to high quality medicine.” But what about Americans? Don’t they deserve access to affordable drugs? How is that practicing good CSR?

The answer to the last question is that the price-gouging is certainly not good CSR. It is unethical. And it must stop.

Image credit: Flickr/Vu Nguyen

By Tony Tie

Be honest: When you planned out your summer, did you see a stretch of lazy days at the beach? Perhaps an invigorating week hiking mountain trails? Or did you see a parade of relentless deadlines, project commitments, and must-respond-now emails with no good time to get away?

It turns out more and more of us are talking ourselves out of taking the vacation we’ve earned — and we may be paying for it with our health.

The PTO paradox

In recent years, a few forward-thinking companies have moved to offering unlimited vacation time. As long as employees deliver on their assignments, they have the flexibility to take whatever time off they need. Sounds appealing, right? You have the power to manage your work and personal life according to your own individual situation without having to match up to a one-size-fits-all vacation policy.

However, the early results show these programs may not be having their intended effects. Without a precise allowance of paid time off, many employees end up taking fewer days. What’s more, the flexibility can create feelings of uncertainty about how many days off are really okay and a fear of being perceived as a less-than-dedicated employee for taking too much time.

The jury is still out on whether unlimited vacation will go mainstream, but Kickstarter was one company to discontinue the policy after it became clear its employees were taking significantly less time off.

Unlimited PTO, however, isn’t the only factor holding people back from taking vacation. It turns out the amount of time people take off work has been declining for years.

Up until the beginning of the third millennium, most people took advantage of the paid vacation days provided by their employers. Then, something funny happened. All of those innovations designed to make it easier to get work done (e.g., smartphones, Wi-Fi, etc.) contributed to a sharp decline in the use of vacation days.

Pre-2000, Americans took an average of 20.3 days off per year. Fast-forward to today, and the average is down to 16.2 days, with no sign of a turnaround anytime soon. In fact, employees forfeited 222 million vacation days — worth $61 billion in benefits — in 2015.

While it’s hard to imagine leaving that kind of money on the table, it’s actually not the biggest price we’re paying.

The consequences of skipping vacation

Let’s forget about time off for a second and think about time on instead.

In 2016, most of us are doing more mental work than physical. While we think nothing of taking time to recoup after strenuous exercise, we don’t always recognize how much our brains need a break, too.

Without periods of downtime for our brains to recharge, it becomes harder to stay on task and solve problems. Not only does this affect work performance, but it also saps energy, causes stress, and takes a toll on our immune systems. Unchecked, the cycle inevitably leads to burnout.

The good news is that our brains are resilient. Taking time away — both short breaks and extended vacations — has a positive affect on physical and mental well-being. In fact, research by the American Sociological Association found a direct correlation between more vacations and reduced psychological stress.

A vacation done right focuses attention on things you enjoy — which, provided you truly unplug, delivers a mood boost through an influx of positive brain chemicals such as serotonin. And when travel takes you out of your day-to-day routine, you get an extra jolt of excitement as you explore a new environment. The change in scenery can serve as a much-needed reset for a tired mind, which, in turn, signals your body to dial back on the stress levels.

Removed from “real life” for a bit, you may find you sleep better, exercise more, and reconnect with loved ones. Post-vacation, you will return to work with a positive outlook, renewed focus, and energy to spare.

3 tips for taking your time

Even when we know we have the time to take (and it’s the right thing to do for our health), it can still be difficult to block time off for vacation. Here are three tips for building in time to recharge:

1. Have a getaway plan. Your brain isn’t recuperating if you’re constantly checking in, responding to emails and, even worse, dialing in to conference calls.

Treat your next vacation like you would a high-profile project: Map it out ahead of time, be realistic about what has to get done before you leave, line up the right backups, and trust they’ll do the work while you’re out. Then, leave — and don’t look back. Except for rare emergencies, the work will be there waiting for your rested and re-energized self to tackle upon your return.

2. Make it a strategic ask. Timing is everything. Take the business and your co-workers into account as you plan your vacation. You’ll want to avoid being away during peak times or missing critical meetings.

Whether you’ve been at a company for a few years or a few months, the best approach is to talk through your options with your manager well ahead of time. This way, you’ll get a heads up on any “don’t miss” days or potential conflicts that you should navigate around. Plus, collaborating with your boss is a great opportunity to show you’re committed to your responsibilities.

3. Use technology for good. Although technology often makes it hard to leave work behind, it can also help you step away with confidence.

Make the most out of project management software. Options with strong collaboration tools such as Mavenlink or Wrike show who’s working on what and when. Not only does this keep projects running, but it also makes it simple to designate who’s covering for you while you’re out.

Programs like Smartsheet or JIRA can build vacation time into a project’s timeline from the get-go while helping to manage time off across teams. With a little advanced planning and automation, vacations become a seamless part of project planning.

The bottom line: Most employees report improved concentration and productivity at work after they take time off. But despite all the evidence, only a quarter of American workers take their full vacation time. Be the one who takes time for you. Your relationships, career success, and even your life depend on it.

Image credit: Steven Lewis via Unsplash

Tony Tie is a “numbers-obsessed” marketer, as well as a life hacker and public speaker, who has helped various Fortune 500 companies grow their online presence. Located in Toronto, he is currently the senior search marketer at Expedia Canada, the leading travel-booking platform for flights, hotels, car rentals, cruises and local activities.

By Holly Whitman

High-speed trains are becoming increasingly prolific throughout the world, and for good reason. Ask the people of Japan, China, France or elsewhere in Europe what life would be like without their fast, convenient trains. They’d shudder to think of the old days, where slow trains or even slower buses were the only way to get from point A to point B.

The short travel times are just one of the reasons behind the growth of high-speed trains. A less-noticeable benefit is the positive impact these trains have on the environment. While high-speed train lines may have a detrimental effect on the land they’re built on, the trains can lower carbon emissions, assuming ridership gets up to a certain level.

While high-speed train tickets are often quite expensive — in China and Europe, flights are often comparatively priced — people from all over the world are more than willing to pay for the convenience of avoiding traffic jams and airport security lines.

For example, ridership on China’s high-speed rail network has grown from 237,000 in its inaugural year of 2007 to 2.5 million passengers in 2014. China has more high-speed train line railways than the rest of the world combined, and has since 2012. There are no signs of slowing down, as China hopes to link much of its vast country.

With all the pros of high-speed trains, from fast travel times to limiting pollution, people often wonder why they aren’t even more widespread. There’s often talk of bringing such lines to the U.S., but America still doesn't have a single high-speed train line. The main reason is because of money, as the real debate is whether the enormous investment required to build a line is worth the effort.

The high cost in France

Building up a high-speed train infrastructure is far from cheap. France’s TGV service, which links France to its neighboring countries at speeds of 200 mph, has been in existence since 1980. While the service enjoys millions of riders and is a source of national pride, future expansion of the line is a struggle.

It’s estimated that future lines would cost 16 million to 27 million euros per kilometer. That steep price is enough to give any politician or taxpayer pause. As popular as the service is, total ridership is stagnating due to the economic troubles in Europe. In order to become profitable once again, a government report states fewer stations will need to be served in the future.

China’s success

China, however, is going full-speed ahead with its aggressive expansion plans. The country has never been shy about investing enormous sums in infrastructure. And its investment in high-speed lines proved to be a good decision. The critical line between Shanghai and Beijing posted its first annual profit in 2014.

That success likely won’t be replicated in other routes between less-populated cities, but the rising number of passengers and the vastness of the country prove how high-speed lines can be a success.

Environmental impact

While the money behind high-speed trains is far from guaranteed, the positive environmental effects of this form of transportation are evident. The most important thing for trains to become environmentally friendly is to reach a critical mass of riders. That number is different for every line, but if enough regular riders can be attracted, then the carbon emissions caused by the construction of the line can be completely offset.

Discovering that “sweet spot” of riders needed to offset environmental damage can be the hard part. The U.S. is estimated to need 10 million annual riders to make a positive impact if high-speed lines were ever constructed. Some planners say that could easily be attained, but who knows for certain?

While the environmental effects are quantifiable, some researchers say that marketing a high-speed line as a solution to global warming would be wrong, as time savings and less traffic are the main benefits.

False starts

The U.S. has been closely monitoring both the successes and failures of high-speed lines throughout the world. There’s no doubt that America’s existing rail services lag behind many developed countries, which is why many people — including President Barack Obama — want to make high-speed trains a priority.

The interest in moving people off the roads and into trains makes a lot of sense. Even with 83,000-plus miles of roads in the U.S., congestion and traffic jams are common.

California has made the most progress in constructing America’s first high-speed line, yet the project remains mired in setbacks, delays and high costs. The California High-Speed Rail Authority dates back to 1996, but the first construction phase isn’t scheduled for completion until 2029. There are serious doubts as to whether the project will ever be completed.

The Northeast Corridor, which connects major cities from Boston to Washington, D.C., probably makes the most sense for a line, as most of the country’s train riders are in this region. While there are plans to bring high-speed lines to this route, some argue that the priority should be on repairing existing lines.

A long wait for high-speed trains

None of this bodes too well for high-speed rail in the U.S. The investment required is high, but other countries have proven how to make it pay off if properly planned and implemented. Our nation has yet to figure out the equation.

Image credit: Charles Forerunner via Unsplash

Holly Whitman is a writer and journalist tackling global issues from environmental problems to human rights. You can find her on Twitter at @hollykwhitman or her blog, Only Slightly Biased.

By Eleni Polychroniadou

Climate change is happening, and it’s affecting all of us, right here, right now.

Last month, Louisiana was inundated by torrential rain. More than two feet of water fell in 72 hours, flooding Baton Rouge and causing serious devastation. Out West, California was ravaged by wildfires that destroyed hundreds of thousands of acres of land in just three days.

At this point, it is not a question of facts. The climate science is indisputable, with 97 percent of scientists worldwide agreeing that this is a real, man-made problem. But it never comes down to arguing the facts. People don’t argue over the latest scientific reports; they argue about their beliefs.

The climate change debate comes down to identity, and it is time we started talking about it in that framework.

Finding common ground

A common misconception is that contrary opinions on climate change are irreconcilable. Each person has a set of beliefs, typically affected by culture and community, that shapes his/her perception of the issue. At the Climate Reality Leadership Conference in Houston last month, the key takeaway was that regardless of political affiliation, age or race, we can agree on some shared values. When we connect on shared values, we can overcome differences and find common ground.

Take a strong economy, for example. The world is still reeling from the recession of 2008, and people from both sides of the political aisle are wondering how we will strengthen our economy again. The blueprint for rebuilding the global economy is simple: clean energy. In 2015, 7.7 million people were employed in renewable energy globally. Adding the necessary infrastructure to handle this new electricity generation will grow the world economy for years to come and put millions of people to work.

If that wasn’t convincing enough, think about the financial impact of extreme weather events. Superstorm Sandy in 2013 cost an estimated $42 billion in repairs. Instead of paying to fix the damage, imagine the impact of reinvesting those several billion dollars back into the economy.

And what about safety? The extreme floods in Louisiana are a ruthless reminder that our infrastructure was not built to handle extreme weather. Images of people being rescued out of cars wrenched away by gushes of water are becoming a new reality. Nearly 40 percent of the U.S. population is located in coastal cities. Climate change poses an existential threat to our safety. But it’s not just coastal cities that need to worry. Increasing temperatures are affecting our global supply of clean water and food. As resource scarcity worsens worldwide, the likelihood of armed conflict increases. In 2015, the Pentagon released a report stating that climate change was a threat to national security.

For many people, there is nothing more important than family. I grew up swimming in the Mediterranean Sea every summer in Greece. I would snorkel in the azure waters, jump off rocks and build sandcastles on the beach. I want my children to experience that same joy in the future. Whether it’s swimming in the ocean, hiking in the Rocky Mountains or fishing in the nearby creek, these are activities and joys many want to pass on to their children. Ensuring a viable future for our children and grandchildren is a value that resonates across the United States and around the globe.

Climate change is no longer about polar bears far away in the North Pole. It’s about us, our families, our neighbors and our communities. When we all work together and use our shared values to connect instead of arguing, the dream of a zero-carbon future will become a reality.

Image credit: Stefan Kunze via Unsplash

Eleni Polychroniadou was born in Athens, Greece, and has lived in London, Athens and the United States. Eleni is an account executive at Antenna Group, a strategic communications agency for transformative companies in energy and technology.

 

What was once considered merely a new way to recycle has turned into a movement. Innovative, sustainable companies like Looptworks, Rewilder, and Bureo are making high-quality, trendy and desirable products using wasted materials, bringing us ever closer to a circular economy.

This isn't your environmentalist or hippie friend's upcycling anymore. Upcycling is now not only good for the environment. It is high fashion and in-demand.

One of the early trendsetters in high-quality upcycling is Looptworks, which creates bags, backpacks and other accessories from waste items. Co-founder Scott Hamlin worked for a large outdoor apparel company before starting his own venture. While he saw a push for sustainability on the front end, he noticed little action in the space where more waste was actually being generated – in the manufacturing process itself.

“Thirty percent of our materials never actually got used in manufacturing,” Hamlin said of his prior work experience with an outdoor gear company. “To me, that was a huge issue that nobody was talking about. It was dealt with as 'business as usual.'”

Trashed fashion: Making desirable products from waste

Looptworks aims to fix this problem. And today, the Portland-based company creates quality bags, accessories and apparel using only excess materials that would have otherwise been incinerated or ended up in landfills. Moreover, the Looptworks team works directly with companies to assist them in reducing their waste -- whether it's a partnership with Alaska Airlines to make products from old airplane seats, or collaborating with a local leather jacket-maker in Portland that wants to find a use for excess leather.

 

Looptworks understands that it can't solve this problem alone. That's why the company believes strongly in partnerships, as its goal is not to dominate the market, or innovate in isolation, but spur larger changes that help turn the entire industry toward sustainability.

“We want to be an impact brand,” Hamlin told TriplePundit. “And we want to ... bring industry to the table, because making change at the industry level is when we all win.”

Upcycled moves from niche to chic

Another part of the company's vision is expanding the market for upcycled products. Today, Looptworks is part of a growing ecosystem of companies that are not only reducing waste, but are also making products that anyone who desires quality would want. That helps expand upcycling's market beyond those who care about sustainability to those who may be interested in sustainability, but care, first and foremost, about quality and style.

 

For example, Rewilder, a company based in Los Angeles, make purses and handbags using a highly unusual collection of upcycled materials. Products are made from upcycled filter cloth, which breweries use to filter hops and barley, as well as recycled house paint and handles from recycled climbing ropes.

Patagonia, a longtime leader in sustainable fashion, is also joining in on the trend. The outdoor gear company will launch the Re///collection this fall, a new line that contains upcycled materials including wool from discarded sweaters and recycled polyester from worn-out garments.

And this is just a sampling of the many other companies, including Bureo, Piece x Piece and Project Repat, that are innovating in this field and creating products that people desire. That, Hamlin said, is an important shift.

“People aren't going to buy this just because it is upcycled – it has to be an amazing, usable product,” Hamlin told 3p. “That evolution has happened and continues to happen.”

Expanding the market for upcycled goods

While the progress that we're seeing is great, upcycling is still a relatively small portion of the market. Despite the fact that the aforementioned small companies are showing the industry new methods and production possibilities, thus far, the big companies that dominate global apparel have yet to fully come on board. Part of that is due to the complexity of creating sustainable systems when you manufacture millions of products shipped all around the world. But part of is the same inertia that Hamlin saw at his previous work.

 

“What I see now is a lot more awareness around holistic, sustainable processes and approaches – but I'm not sure how many of those are actually getting implemented,” Hamlin told us. “I would challenge the industry to take it out of the classroom and start to move into implementation.”

And when they do, Looptworks will be there, willing to help companies take steps that allow the whole industry to shift toward upcycling, reducing waste and, ultimately, a fully circular economy in which all products are reused, recycled and, of course, upcycled. We've got a long way to go, but we're headed in the right direction.

Photo Credit: Fuedal Fox via Wikimedia Commons