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Brands are more than status symbols these days. They signal values, intelligence, sophistication, and even love of our fellow man. Now, consider that so-called Gen Z will be the largest consumer group in America within the next few years — and the first that is majority non-white.
According to Rolling Stone Magazine, every brand manager who wants to stay relevant has to ask a lot of questions these days. For example: “Are my manufacturing practices ethical?”; “Are my stewards of the environment?”; and, “Do I give back to the community?”
One brand that answers all of these in the affirmative is Tampa-based, “adventure-ready” apparel maker Bearbottom Clothing. But as company founder Robert Felder explains it, creating a socially conscious clothing apparel is something that happened organically.
“The inspiration for Bearbottom Clothing came in 2012 when I visited Bangladesh for the first time as a high school student,” Felder recalls. “I saw first-hand the need for quality jobs and basic necessities like clothing.”
Felder grew up on the West Coast of Florida. When he returned from Bangladesh, wanting to make an “impact,” he says his motivation to enter the apparel business was initially more pragmatic.
“I wasn’t able to find clothes with the features and comfort I needed year-round, so I decided to create them,” he remembers. “I later realized this was my chance to help the people who make most of the world’s clothes.” Bearbottom, he says, is focused not only on providing jobs in the region, but clothing as well. Taking a cue from industry innovator TOMS Shoes, founded just six years before Felder’s first trip to Bangladesh, Bearbottom began it’s operations on a buy-one-give-one model — for every piece of apparel a consumer bought, a pair of shorts was donated to a person in need. In 2021, Bearbottom shifted their program to meal donations. Bearbottom partnered with Akshaya Patra to donate meals in India, but Bearbottom isn’t a charity. Rather, it’s one of the savviest and most successful young brands in the business, and its impact is being felt in the marketplace. Felder credits its success to four major principles:
Quality
“Everything we make is meticulously wear-tested by our entire team,” Felder says. “While we love having a purpose along with having fun, we also take our threads very seriously. We’re passionate about making clothes that we’re proud to wear every day.”
Like “athleisure” giant Lululemon, Bearbottom utilizes stretch fabrics and innovative performance features to create pieces that can be worn through work, life, and play.
From its launch in 2014, Felder and his team also insisted on making clothes that contain natural dyes and which are less likely to turn up in landfills, emphasizing ethical manufacturing practices from day one.
Giving Back
Bearbottom’s dual focus on purpose and quality has paid off remarkably well for both its customers and manufacturers. Felder says the company has already donated more than 700,000 meals in India and over 100,000 shorts to children in Bangladesh and India. In 2020, Bearbottom decided to help out closer to home. The company supplied nearly 300,000 protective masks to the region during the COVID-19 pandemic. More recently, the company released a special Veterans’ Day “Good Boy Tee” featuring Southeastern Guide Dogs to raise money for the local non-profit, which trains elite guide dogs, service dogs, and skilled companion dogs. The highly-trained dogs are offered free of charge to veterans through a special program, which will receive a percentage of the t-shirt’s sales.
Ethical Practices
Charity is not the only thing that begins at home; so do values and relationships. Felder says he is committed to practicing what his company preaches by rewarding those who make Bearbottom, and its social impact, possible.
“We’re committed to the well-being of all of our team members, from our worldwide supply chain to our Florida headquarters,” he says. “We’ve built a close relationship with our production partners to go above and beyond industry standards.”
With fast-fashion and e-commerce giants under fire for producing huge amounts of waste and pollution, Felder has been studying the impact that the apparel industry makes on the environment. “We are constantly looking for ways to build our products more sustainably,” he says, “including using post-consumer recycled materials.” The brand, he adds, is moving towards more sustainable practices to minimize Bearbottom’s carbon footprint. Recently, it embraced a Vendor Code of Ethics based on internationally-recognized labor practices and guidance.
All of this may sound unexpected for a company with a cheeky name founded to enjoy the outdoors, but Felder says Bearbottom has retained its sense of fun throughout its journey. He points to a decidedly traditional marketing initiative — a new ambassador program using the fun #DARE2BEAR hashtag. “It’s always been about having the courage to make a positive impact,” he says.
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Photo provided by the author.