Tego is Climate Neutral Certified

We are thrilled to announce that Tego is officially Climate Neutral Certified.  Climate Neutral is a new organization started by our friends at Peak Design and BioLite.   Having this new label means that we offset 100% of our scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions - that is everything we emit in the entire manufacturing and distribution chain plus all of the activities of the company.   We also have a plan to reduce our emissions moving forward.  We are part of 230 brands now that have made this commitment.

Here’s why. Unfortunately, even at Tego, you don’t have to look far to find carbon emissions or environmental harm.  Many of our fabrics are made from petroleum that is drilled, the buckles are from aluminum that’s mined, 50% of the electricity for our factories is generated from coal and oil and the trucks that transport our goods run on diesel. Just to name a few.  It is impossible to make stuff AND avoid a carbon footprint.

The right way to solve these emissions is simply to create a carbon tax that would provide the market a clear incentive to move towards renewable energy. Although that possibility is closer than it was back in October, it’s still politically unfeasible in the US.  In the meantime, we are going to pay (which you can think of as a voluntary tax) to clean up our emissions and use our tiny voice to talk about this.  No, we don’t think this is enough.  It’s just the start to an ongoing quest.  

For you, this means that you can buy our product knowing that they are as planet friendly as we can make them.  All of the emissions are offset and the next Tego is made from 2.7 postconsumer recycled bottles.

When we started posting about environmental concerns several years ago, we got quite a bit of hate mail, mostly variations of “I only want the bag-leave politics out of it”.  So here’s a quick note to the haters.   First of all, it’s not politics. It’s life. Climate change is real, it’s happening now, and it is the single biggest issue facing humanity.  Every aspect of our civilization, from where we grow food to where we live and play, depends on a stable climate - which isn’t stable anymore.  So we are going to use our tiny voice to talk about it and make whatever change we can.

Second, the best definition of a brand that we’ve seen came from Coca-Cola's former CEO Muhtar Kent, who said “A brand is a promise. A good brand is a promise kept.”   Our brand is going to incorporate what we care about: the environment, quality working conditions, optimizing for happiness and making cool stuff.   We are absolutely, positively going to talk about these things. As the success of companies like Patagonia, Peak Design and BioLite demonstrate, it’s good business too.

So if you want to be part of us, what we do and what we make, understand that this conversation is part of it. 

Let’s roll.  

Parker