By Michael Smith (Veshengro)
COSTA MESA, CA: From June 2011 onwards, so we are informed, you will be seeing two new fixtures in Volcom’s U.S. retail stores, and these are not new sales fixtures. Prominently displayed in each U.S. Volcom store will be collection boxes for used apparel and shoes.
As of June 12th, Volcom customers will be able to turn in their unwanted clothing and shoes in return for a 10% discount in the same store. The collected goods will be sorted and graded and will either go on to find a new home, be reused into items like cleaning cloths or will be recycled into raw materials that will be used in creating innovative products for the automotive, building and fashion industries and many others.
The aim of the program is to bring awareness to consumers about the amount of unwanted product that is often needlessly discarded and thus, cluttering municipal landfills. Volcom hopes the in-store collection bins will encourage those who haven’t already changed their habits to do so by engaging in the apparel and shoe recycling process to conserve valuable, and often limited, material resources.
“It’s amazing how much product so many of us go through in our lifetime. So much of it too, has potential for a 2nd life and if it’s reached the end of its usefulness, it deserves to be recycled,” says Derek Sabori, Volcom’s Director of Sustainability & CSR.
The program is a pilot with the global clothing and shoe recycling company I:CO (which stands for I:Collect). Its philosophy of “Recycle, Redeem, Renew” aligns perfectly with Volcom’s New Future vision – a spin on what most companies would call their sustainability outlook. Volcom’s New Future blog states: “The New Future looks a lot different than today’s future. It is Cleaner, more Conscious, more Renewable, more Efficient, more Regenerative, more Sustainable and Less Impactful.
We’ll continue to work towards incorporating New Future thinking into all aspects of our business, and we ask that you do your part in helping us build a future that we can proudly pass on to all generations to come. Our New Future begins today.”
I:CO, an affiliated company of the SOEX Group, the world leader in textile and shoe recycling, notes that Volcom is the company’s first U.S. partner and is both excited and optimistic about the launch.
Jennifer Gilbert, I:CO’s Chief Marketing Officer says, “Volcom’s New Future vision and impressive sustainability efforts in the action sports world make them the perfect partner to launch the I:CO movement in the U.S. Through the clothing and shoe collection program, together we are making it simple and gratifying for consumers to help us build a healthier and happier planet. We are excited about our partnership and look forward to a great response from Volcom’s customers.”
You can learn more about Volcom’s sustainability and corporate social responsibility program and the Volcom store locations (http://www.volcom.com/stores/) participating in the I:CO collection program at http://www.volcom.com/newfuture and about I:CO at http://www.ico-spirit.com.
Personally, I think that this is a great idea and I just wonder as to how one could expand such collections and reuse and recycling activities further also to other things, aside from clothes and shoes, printer cartridges and old cell phones.
In addition, and I know that I am repeating myself here for the umpteenth time, to recycling, in whichever way and form, we must think about reuse, and when it comes to clothes and shoes there is definitely a potential there as well in just passing them on if they are still OK, as is so often the case.
Furthermore, when one is in a day job such as mine it is amazing how many people just do not care about their clothes and leave them behind in a park and never, ever, come back for them; and it is not just the kids that leave their stuff.
This points to the fact that we still seem to have way too much money swimming around (not in my account though) despite the Great Recession, which is still more then with us, that people are capable of just simply abandoning their togs and such.
Volcom, Inc. & Tatchipen Media
© 2011
