RepYourWater 2022 Sustainability Report

RepYourWater 2022 Sustainability Report (text only)

 

A Message from our Co-Founders

Our sustainability journey began in 2011 when we designed our first hat and decided to donate a percentage of sales back to Colorado Trout Unlimited. Since then, we have taken many steps to measure and improve our sustainability performance, such as assessing our business from a sustainability perspective, developing and executing a sustainability strategy and producing an annual sustainability report. By asking ourselves hard questions about our business, we have made many improvements from a social and environmental perspective, but we continue to be aware that sustainability is not a destination and something we will always be working on.

We are proud of how far we have come and we hope you continue to follow us on our sustainability journey. We are truly grateful for your continued support and we look forward to giving back to environmental nonprofits.  We will continue to be a zero-waste operation and look for ways to improve our products and packaging. Finally, we will remain a carbon neutral company and find ways to reduce and offset our carbon footprint through our Climate Neutral Certification. We look forward to continuously improving the social and environmental impact of our company and hope you join us for the ride!

-Corinne and Garrison Doctor

Who We Are

RepYourWater is a design-driven apparel brand dedicated to providing top quality gear for anglers, hunters, and outdoor enthusiasts while inspiring exploration for the outdoors and conserving the resources we are privileged to use.

We are a small but mighty team and also a proud Colorado company that was co-founded by Corinne and Garrison Doctor in 2011. Garrison is our resident designer who uses his skills in fine art to create our signature designs and Corinne wears all the hats that small businesses require, such as operations and finances. along with co-founders Corinne and Garrison, RepYourWater is formed of a small team of four, including them, who together care deeply about our impact on the planet. Through our business, we hope to inspire other anglers to become conservationists.

 

 

Memberships, Certifications and Labels

Memberships

American Fly Fishing Trade Association (AFFTA)

The American Fly Fishing Trade Association’s mission is to guide the sustainable growth of the fly fishing industry through Trade Development and Stewardship. Corinne Doctor serves as the Chair of the AFFTA Board.

Fly Fishing Climate Alliance (FFCA)

The Fly Fishing Climate Alliance is an alliance of fly fishing guides, shops, lodges, brands and nonprofits committed to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. RepYourWater is a founding member of FFCA and we are actively working to reduce our Scope 1 & 2 greenhouse gas emissions 50% by 2030 and net-zero emissions by 2050.

Trout Unlimited Business Gold Level

TU Business Gold Level companies work tirelessly to share their passion for fishing and conservation with anglers across the country and around the world. Whether you’re looking for a guide on a blue-ribbon stream or friendly conversation while grabbing a few flies to match the evening hatch, you can support conservation efforts by supporting businesses who do the same. We are proud to be able to support TU in conserving, protecting and restoring North America's cold water fisheries and their watersheds for future generations.

1% for the planet

In 2002, Patagonia founder, Yvon Chouinard, and Blue Ribbon Flies founder, Craig Matthews, combined their love of fly fishing and the outdoors into a global cause that has amassed an incredible following of over 5,000 members. 1% for the Planet combines companies that are interested in giving back with environmental partners that best represent the intentions of the donating firm. RepYourWater commits 1% of our revenues annually to this organization every year and will continue to do so to ensure the causes that impact RepYourWater are prioritized.

Certifications

Climate Neutral Certified

Climate Neutral Certified is the standard earned by companies that offset and reduce their carbon emissions. It's time for companies and consumers to lead, and make climate change solutions happen at a global scale. RepYourWater has been Climate Neutral Certified since 2020, and are proud to continue to measure our Scope 1, 2 & 3 GHG emissions, reduce our emissions and purchase carbon offsets for 100% of our greenhouse gas emissions.

Labels

Zero Waste

Emerger Strategies is a sustainable business consultancy whose mission is to measure and improve its client’s sustainability performance, help emit fewer greenhouse gas emissions and tell a compelling story through transparent reporting. RepYourWater has been working with Emerger Strategies since 2016, and is proud to be a Zero Waste operation since 2017, which means we have diverted over 90% of our operation’s waste from the landfill through recycling, composting and product donations.

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

We hope to leave the planet better than we found it, which is why we have aligned our business with the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The U.N. SDGs are the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. We contribute to all 17 U.N. SDGs in some way, but there are six goals that are particularly material to our business, so here are how we contribute the most to the U.N. SDGs:

 

 

  1. Good Health & Well Being- Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.
    • Through our company governance, paying our employees a living wage and our health and safety policies, we contribute to good health & well-being. We also encourage everyone at RepYouWater to fish often, which usually leads to a hike in and out of the river and contributes to their mental health by being outdoors and connecting with our common passion.

 

  1. Gender Equality- Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.
    • By being a 50% woman-owned company and ensuring that equity-seeking populations are in senior management, we contribute to gender equality.
  2. Decent Work & Economic Growth- Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.
    • We contribute decent work and economic growth by paying employees a living wage and through our employment terms, but also ensuring that the people who make our products are treated ethically and fairly
  3. Responsible Consumption & Production- Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
    • Through our sustainable procurement policies, Climate Neutral Certification and Zero Waste operations, we are contributing to responsible consumption and production. We have some of the most sustainable packaging options in the industry
  4. Climate Action- Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.
    • By actively working to reduce our carbon footprint and achieving Climate Neutral Certification, we are taking strong climate action
  5. Life Below Water- Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.
    • Through our nonprofit conservation partners, and sourcing organic cotton, we are contributing to life below water.

Our Sustainability Journey

We have been on a sustainability journey since our inception in 2011 and we are proud of the accomplishments we have made along the way. Here are some of the highlights:

2011:

  • RepYourWater is founded by Corrinne and Garrison Doctor and the decision to donate a percentage of sales to Colorado Trout Unlimited is made.

2016:

  • Emerger Strategies conducted first Sustainability Assessment and established 2020 Sustainability Goals:
    • Carbon Neutral
    • Zero Waste
    • $250K Donations
    • Volunteer 200 hours

2017:

  • RepYourWater Achieves Zero Waste Operations
  • Produced 1st Annual Sustainability Report for stakeholders
  • Achieved $110K in company lifetime donations

2018:

  • RepYourWater Achieves Zero Waste Operations
  • Achieved $169.9K in company lifetime donations
  • 100 volunteer hours

2019:

  • RepYourWater Achieves Zero Waste Operations
  • Achieved $225.7 K in company lifetime donations
  • 160 volunteer hours
  • Introduced Organic Cotton & Ethically Sourced Flannels

2020:

  • RepYourWater Achieves Zero Waste Operations
  • Achieved $274K in company lifetime donations
  • Achieved 200 volunteer hours
  • Measured Scope 1, 2 & 3 greenhouse gas emissions and achieved Carbon Neutrality

2021:

  • RepYourWater Achieves Zero Waste Operations
  • Achieved $344K in company lifetime donations
  • 280 volunteer hours
  • Climate Neutral Certified for Scope 1, 2 & 3 GHG emissions

2022:

  • RepYourWater Achieves Zero Waste Operations
  • Achieved $407K in company lifetime donations
  • 370 volunteer hours
  • Climate Neutral Certified for Scope 1, 2 & 3 GHG emissions
  • Established product and packaging sustainability goals

 

2022 Environmental & Social Impact

We have been measuring our environmental and social impact since 2016, as well as its effect on our economic bottom line. Measuring your social, environmental, and economic bottom lines is also known as the triple bottom line, or people, planet profit. When we started our sustainability journey, we focused on our own operations, but as we have evolved, we have expanded into looking at the impact of our products and supply chain. Some of our favorite highlights from 2022 are: maintaining Zero Waste operations; maintaining Climate Neutral Certification, volunteering for our local chapter of Trout Unlimited, AFFTA and AFFTA Fisheries Fund; and donating a percentage of sales to our nonprofit conservation partners.

2022 Sustainability Facts

Governance Impact:

  • Equity-Seeking Populations are represented in 50% of ownership of RepYourWater
  • Equity-Seeking Populations are represented in at least 50% of Senior Management Positions.
  • Sustainability is embedded in 100% of Policies, Practices, Processes and Systems
  • 100% of all Public Reporting contains environmental and Social performance results.

Environmental Impact:

  • Carbon Footprint: GHG Emissions
    • Scope 1- 0.73 mtCO2e
    • Scope 2- 3.14 mtCO2e
    • Scope 3- 1953.39 mtCO2e
    • 100% of GHG emissions were offset with the purchase of high-quality, nature-based Carbon Offsets
  • Energy
    • Natural Gas (Heating)- 1,604 Therms
    • Purchased Electricity- 7,770 kWh
  • Waste
    • Waste sent to Landfill- 186.48 lbs.
    • Waste Recycled- 6,860.35 lbs.
    • Waste Composted- 57.93 lbs.
    • Percentage Diverted from Landfill- 97.41%
  • Water
    • Purchased Water- N/A

Social Impact:

  • 100% of employees are paid at least a living wage
  • Zero workplace Health and Safety issues in 2022
  • Volunteered 90 hours in the community
  • $62,936 in cash donated to environmental nonprofits
  • $47,129 in-kind donations to environmental nonprofits

 

Social Impact: People

There are a variety of ways to measure social impact, but we measure and report on the fact that we pay our employees a living wage, ensure their health & safety, demonstrate how much we volunteer for nonprofits like Colorado Trout Unlimited and how much we give back through monetary donations.

We are proud to pay our employees a living wage, which is more than just minimum wage, it is “a socially acceptable level of income that provides adequate coverage for basic necessities such as food, shelter, child services, and healthcare.” We are also proud to report that there were zero health & safety incidents in 2022.

Environmental Impact: Planet

We know that every product that we make has an environmental impact, but we try our best minimize our environmental footprint. We are proud to have maintained both Zero Waste operations and our Climate Neutral Certification across our Scope 1, 2 & 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. For those who might be unfamiliar with greenhouse gas accounting, we are measuring the GHG emissions from heating (Scope 1) our HQ, from purchased electricity (Scope 2) for our HQ and from our upstream supply chain (Scope 3) Additionally, here are some of the ways we are working to reduce our GHG emissions:

  • We plan to reduce our carbon footprint by transitioning 25% of the material used in our wearable product lines to include recycled content. As of June 2023, we have achieved this for 13% of our current product line, well on our way to achieving this goal by the end of 2024.
  • We plan to reduce emissions associated with our packaging. By the end of 2024 100% of our packaging will either be made from recycled material, be recyclable or both. 

Because climate change is a major threat to our planet, our fisheries, and our business, we will always look for ways to reduce our carbon footprint, regardless of organizational growth. In the meantime, we are also purchasing carbon offsets for our Scope 1, 2 & 3 GHG emissions, which is the criteria for achieving Climate Neutral Certification.

For those who may be unfamiliar with Zero Waste, the Zero Waste International Alliance defines Zero Waste as “designing and managing products and processes to systematically avoid and eliminate the volume and toxicity of waste and materials, conserve and recover all resources, and not burn or bury them. Implementing zero waste will eliminate all discharges to land, water or air that are a threat to planetary, human, animal, or plant health.” To achieve zero waste, a company must achieve 90% or greater overall diversion from landfill, incineration (WTE), and the environment for solid, non-hazardous wastes for the most recent 12 months. Diverted materials are reduced, reused, recycled, composted and/or recovered for productive use in nature or the economy. RepYourWater has successfully diverted over 90% of its waste since 2017 and is therefore a Zero Waste operation.

We are passionate conservationists, and we consider the environmental impact of every business decision we make. We are not perfect but believe that what our planet needs right now is lots of businesses making better decisions every year and taking the environment into account.

 

Economic Impact: Profit

We are a small company, but we try to punch above our weight in terms of our impact on people and the planet, but we can’t do that if we are not a profitable company, and we have our customers to thank for that. While we will not get into financial reporting here, we would like to share some information about how measuring and improving our sustainability performance also improved our financial performance because we also want to prove that there is a business case for sustainability.

Since we started our sustainability journey and began measuring our social and environmental impact in 2016, our customer loyalty, which is measured by looking at the percentage change in the number of repeat customers compared to our 2016 baseline. Our customer loyalty has increased 90%. Additionally, we measure the percentage increase of our repeat customer sales compared to our 2016 baseline and our repeat sales have increased 195%. This means that our customers remain loyal to RepYourWater, and we believe that our social and environmental impact is a significant factor. In short, sustainability is simply good business.

Sustainability Goals

As we look towards the future and our mid- to long-term sustainability goals, we will continue down our carbon neutral and zero waste path and begin to focus on improving the social and environmental performance of our products. We are not perfect, but we will continue to strive to protect what we love by using our business to solve the climate crisis. Here are our mid-term and long-term Sustainability Goals:

Environmental:

  • Transitioning 25% of the material used in wearable product lines to include recycled content by EOY 2024. (As of June 2023, this includes 13% of our current products)
  • Commit to using 100% recycled packaging for all products
  • Commit to reducing our Scope 1 & 2 GHG emissions 50%.

Social:

  • Donate $500K to our nonprofit conservation partners by 2025
  • Volunteer 500 hours to nonprofits by 2025

We look forward to continuing to measure the success of our business in large part by how much we can give back and by reducing our carbon footprint, while improving the livelihoods of the people who are making our products. Thank you for your support as we work to protect what we love!