Water-purification brand Lifestraw asked us to tell the world about small brands that give back, like itself. These 10 companies aren’t big, but they give huge to good causes around the world. Brought to you by Lifestraw.
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LifeStraw: Follow The Liters
From water bottles to its namesake “straw”-type filters, with every LifeStraw product purchase the company helps provide clean, purified drinking water to schools in developing countries.
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Follw The Liters Contest
Now through Dec. 12, you can enter a contest to join LifeStraw and 4 other winners on a trip to Kenya for the LifeStraw Follow the Liters program. Winners will take part in providing over 250,000 primary school students with access to safe water. In total, over 618,000 students will have sustainable access to safe water thanks to retail LifeStraw purchases in the US and Europe.
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Cotopaxi: Connect
Like outdoor-industry giants including Patagonia, Cotopaxi gives a percentage of its profits back to organizations in need. The Utah company funds a vast array of programs, from schools for refugees to well projects targeting drought victims. It also gives creative freedom to factory sewers in the Philippines with its Luzon backpack.
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Oliberte: Fair Trade Certified
Oliberte created its own factory in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where it manufactures Fair Trade Certified footwear. Profits from every product sold are reinvested in Africa to create jobs.
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LuminAID: Give Light, Get Light
LuminAID makes portable lights and lanterns for adventure outdoors. Its Give Light, Get Light initiative works to provide free rechargeable lighting products to countries that need it most.
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Woodchuck USA: Buy One, Plant One
For every phone case, tie clip, or wood coaster it sells, wood-accessory maker Woodchuck USA plants a tree in an area of reforestation need.
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Solavore: Solavore Works
Solar ovens provide a safe alternative to indoor, wood-fired stoves that produce harmful amounts of smoke. Solavore uses its profits to create affordable solar oven distribution channels in countries where women are traditionally tasked to work with polluting, labor-intensive stoves.
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BioLite: Energy Everywhere
Campers can buy innovative stoves and lanterns from BioLite. The company then works in sub-Sarahan Africa and India, investing its profits in these off-grid locales to develop energy-smart technology. Its model is unique in that it is less philanthropic, and more developmental- and market-oriented.
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Miir: Product To Project
Miir has programs associated with all of its products. For every bottle and pack sold, it helps provide clean water and school supply initiatives in the developing world. And for every bike it sells, it distributes bikes to students, refugees, and workers by donating bikes and providing jobs to mechanics.
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Kammok: Give Adventure
Kammok began its giving program by donating a mosquito net to malaria-stricken areas in Africa. Now its focus is kids: the brand uses its profits to get children involved in outdoor education programs here in America.
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Tentree: Ten Trees Forward
Apparel company Tentree has a very simple giving ethos: For every item purchased, it plants 10 endemic trees to an area being reforested.
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