Water Neutrality
Since 2015, our stuff has been 100% water-neutral. We pull that off through things like production practices and sourcing less water intensive fabrics, but we’ve also partnered with water restoration program Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF) to restore the water we do use and balance our entire water footprint.
What exactly is water management?
A whole lot of water is taken from rivers and aquifers to meet the needs of everything from entire cities to multiple industries. This high demand has left tens of thousands of miles of dry or critically dewatered rivers. When water withdrawals completely dry up streams, this impacts everything from water quality to wildlife. So water management basically means putting back what you use.
BEF tracks restored water though their Water Restoration Certificates. A single certificate represents 1,000 gallons of water that’s been restored.
And how do we do it?
There are a couple different ways to go about this. We primarily focus on something called water leasing, which incentivizes and compensates farmers and ranchers to pull a smaller percentage of water – essentially just what they need – instead of taking all the water they’re allowed to use.
Since starting our partnership with BEF, we’ve helped restore over 465 million gallons of water by supporting projects that restore water across California and the Colorado River Basin.
Kern Refuge Habitat Restoration
The Kern Refuge provides optimum wintering habitat for migratory birds with an emphasis on waterfowl and water birds.
Sacramento River Wetland Enhancement
This project partners with The Nature Conservancy’s (TNC) Bird Returns Program and local rice farmers to keep fields flooded to sustain critical wetland habitat in California’s Central Valley.
Colorado River Delta
Pronatura Noroeste and the Colorado River Delta Water Trust work together to restore flows and improve the habitat of the Colorado River’s endangered fish at critical times of the year.
Colorado River Indian Tribes (CRIT)
This project compensates the CRIT for their effort in conserving their Colorado River water allocation. Their efforts directly bring up the water levels in Lake Mead and help provide long-term water security for Arizona, California, and Nevada.