Tag Archives: Ethical trekking gear

Your ultimate guide to ethical adventure gear

Today I’m here to tell you about ethical adventure wear (yes, it’s a thing!) We love adventure fashion here at Inspired. We’ve even been known to wear hiking boots to the office and zip off trekking pants to meetings; so safe to say we have also taken big interest in knowing the most ethical brands of adventure wear.

Before we head off on adventures, we are often trawling the shops of Paddy Pallin. Those guys rock! Seriously, no adventure store compares when it comes to quality gear and great advice from people who have adventured all over the world. They know their brands and have a huge collection, making big efforts to decrease their impact on the planet we call home. Check out the brands below that create some of the most ethical wear.

Patagonia

Not only are their products amazing, but also Patagonia is truly committed to reverse the steep decline of the environmental health of our planet.

“For us at Patagonia, a love of wild and beautiful places demands participation in the fight to save them, and to help reverse the steep decline in the overall environmental health of our planet. We donate our time, services and at least 1% for our sales to hundreds of grassroots environmental groups all over the world who work to help reverse the tide.”

Patagonia focus on:

  1. Corporate responsibility – making Patagonia products are produced under safe, fair, legal and humane working conditions
  2. Environmental grants and support – giving 1% of sales (not profits!) to support environmental organizations
  3. Becoming a responsible company – realising their environmental and social responsibilities and acting on them
  4. The Worn Wear program – currently only running in the states but there are plans to bring it to Australia
  5. Transparency of the supply chain to help reduce the adverse social and environmental impacts of our products.

Check out this video of Patagonia’s Traceable down!

My absolute favourite item of clothing I took when I recently trekked to Everest Base Camp was the Nano Air Jacket. It’s incredible! I wore it every day. It’s both warm and cool when it needs to be. It’s one of the rare jackets that you can hike in and feel like you remain a steady and comfortable temperature. Check out the reviews.

Source: Patagonia
Source: Patagonia
Source: Patagonia
Source: Patagonia

Icebreaker

Icebreaker stands for 100% merino wool, straight from the Southern Alps of New Zealand. Icebreaker has established a name for their innovative ideas and use of natural fibres in clothing in an age of synthetics. While supporting local farmers, Icebreaker uses some of the world’s finest merino wool spinning threads between nature, ethical and environmentally friendly manufacturing and style. (Source: Paddy Pallin)

I honestly can’t rave about their merino t-shirts enough! Merino wool doesn’t allow bacteria growth and I took 3 away with me on the 12 day hike to EBC and at the end, they still didn’t smell. Merino wool is also an excellent insulator; it keeps you warm when it’s cold and cool when it’s warm (within reason of course).

Source: Icebreaker
Source: Icebreaker
Source: Icebreaker
Source: Icebreaker

The North Face

The North Face is one of the most recognised brands in the outdoor world. Their headquarters in California is powered by renewable sources and they have two programs, the Responsible Down Standard and Clothes the Loop apparel and footwear recycling program.

The North Face joined other forward-looking companies in the CERES BUSINESS FOR INNOVATIVE CLIMATE AND ENERGY POLICY (BICEP) coalition to advocate for progressive climate change policies. “We’re committed to improving the environmental performance of our products through innovations in materials development and manufacturing.” Safe to say, their clothes are definitely ethical and we love it!

*Banner image credit: Scott Justin

Source: The North Face
Source: The North Face
Source: The North Face
Source: The North Face

Related articles:

Feeling inspired?

Check out our upcoming 2016 and 2017 adventures on our calendar.

Like what you see? Sign up for our monthly eNews!

You'll be kept up to date with all our best and newest articles on travel, world news, philanthropy and lifestyle.