“Adventure inspires us to see the world and make it better. That’s why we create responsibly made outdoor gear that brings performance, color, and joy to all, and helps us build a movement to support communities around the world,” Salt Lake City, Utah-based Cotopaxi wrote on its website. Named for Mt. Cotopaxi in Ecuador, one of the highest active volcanoes in the world, “the mountain’s glacial streams, wild llamas, and countless trails inspired [founder Davis Smith] to found an outdoor gear company” in 2014.
Sustainability is the key differentiator in Cotopaxi’s products. As of 2024, all of the B Corp’s products are designed to contain at least one of the ‘3Rs’: materials that have been repurposed, recycled, or responsibly certified by a third party. Using excess, repurposed materials, or deadstock, in its Del Día bags and Teca layers results in products with a carbon footprint about 30% lower than those made with new fabric. In 2024, Cotopaxi used 101,181.69 yards of deadstock fabric, equivalent to about 1,012 football fields. Using recycled materials, such as in its Teca Cálido jackets and its Cada Día bags, reduces the amount of materials the company sends to landfill. Using materials and products with third-party responsibility designations ensures that Cotopaxi works with suppliers who commit to conducting annual audits and implementing a code of conduct. All down jackets, for example, use Responsible Down Standard-certified insulation to ensure cruelty-free production, and the majority of hats are manufactured in a Fair Trade Certified facility.
After meeting its “3Rs commitment,” the company also launched a new Sustainable Product and Materials Roadmap outlining plans for the next decade. By 2030, for example, Cotopaxi wants to introduce a biodegradable product pilot.
Since the spring of 2024, all new apparel and packs, aside from the Del Día collection, have been free of intentionally added per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), or “forever chemicals” that can persist in the environment and in our bodies for years. Despite posing a bigger challenge due to the use of older deadstock, Del Día products were also free of any intentionally added PFAS by last spring.
Photo Courtesy Cotopaxi
The company also adds circularity to its products by extending product lives and innovating at end of life. Cotopaxi recognizes “that the traditional linear ‘take-make-waste’ economy cannot last,” and it therefore aims to keep “Cotopaxi products—and the materials, resources, and embedded carbon they contain—out of landfills and in use for as long as possible.”
Cotopaxi’s Guaranteed For Good™ repair program, for example, simultaneously limits demand for new materials while driving demand for second-life ones. Ren Barrus, former Senior Director of CX & Circularity Operations for Cotopaxi, introduced his mother to his company because of her unique skill set: she has made more than 700 pairs of slippers to sell during the holiday season, as well as 65 Christmas stockings for her family. Between 2018 and 2024, ‘Mama Marge’ repaired more than 2,000 Cotopaxi products. She described the impact of this work, “Well, a lot of people just think, ‘Yeah, I’ll just go buy a new one,’ when there’s still plenty of life in that. It just needs a little stitching.” For more advanced and complex repairs, Cotopaxi outsources the work to Oregon-based, women-led Rugged Thread.
In 2023, the company partnered with Tersus Solutions and Trove to launch the Cotopaxi Más Vida re-commerce platform, enabling customers to resell gently used items at a lower cost and with less environmental impact. Last year, it partnered with ThredUp on a similar resale program. Stephan Jacob, Cotopaxi Founder and Chief Growth Officer, explained, “It extends product lifespan and reduces carbon impact at the midpoint of our products’ lifecycle. We are constantly pushing ourselves on circularity, both in terms of designing for circularity and repairability and with strong marketplace partners such as Thredup enabling trade-in and reuse at scale.”
When products reach the end of their useful lives, Cotopaxi still wants them to serve productive purposes. In 2024, the company launched the Renovo Collection, made completely from upcycled Cotopaxi products, a process that also emits less carbon and uses less water. “This gives pre-loved apparel renewed purpose and makes each item completely unique—no two are alike,” the company described. The Oregon-based Portland Garment Factory (PGF), one of Cotopaxi’s manufacturing partners, designed and made the pieces. At its zero-waste facility, PGF also shreds unusable scraps into fill for home goods like pillows and pet beds. PGF founder Britt Howard reflected, “Upcycling product is expensive and it has to hit all the marks. It needs to be wearable, functional, and speak to the brand’s ethos. You could do that by faking it. A lot of brands make colorful, crazy things. But this is truly American-made, upcycled, pre-worn. It’s been a labor of love. I find it really inspiring.”
Photo Courtesy Portland Garment Factory
In 2019, Cotopaxi also launched a foundation to amplify its possible impact. The Cotopaxi Foundation takes 1% of Cotopaxi’s corporate (PBC) revenue to provide grants to nonprofits working to improve health, education, and livelihoods in the poorest communities of Latin America. “Because every single purchase of a product from the Brand generates grantmaking dollars for the Foundation, Cotopaxi customers truly are the engine behind our impact,” the company wrote in its 2024 annual report. 80% of the annual funding goes to the core grants program, which offers multi-year, largely unrestricted grants. The ultimate goal of this program is to “fund sustainable solutions to poverty.” The other 20% of funding goes to the community grants program, which focuses on the communities where customers and employees live and work, with grantees more likely to receive one-time donations. Some of this funding, for example, goes toward responding to natural disasters and refugee displacement.
In 2024 alone, the Cotopaxi Foundation supported 19 core grantees and assisted 169,327 people across 10 countries. One grantee that transcends all three pillars of the core grants program is New Story, which obtains underused land and enables land ownership in exchange for small monthly payments. The nonprofit aims to provide housing for one million people by the end of the decade. One beneficiary, Esmeralda from Etzatlán, Mexico, joined the program in 2022 and became an official landowner in April 2024. I hope home is a place where my son can learn from me, and I can learn from him. A place for us to feel safe,” she told the Cotopaxi Foundation. To date, the foundation has impacted more than 4.25 million people.
Cotopaxi customers can also donate directly to the foundation, with 100% of such donations supporting the multi-year grants. In 2024 alone, customers donated $23,932, bringing their total to more than $300,000 since 2019.
“We recognize that the path to a more sustainable and equitable future is continuous. The challenges ahead will demand innovation, resilience, and deeper collaboration with our partners, customers, and stakeholders,” the company expressed in its 2024 impact report. “Looking forward, we envision a future where sustainability and social impact are not just corporate strategies, but fundamental to how businesses operate worldwide.”
