This will be the first in a series of articles documenting our steps as we attempt to become a more socially and environmentally responsible company. It seems that “Going Green” has become a very hot topic of discussion, recently entertainment industry giant News Corp, owners of MySpace and Fox announced plans to become carbon neutral across worldwide operations by 2010. Wal-Mart and Target among a long list of others have also been experimenting with programs to make their companies more environmentally friendly. As becoming environmentally conscious struggles to become standard practice I imagine some see going green as a means of survival not for it’s comsumers or the environment but for the continued health of their deep pockets, others may truly believe in what they are taking steps to accomplish. We see it as the natural progression necessary to sustain our companies goals. That being said, we ask ourselves what are the steps a company must take to become more socially and environmentally conscious?

This will not be an over night transformation nor can we make a claim that we will ever become a 100% “green company”, but we hope that our research and the series of articles to follow will provide other small companies a basis for becoming more responsible for the mark they leave in the future. In the end should we prove to be sucessful or not, it can’t hurt to try.

The following is a brief outline of some of the questions we hope to answer through our research.

Organic Apparel, the search for environmentally friendly fabrics and Materials.
Cleaner printing and decorating processes.
Friendly packaging, presentation and marketing.
Attempting to apply “Green Practices” to all aspects of your business.
Your contribution to the world community.

Follow along as we attempt to become a more socially and environmentally responsible company, there is no telling where this quest may lead us.

I often read news published by other clothing companies as well as organisations and it is amazing some of the programs that others have developed. It is amazing what others are developing and accomplishing for the greater good of people throughout the world. Recently I stumbled upon a program created by Jedidiah Clothing called Artists and Athletes Inspiring action in which they will be showcasing eight different surfers and surfboards which have been painted by one of their talented artists in an upcoming eight part ad campaign. At the end of the campaign they will be auction off each of the boards and donating the profits to a choosen “humanitarian effort”. Jedidiah has long produced some amazing work and I wish them the best of luck in their newest campaign. It is great to read about a company doing more than collecting the profits. I encourage you to check out their work and read more about Artists and Athletes Inspiring Action.

Recently I was contacted by Steven Selzer from international nonprofit organization Africa Aid in regards to the current program they are running, simply stated “buy a t-shirt and feed an African Refugee child for one school year”. With this one of a kind t-shirt, on sale between now and June 30th, Africa Aid hopes to fund their successful School Lunch Program for the remainder of this school year and the entire second year. The School Lunch Program School Lunch Program provides nutritious lunches for more than 200 children in the Budaburam Refugee Settlement in Ghana. I encourage you to check out the Africa Aid website to learn more about this program and what you can do to help by purchasing a t-shirt, donate time or money, signing the pledge and spreading the word. You can also check them out on MySpace, add them to your friends list and encourage others to do the same. I would like to extend a thanks to Africa Aid for opening our eyes to this program and realizing that we can accomplish our goals by involving like minded individuals, companies and organizations by spreading the word.

About Africa Aid -
“Africa Aid provides the foundation for innovative partnerships and intimate community-based relationships between developing African communities and their more established American counterparts. To create a sustainable and mutually beneficial community partnership, Africa Aid characterizes the problems of an African community and then integrates foreign aid projects into American university curriculum, allowing university students and faculty experts to design solutions to extreme poverty. Africa Aid implements the resulting university designed solutions in Africa, working alongside African communities to establish basic levels of Education, Health, Water, and Economic Empowerment.”