SurfWriter Girls: Volcom Sponsors Surfrider Beach Cleanup

Volcom – Youth Appreciating Environment

One in a series of Surfrider Sponsor Stories

Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel hold the exclusive rights to the following copyrighted material. For permission to reprint or excerpt it and/or link it to another website, contact them at surfwriter.girls@gmail.com

Cool sportswear and lifestyle brand Volcom, Inc., is showing its continuing support to the Surfrider Foundation Huntington Beach/Seal Beach Chapter by sponsoring the July 14th beach cleanup in Huntington Beach.

Known as much for its irreverent slogan “Youth Against Establishment” as its edgy denim and action clothing, Volcom puts its creative spirit into everything it does.

The Costa Mesa-based company designs clothes that not only look good, but can stand up to anything, combining style and performance in its lineup of surf, skate and snow wear.

Volcom’s new H2chinOs are the perfect example of clothing that goes where you go. Developed with quick-drying fabrics and mesh-lined pockets, these versatile shorts are equally at home on land or water.

And, when it comes to boardshorts, Volcom is committed to taking the “bore” out of the boardshorts with an array of prints, geometrics, and even psychedelics to choose from.

Along with its pants, T-shirts, hoodies and accessories collections for men and women

Volcom is particularly partial to denim. Its line of V.Co-Logical denim jeans is helping to make the planet a better place with three kinds of denim to lighten your carbon footprint – water-saving denim, organic denim, and renewed selvedge denim. One percent of the sales from V.Co-Logical products goes to environmental causes.

Volcom’s donation program Give Jeans a Chance also collects used jeans and jackets to give to homeless shelters. Helping Volcom to reach its worldwide goal of 50,000 jeans in 2011, Surfrider’s HB/SB Chapter set up a collection box at last year’s Hacktoberfest Golf Classic and filled it to over-flowing.

Volcom’s Recycle, Redeem and Renew program is also getting customers involved by giving them an opportunity to receive a 10% discount on purchases when they donate used clothing and shoes.

SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel visited Volcom's headquarters in Costa Mesa...

and met with Derek Sabori, Volcom’s Senior Director, Department of Sustainability, to talk about Volcom’s commitment to the environment and the world community.

One of the things that Sabori is excited about is Volcom’s New Future Sustainability Program that’s lowering the company’s carbon footprint. It’s a way of thinking about the environment that’s now incorporated into all aspects of Volcom’s business. Sabori explained that the program involves “internalizing the external environment and putting a dollar value on these efforts, related to our carbon footprint, waste, water, and energy use.”

“If we want the future to be a certain way we have to start now with the actions we take,” said Sabori. Everything Volcom does is focused on being cleaner, more renewable, more sustainable and less impactful. Volcom is monitoring its supply chain to lower usage levels by 25%. One way it’s doing this is by participating in the UPS Carbon Neutral Program to track company-wide shipping-related carbon impacts.

“Sabori added that “Volcom’s goal is to be PVC-free and toxic-free by 2020.” Little things can make a difference in the quality of the environment. For example, Volcom’s offices have a water filtration system and discourage the use of plastic water bottles. Many employees ride their bikes to work and carpool – reducing their carbon footprints and supporting a healthy lifestyle.

Volcom offices

After being with Volcom for 17 years Satori feels that his most fulfilling role with the company is working on sustainability issues. “It’s become really personal to me,” he said. “We put sustainability into the mission statement. It’s one of our core values now.”

Like its slogan implies, Volcom is committed to the next generation. This year Volcom teamed up with Stoked, a non-profit organization dedicated to empowering youth through action sports. Volcom is donating a portion of the sales from its Volcom Stoked T-shirts to the organization.

Volcom is contributing to the arts, as well, with its music tours, Road-Tested Videos, Featured Artist Series, International Art Show, Volcomics Book...