We are proud to see New Frontiers 2017/18 alumni Forester Products lead the way on Corporate Social Responsibility. Sean and Alannah the Co-Founders of this vegan fashion brand have chosen a CSR cause thats well aligned with the company values. By supporting One Tree Planted, the company is building CSR into the core of their business.
One of the main reasons we started Forester Products was to give something back. We wanted to not only create ethical, sustainable and cruelty-free fashion products, but we wanted others to benefit from the work are were doing. With so many amazing organisations doing incredible work with people, the environment and animals it wasn’t an easy choice. We spent a lot of time deliberating and researching until we found One Tree Planted. Based in Vermont, One Tree Planted are a non-profit organisation who focus on the six pillars of global reforestation (air, water, biodiversity, social impact, health and climate). They work directly with reforestation organisations across four continents; North America, South America, Asia and Africa. When we looked closer at the work being done, we found some shocking statistics which convinced us to partner with One Tree Planted;
• 80% of the world’s rainforests are already destroyed and the rate at which the remaining rainforests are being destroyed is truly astonishing.
• Man destroys a football field of rainforest every two seconds. If current deforestation rates continue it is expected that the world’s rainforests will be gone within 100 years.
• 70% of the world’s plants and animals live in forests. Deforestation leads to them losing their habitats and causes extinction; over 28,000 species are expected to become extinct by 2053
They work with a network of on-the-ground partners around the world to ensure that the most sensible mix of tree species are planted at the right time and in the best ways for optimal survival. Trees are planted by professionals, volunteers, or a combination of both depending on the project. Forester Products’ partnership supports the cost of site preparation, nursery, transportation, materials, tree planning and maintenance and finally the reporting. We follow a simple donation structure – one product plants one tree. The flexible structure also lets us donate to different projects at different times, meaning we can spread the value of our donations to different continents, countries and rainforests. All the trees from our initial donation support tree planting in Haiti. We want to help One Tree Planted on their ‘mission to restore the world’s forests’. We believe that together we can make a real difference.
For more information visit OneTreePlanted.org