Sustainability at Pingree Detroit

Our mission: Maximize Well-being

Reimagining Sustainability

In our Detroit workshop, Michiganders and Veterans design, engineer, and handmake our goods with circularity and restorative principles in mind. We believe it’s our collective responsibility to make decisions that benefit and protect life 7 generations from now so we work hard to maximize well-being for our customers, team, our surrounding community, and the environment.

Here are some of the ways we do that:

We improve our watersheds by eliminating all harmful chemicals from the entire life-cycle of our process and invite competitors and partners to do the same. We choose materials and processes that heal the surrounding environment, reduce climate change causing emissions, and align with our commitment to localization. We upcycle leather and other materials otherwise destined for the landfill. The majority of our equipment and materials are sourced from the USA. All shipping materials we use are 100% recycled and compostable.

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People + Planet > Profit

77% of profits are reinvested into our workers, neighborhoods, free skilled-trades training, and restoration of the Great Lakes watershed. We are a worker owned- cooperative. We have community impact investors, and are majority worker-owned, and our stakeholders include the life giving systems around us(land, air, water, surrounding ecosystems) when making decisions.

THE PINGREE STORY

ECO-FRIENDLY APPROACHES

WASTE FREE

25,000 lbs of automotive leather diverted from the landfill since 2015 and on the way to completely eliminating all waste from our entire supply chain by 2030.

CARBON FREE FOOTPRINT

Pingree has net zero emissions and offsets our in-bound and outbound carbon and GHG emissions from shipping and energy usage with forestry projects and investing in renewable energy. We hope to one day work with all our materials and hardware suppliers to measure their carbon footprint and partner with them to offset those emissions as well.

CIRCULAR ECONOMY

Working towards having a completely closed loop (circular) supply chain and to eliminate any of our products going to the landfill after they can’t be repaired anymore. We want each design to have its own QR code to be easily scanned for lifelong repairs and if it gets to a point where you want a refresh or we can’t fix it anymore, we can shred and recycle 100% of the product - where we transform it into fill for products like punching bags and dog beds, alongside our partners like NextTiles in Detroit or shredding the rubber to become playground surfaces. We also leverage reconstituted leather waste and transform it into eco leather with our automotive partners with greater resources than we have. We want to transform our collective relationship with “waste” and reimagine a world where everything we use can become an input for something else.

TOXIC FREE

No harsh chemicals are used and our glue is water based.

MATERIALS LIBRARY

Invest in some remnants by ordering some here or schedule a visit in-person on Thursdays from 11am-12pm or 1pm-4pm to come to our Detroit workshop and take advantage of our free materials library. Larger pieces are available on a first come first serve basis and when available, full hides are available for purchase at a wholesale price.

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Future Goals

We are exploring plant based leather solutions to offer alongside our upcycled offerings. We’ve invested considerable resources to find solutions that meet the performance criteria we have, that are also made without plastics, PVC, or processes that are negative to the watershed and communities where they’re made. There are leathers derived from the waste of apples, tomatoes, harvesting cactus and coconut, mushrooms, and food waste, and we’re working with the few who meet our exact needs and excited to share these offerings with you in the years ahead. Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter so you learn about our plant-powered collection.

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Be an Impact Ambassador Alongside Us

Review our products, help us tell our story, share our offerings to your network, email us and suggest ways we can be even more sustainable. Let us be part of your story and help us reach new audiences. Relationships truly are our strongest currency and we’d love to find ways to work with new folks to help us tell a new story about sustainability in fashion and footwear.

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Test Drive our products

Carbon free shipping, free returns/exchanges, hardware and stitching guaranteed for life, and no questions asked refunds up to 365 days after purchase(some restrictions apply).

Collectively we have the power to build momentum towards a future that can sustain life 7 generations from now. Together, we can and will accelerate the shift towards a restorative, localized, equitable economy.

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