Outdoor Retailer Magazine / June 2022
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Both fun and educational, the brand’s new short film “Local Supply Cycle” follows Johnston and crew on a one-day, 250-mile backroad ride along its supply chain and into the proud history of U.S. textile production. It starts in Yadkin County, where Recover transforms plastic water bottles into yarn; rambles into Statesville in Iredell County, where that yarn becomes fabric; rolls into South Fork, for a look at dye-free fabric scouring; and ends up back in Charlotte for a well deserved beer.
The idea of the bike ride made perfect sense since Recover Brands itself began in 2009 when Johnston bought a bike from family friend John Riddle and the two started riding North Carolina roads and trails together and discussing ways they could make a real difference in manufacturing. Fresh out of college, Johnston worked at Charleston, South Carolina’s Half-Moon Outfitters and at adventure travel company Moondance Adventures while creating the business. Riddle has spent three decades in the textile industry and understood how to change the system.
That hyper-local supply chain that “Local Supply Cycle” explores is the backbone of the steps Recover has taken to build a more sustainable and community-centered business—but there is much more. The product itself is the big sell. Recover creates all of its apparel—performance and graphic tees, fleece, polos—from recycled plastic water bottles melted into pellets sewn into yarn. The brand then washes that yarn without using dyes, instead relying on organic cotton for color. “This saves roughly 10 times the water and energy when compared to a conventional t-shirt,” says Johnston. It’s a closed loop process, too, since Recover will take back customer’s used shirts and recycle them into new apparel. This dedication to sustainable manufacturing means the brand has diverted 12,534,376 plastic bottles from the landfill, saved 46,690 kilowatt hours (KWH) of electricity, kept 19,005,248 pounds of CO2 emissions out of the atmosphere, and saved 3.26 billion gallons of water (and counting) since 2010.
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the road to recover
Recover Brands has kept the reach of its supply chain to within just 250 miles of its North Carolina headquarters. To celebrate that sustainable business model, the company biked its hyper-local supply-chain route—and made a cool film along the way.
By Doug Schnitzspahn
pulse
Washington Post
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Recover Brands president and co-founder Bill Johnston likes to point out that the supply chain for the average T-shirt traverses 17,000 miles from raw material to finished product—about the same mileage you would rack up flying from Nome, Alaska to Buenos Aires, Argentina, and back. Recover Brands is committed to slashing the waste such massive distances cause in a supply chain—it’s just 205 miles between where the brand recycles plastic bottles, spins them into yarn, and turns them into shirts at its Charlotte, North Carolina, headquarters. And what better way for outdoor junkies to celebrate the beauty of such a localized operation than bike those 250 miles of rolling countryside?
Recover Brands walks the walk when it comes to giving back in the outdoor community, too. It’s a member of 1% for the Planet and donates proceeds to the National Parks Foundation and carbonfund.org. Recover has partnered with Protect Our Winters and Teton Gravity Research with shirts meant to raise awareness on climate change and I Heart Pisgah to help protect North Carolina’s pristine public lands. Its Protect Our Parks shirts make a statement and raise funds. Its Support Local tees give cash to help small business make it through crises like COVID-19. And its Recover Artists Development (RAD) program supports local musicians (and gives them an eco-conscous set of talking points at the merch table).
The best part is that the product doesn’t feel as if it were spun from that empty Diet Coke bottle kicking around in the back of your car. These shirts are both comfy and able to withstand a beating in the wild. As evidenced by the Supply Chain bike journey and support of local endurance athletes like ultrarunner Seth Bard and trail runner Lisa Landrum, Johnston and crew make clothing that can handle action—and has a nice hand feel. The tees are just the ticket for core trail pursuits and the active polos make for the perfect travel or bike-to-work shirt.
It all adds up to a model that U.S. manufacturers can follow to support both hometown and planet. “As a global society we must reduce our greenhouse gas emissions,” says Johnston, “and local manufacturing is a major driver towards a more sustainable tomorrow.”
Want to learn more? Click here to watch the film and visit the stops along the supply chain. Or ask questions in person. Recover Brands will be at Outdoor Retailer Summer 2022 at Booth 42080-UL, hosting a coffee bar in the booth each day and a happy hour on Day 2, Friday, June 10. Enjoy that beverage and chat with “Local Supply Cycle” riders and producers/directors Adam and Bill, who will be in the booth chatting hyper-local supply chains, sustainability, business innovation, and outdoor adventure (and promoting a new podcast) with likeminded souls and curious attendees.
“As a global society we must reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, and local manufacturing is a major driver towards a more sustainable tomorrow.”
Recover Brands' one-day, 250 mile ride along its hyper-local supply chain included visits to local business partners where recycled plastic bottles are turned into yarn, scoured, and cut into its comfy performance t-shirts, polos, and fleeces.
The best part is that the product doesn’t feel as if it were spun from that empty Diet Coke bottle kicking around in the back of your car.
Biking the supply chain route was a way to celebrate the ethos of lowering the cost of manufacturing on the planet while connecting to the local community. Below, Bill Johnston rests in Murray & Minges General Store in Catawba, North Carolina.
Recover's "Local Supply Cycle" short film reframes how sustainable and high quality apparel can be made entirely within 250 miles instead of the industry average of 17,000 miles. This hyper-local supply chain is small enough that Recover pulled together a few friends to bike the supply chain in a single day.
CREDITS
Photography by Samuel Martin
Videography by Pat McGrady and Thomas Richmond
Edited by Patrick McGrady