2021 Sustainability Report - Text Only

A Message from our Co-Founders

As humans, everything we do has an environmental & social impact. Everything from growing the food we eat, constructing our homes and businesses, and making the clothes we wear all have an environmental & social cost. We also know that our business has an environmental & social impact, which is why we are striving to measure and improve our sustainability performance because we care deeply about conserving and restoring the places we fish, doing our part to be part of the climate solution and ensuring that the people who make our products are treated fairly and equitably. We understand that we are not perfect and that there’s always room for improvement, but we focus on several key environmental areas, such as waste and energy in our operations and the carbon footprint of our operations and products. Additionally, we focus on several key performance indicators on the social side of our business, including: giving back to our nonprofit conservation partners, volunteering in our community and understanding our supply chain.

We are proud of how far we’ve come since we launched RepYourWater in 2011, and we are especially grateful for all of your support over the years, so thank you. We look forward to seeing you out on the water!

Who We Are

MISSION: RepYourWater is an apparel brand dedicated to providing uniquely designed, top quality gear for anglers and hunters while increasing support of local conservation and inspiring exploration.

We are a Colorado company that was co-founded by Corinne and Garrison Doctor in 2011. Over the last 10 years, RepYourWater has grown from just having one hat design that donated a percentage of sales to a local chapter of Trout Unlimited, to a premier brand in the fly fishing industry that now donates a minimum of 3% of sales to 17 different nonprofit conservation partners, is a Zero Waste operation and is officially Climate Neutral Certified. We are now focused on improving the environmental and social impact of our products and supply chain and have begun by utilizing polyester from recycled plastic bottles into our hoodies & fishmasks, organic cotton into our hoodies and some of our hats, as well as products that are ethically sourced.

Memberships, Certifications and Labels

Memberships:

American Fly Fishing Trade Association (AFFTA)

The American Fly Fishing Trade Association’s mission is to guide the sustainable growth of the fly fishing industry through Trade Development and Stewardship. Corinne Doctor serves as the Vice Chair of AFFTA Board.

Fly Fishing Climate Alliance (FFCA)

The Fly Fishing Climate Alliance is an alliance of fly fishing guides, shops, lodges, brands and nonprofits committed to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. RepYourWater is a founding member of FFCA and we are actively working to reduce our Scope 1 & 2 greenhouse gas emissions 50% by 2030 and net-zero emissions by 2050.

Trout Unlimited Business Gold Level

TU Business Gold Level companies work tirelessly to share their passion for fishing and conservation with anglers across the country and around the world. Whether you’re looking for a guide on a blue-ribbon stream or friendly conversation while grabbing a few flies to match the evening hatch, you can support conservation efforts by supporting businesses who do the same. We are proud to be able to support TU in conserving, protecting and restoring North America's coldwater fisheries and their watersheds for future generations.

Certifications:

Climate Neutral Certified

Climate Neutral Certified is the standard earned by companies that offset and reduce their carbon emissions. It's time for companies and consumers to lead, and make climate change solutions happen at a global scale. RepYourWater has been Climate Neutral Certified since 2020, and are proud to continue to measure our Scope 1, 2 & 3 GHG emissions, reduce our emissions and purchase carbon offsets for 100% of our greenhouse gas emissions.

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Zero Waste

Emerger Strategies is a sustainable business consultancy whose mission is to measure and improve its client’s sustainability performance, help emit fewer greenhouse gas emissions and tell a compelling story through transparent reporting. RepYourWater has been working with Emerger Strategies since 2016, and is proud to be a Zero Waste operation since 2017, which means we have diverted over 90% of our operation’s waste from the landfill through recycling, composting and product donations.

3% for Conservation

We now donate 3% of every purchase to our conservation partners whether bought from us directly or one of our retailers. To date (April 2022) we have donated more than $381,000 to our conservation partners. Our conservation partners are made up of non-profits contributing to policy and on-the-ground work for fisheries and outdoor recreational conservation such as the Trout Unlimited chapters of Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico and the TU Southeastern Conservation Project; Backcountry Hunters and Anglers Chapters of Alaska, Southwest US and Montana; the Wild Steelhead Coalition, Idaho Wildlife Federation, The Bonefish and Tarpon Trust, Driftless Area Restoration Effort, Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture, Atlantic Coastal Fish Habitat Partnership and the Great Lakes Regional Center of NWF and also to Climate Neutral who certifies our business as Carbon Neutral as we work together towards a solution to the climate crisis.

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

We hope to leave the planet better than we found it, which is why we have aligned our business with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. “The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015, provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future. At its heart are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are an urgent call for action by all countries - developed and developing - in a global partnership. They recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests.” We are thrilled to support the UN SDGs in the following ways:

No Poverty: End poverty in all its form everywhere. By paying our employees a living wage, we contribute to no poverty.
Zero Hunger: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture. By embedding sustainability into our governance and management systems and paying our employees a living wage, we contribute to zero hunger.
Good Health & Well-being: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages. Through our company governance, paying our employees a living wage and our health and safety policies, we contribute to good health & well-being.
Quality Education: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. Through our company governance, employee wages and employment terms, we contribute to quality education.
Gender Equality: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. By being a 50% woman-owned company and ensuring that equity-seeking populations are in senior management, we contribute to gender equality.
Clean Water & Sanitation: Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all. We contribute to clean water and sanitation by donating to our nonprofit conservation partners, such as Trout Unlimited.
Affordable & Clean Energy: Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all. We contribute to affordable and clean energy through the purchase of REC’s for our purchased electricity.
Decent Work & Economic Growth: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all. We contribute decent work and economic growth by paying employees a living wage and through our employment terms.
Industry Innovation & Infrastructure: Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation. We contribute to industry innovation and infrastructure by paying our fair share of taxes, as well as supporting ethical lobbying and advocacy.
Reduced Inequalities: Reduce inequality within and among countries. By not supporting, or having memberships in, organizations that lobby for policies or actions that would undermine progress toward a socially just, economically inclusive and environmentally restorative society, we help reduce inequalities.
Sustainable Cities & Communities: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. By embedding sustainability considerations into our policies, practices, processes and systems, as well as stream and river restoration volunteer work, we are contributing to sustainable cities and communities.
Responsible Consumption & Production: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns. Through our sustainable procurement policies, Climate Neutral Certification and Zero Waste operations, we are contributing to responsible consumption and production.
Climate Action: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts. By ctively working to reduce our carbon footprint and achieving Climate Neutral Certification, we are taking strong climate action.
Life Below Water: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development. Through our nonprofit conservation partners, and sourcing organic cotton, we are contributing to life below water.
Life on Land: Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss. Through the purchase of carbon offsets, we are supporting life on land.
Peace, Justice & Strong Institutions: Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels. Through the ethical handling of community concerns, customer concerns, ethical investing & lobbying, we are contributing to peace, justice and strong institutions.
Partnerships for the Goals: Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development.

10 Years of Impact:

We have been on a sustainability journey since our inception in 2011 and we are proud of the accomplishments we have made along the way. Here are some of the highlights over the last 10 years:

2011: RepYourWater is co-founded by Corinne & Garrison Doctor and the decision is made to donate a percentage of sales back to their state chapter of Trout Unlimited.

2016: We created baselines of our environmental and social bottom lines, such as Scope 1 & 2 greenhouse gas emissions, waste diverted from the landfill, volunteer hours and amount donated to our nonprofit conservation partners and established our 2020 Sustainability Goals, which were: Carbon Neutral, Zero Waste, Donate $250K to Nonprofit Conservation Partners and Volunteer 200 Hours.

2017: RepYourWater officially goes Zero Waste in our operations through recycling, composting and reducing the amount of waste through being more mindful and began purchasing Renewable Energy Certificates (REC’s) for our purchased electricity. We donated $54K to our conservation partners in a single year and volunteered a total of 65 hours.

2018: RepYourWater maintains Zero Waste status while continuing to purchase REC’s for purchased electricity while executing strategies to reduce the carbon footprint of our warehouse/HQ. We donated $53.7K to our nonprofit conservation partners and volunteered a total of 52 hours.

2019: RepYourWater continues on its Zero Waste path, as well as purchasing REC’s for purchased electricity, but takes our first step with our products by introducing organic cotton and ethically-sourced flannels. We also donated $55.8K to our nonprofit conservation partners in 2019 and volunteered a total of 41.5 hours.

2020: We are stoked to have surpassed all of our 2020 Sustainability Goals, which included: Donating over $250K total to our nonprofit conservation partners since 2011; Volunteering over 200 hours, going carbon neutral and going zero waste. We will dive in more detail in the following Sustainability Report, but we also became a founding member of the Fly Fishing Climate Alliance and we calculated our entire carbon footprint (Scope 1, 2, & 3 greenhouse gas emissions) for 2019 and are officially Carbon Neutral!

2021: We are thrilled to share that we have maintained our Zero Waste status, and in 2021, we became Climate Neutral Certified. Looking ahead, we will continue to focus on how to improve the sustainability performance of our supply chain and products.

Going forward we will be diving deeper into our products and supply chain, as well as expanding how we measure our sustainability performance and how we contribute to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

2021 Environmental & Social Impact

We have been measuring our environmental and social impact since 2017. When we started, we focused on our own operations, but as we have evolved, we have expanded into looking at the impact of our products and supply chain. Some of our favorite highlights from 2021 are: maintaining Zero Waste operations; achieving Climate Neutral Certification, volunteering for our local chapter of Trout Unlimited and donating 3% of our sales to our 17 nonprofit conservation partners:

*2021 SUSTAINABILITY FACTS*
Governance
% Ownership by Equity-Seeking Population	50% Women-Owned
% Equity-Seeking Population Represented in Sr. Management Positions	50%
% Sustainability considerations are embedded in policies, practices, processes and systems.	100%
% Of public reports include environmental and social performance results.	100%
*ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT*
Carbon Footprint
Scope 1 GHG Emissions	0 mtCO2e
Scope 2 GHG Emissions	8 mtCO2e
Scope 3 GHG Emissions	1,165 mtCO2e
Total Carbon Footprint	1,173 mtCO2e
% Carbon Footprint Offset w/ Purchase of Carbon Offsets	100%
Energy
Purchased Electricity	8,043 kWh
Waste
Waste Sent to Landfill	190.66 pounds
Waste Recycled	5,489.6 pounds
Waste Composted	52.7 pounds
% Waste Diverted from Landfill	96.67%
Water
Purchased Water	n/a
*SOCIAL IMPACT*
Employee Wages
% Of Employees Making Living Wage	100%
Employee Health & Safety
# Of Workplace Health & Safety Issues	0
Community Impact
Volunteer Hours	80
Giving Back
Monetary Donations to 17 Nonprofit Conservation partners	$41,689
% Of Revenue Donated	3%

Governance

Responsible organizations embed sustainability considerations in their governance and management systems, which is why we are ensuring that sustainability-related risks and opportunities are duly included in our key systems and processes. For example, ensuring that equity-seeking populations are represented in senior management positions, and that sustainability-related innovation is prioritized in our product design and delivery.

Carbon Footprint

We are proud to have achieved Climate Neutral Certification, which means that we have measured our Scope 1,2 & 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and purchased carbon offsets for 100% of our emissions. Our 2021 carbon footprint was 1,173 mtCO2e. We invested $15,836 in carbon credits related to reforestation, wind, solar and improved forest management, which were sourced by Climate Neutral. We will always look for ways to reduce our carbon footprint, regardless of organizational growth.

Energy

Responsible organizations should use only renewable energy, which is why we measure and purchase REC’s for our energy usage at our headquarters, but will continue to explore options for on-site renewable energy, as well as procuring goods and services from net-zero suppliers. We consumed 8,073 kWh of purchased electricity in 2021.

Waste

Responsible organizations should eliminate all avoidable hazardous and non-hazardous waste and repurpose all remaining forms of waste, which is why we are stoked to continue maintaining Zero Waste operations. In 2021, we diverted 96.67% of our waste from the landfill through recycling, composting and donating goods to those in need.

Water

Responsible organizations should not use water from water-stressed areas and ensure that all discharged water is adequately treated. While we certainly operate in a water-stressed area, we share our building with other tenants and the water we use is not material. That said, we have taken water conservation seriously by installing aerators in the bathrooms and kitchen to conserve water.

Wages

We pay our employees at least a living wage, so that they can afford a decent standard of living for their families. We are grateful for our employee’s hard work and proud to ensure they are well paid. 100% of our employees are paid a living wage.

Health & Safety

We believe responsible organizations should provide a safe and healthy workplace. "Health" includes physical, mental and emotional health, which is why we monitor and record health and safety issues; have policies, practices and programs that support mental wellbeing, including condemnation of workplace bullying and harassment, provide our employees with good nutrition options and encourage physical activity (and quick fishing trips!) in the workplace. We are happy to share we had zero health and safety related issues in 2021.

Community Impact

We measure our community impact by the number of volunteer hours our company donates to various nonprofits, including our local chapter of Trout Unlimited, AFFTA Fisheries Fund and the design work Garrison donates. We are very proud to have volunteered 80 hours to help make our community and fly fishing community better than we found it.

Giving Back

Since our inception in 2011 we made conservation a key component of our business. Just as our designs started in Colorado, so did our conservation partners. We teamed up with Colorado Trout Unlimited within a few weeks of selling our first hats and the list of products and conservation partners has grown from there. We now donate 3% of every purchase to our conservation partners whether bought from us directly or one of our retailers. To date (April 2022) we have donated more than $381,000 to our conservation partners.

Our conservation partners are made up of non-profits contributing to policy and on-the-ground work for fisheries and outdoor recreational conservation such as the Trout Unlimited chapters of Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico and the TU Southeastern Conservation Project; Backcountry Hunters and Anglers Chapters of Alaska, Southwest US and Montana; the Wild Steelhead Coalition, Idaho Wildlife Federation, The Bonefish and Tarpon Trust, Driftless Area Restoration Effort, Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture, Atlantic Coastal Fish Habitat Partnership and the Great Lakes Regional Center of NWF and also to Climate Neutral who certifies our business as Carbon Neutral as we work together towards a solution to the climate crisis.

Sustainability Goals

As we look towards the future and our mid- to long-term sustainability goals, we will continue down our carbon neutral and zero waste path and begin to focus on improving the social and environmental performance of our products. We are not perfect, but we will continue to strive to protect what we love by using our business as a way to solve the climate crisis. Here are our mid-term and long-term Sustainability Goals:

Category	Goal	Timeline
Environmental	Using hangtags or product bands with recycled content in 25% of our product categories within the next 12 months by working with our packaging suppliers to find recycled and recyclable options.	2022
Environmental	15% of our headwear will contain recycled or organic materials.	2023
Environmental	25% of our headwear will contain recycled or organic materials.	2025
Environmental	50% of our apparel will contain recycled or organic materials.	2025
Environmental	100% of our products will by packaged using recycled packaging.	2030
Environmental	Reduce our Scope 1 & 2 GHG emissions 50%.	2030
Environmental	Achieve Net-Zero GHG emissions.	2050
Social	Donate $500K to our nonprofit conservation partners.	2025
Social	Volunteer 500 hours to nonprofits.	2025

We look forward to continuing to measure the success of our business in large part by how much we can give back and by reducing our carbon footprint, while improving the livelihoods of the people who are making our products. Thank you for your support as we work to protect what we love!

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