Sole, Quik, Volcom form The Sustainability Collective

Sole Technology, Quiksilver and Volcom have joined together to form The Sustainability Collective, a group devoted to pooling resources to tackle environmental and sustainability issues in the industry.

The hope is that more companies will join The Collective to extend its reach. The new group was announced at the Industry Boot Camp on Monday.

All three companies have their internal environmental point people working on the project in addition to their other duties – Derek Sabori, Director of Sustainability, Volcom; Roian Atwood, Manager of Environmental Affairs, Sole Technology; and Jeff Wilson, Vice President of Sustainability Programs, Quiksilver.

The idea is to continue and expand the work done by Frank Scura at the Action Sports Environmental Coalition and to provide a place where the industry can go to find best practices and solutions to issues instead of each individual company spending time and resources to do the same research on its own.

Frank said he always hoped that industry competitors would come together to work on these issues collectively, and because the new group is composed of people inside companies, it will be easier to get things done.

Frank will continue with ASEC, but it will morph into more of a consumer-facing organization rather than a business-to-business group.

(Frank Scura announcing changes to ASEC.)

ASEC will carry on with its initiatives such as The Green Room, dedicated spaces within retailers for green products, Roll Anything Day, and its work teaching kids about water conservation in schools.

The ASEC website will also morph into a news gathering site for sustainability issues and will offer a membership component for the public and giveaways from athletes, etc.

Derek, Jeff and Roian of The Sustainability Collective outlined a few things they want to accomplish in 2011 at the Industry Boot Camp:

– Four to five educational seminars or webinars

– Three to four best practices

– Create a website with information and advice on environmental and sustainability issues.

For more information about The Sustainability Collective, contact Ashton Maxfield at Sole Technology.