Dive Brief:
- Lifestyle apparel brand Tentree has opened its first brick-and-mortar store located in Washington, D.C., per a press release emailed to Retail Dive.
- The new 1,208-square-foot Tentree store, located in the Shaw neighborhood of the U.S. capital, offers a curated assortment of the brand’s men’s and women’s apparel and accessories. The full collection can be found on the brand’s website.
- The eco-driven company says it plants 10 trees for every item purchased to combat climate change. To date, the Vancouver, British Columbia-based brand, in partnership with international nonprofit organizations, has planted 100 million trees in the U.S., Canada, Senegal, Haiti, Madagascar, Nepal, Indonesia and Kenya.
Dive Insight:
Launched in 2012 by Kalen Emsley, David Luba and Derrick Emsley, Tentree grew from a small T-shirt line into a lifestyle brand selling online and through wholesale partnerships with Earth Treks, Sun and Ski, and a number of smaller retailers in North America and the U.K.
“D.C. is the perfect first home for Tentree’s first U.S. retail store,” Diana Seung, president of Tentree, said in a statement. “There is a vibrant tree equity and planting community in D.C. that we are excited to join, and advocate for reforestation to fight climate change and restore our planet.”
The planting of trees by the brand also includes a program around the planting of kelp and coral through an association with the nonprofit Ocean Wise.
“In addition to ensuring sustainable and responsible manufacturing and the planting of trees for each item purchased, consumers can either recycle or resell their unwanted clothing and earn credits to shop at Tentree through our Circularity program,” said Seung in a statement.
The circularity program launched in Fall 2022, combining the efforts of Treet (a resale platform) and SuperCircle (a recycle platform). In 2022, customers returned 1,150 items, 20% to resale and 80% recycled.
Studies show that a growing number of consumers wish to shop sustainably and will pay more for a product that is eco-friendly.
Fashion, however, remains one of the bigger polluting industries in the world. And companies haven’t fully embraced circularity, per a recent report by Kearney, a global strategy and management consulting firm.
