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Posts tagged: Mountain Gear

Spokane’s Mountain Gear receives sustainable retailer of the year award

Jan. 30, 2012 12:17 p.m. • 0 comments

Spokane's Mountain Gear has been named the Sustainable Retailer of the year at the 2012 Winter Outdoor Retailer Show, held in Salt Lake.

The award honors outdoor retailers who embody solid entrepreneurship and work on behalf of the community.

“This award honors exemplary retailers and sets a bar for all other retailers to achieve, with the ultimate goal of establishing a standard for specialty retail excellence nationwide,” SNEWS President Michael Hodgson said.

Mountain Gear President Paul Fish took the challenge of a reduced footprint when he decided to relocate the corporate offices and distribution center to a new building, a former manufacturing facility.

Using LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) guidelines, Mountain Gear conducted an extensive renovation to install skylights, windows, energy management systems, and drought-tolerant landscaping. Much of the project used reused and recycled materials. Low-flow plumbing, energy-efficient lighting and filtered water.

The company also actively promotes transportation options, including a bike purchase program that has helped many company workers to choose to bike instead of drive to work.

Outdoor gear retailer Mountain Gear recognized for supporting cycling

Posted by Tom

Oct. 5, 2011 2:42 p.m. • 0 comments

For the third year in a row, Spokane outdoor retailer Mountain Gear has won a Silver Award for being a bike-friendly business by the League of American Bicyclists.

Showing up to work in spandex and lycra from a commute or after a morning ride up Mount Spokane isn’t just tolerated, it’s encouraged.

“We’re very excited to be leading the growing bike culture here in the Spokane area,” Mountain Gear President Paul Fish said in a release.

The company actively encourages the benefits — healthwise and economically — of biking. It offers showers and indoor bike parking and offers rewards for those workers who bike to work and participate in local bike advocacy.

Employees are encouraged to buy bikes hrough Mountain Gear’s employee bike purchase program. Coordinated with Two Wheel Transit in Spokane, the program has helped outfit over 60 employees and employee family members with new bikes.

For information on the Bike Friendly Business Program, visit www.bikeleague.org.

Mountain Gear will recycle used footwear and other outdoor textiles

Posted by Tom

Dec. 16, 2010 12:14 p.m. • 0 comments

Staring this week, Spokane outdoor retailer Mountain Gear will start accepting used items — footwear, jackets, pants, shirts, socks, tents, harnesses, backpacks and other cloth-based items — and will donate them to a textile recycling facility. Items do not have to be outdoor equipment only.

The intent of the program is to extend the life of usable outdoor items and materials. A company release said usable products will be reused through secondhand markets; unusable items will be recycled into new materials and fibers. The north Spokane shop, at 2002 N. Division, will also direct customers with items needing repair to to local repair services.

About 10 percent of all textiles are reused or recycled, and Mountain Gear President Paul Fish said his company would like to raise that rate in the Spokane area.

Fish emphasized this program is meant to supplement existing recycling efforts and donations by collecting items that have reached the end of their useful life.

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