Sustainability

At Vallerret our mission is to help photographers overcome the challenges of Winter Photography. In doing so, we produce gloves made for endurance with high-performance materials to help photographers thrive even in the harshest winter conditions.

We strive to make the best choices for the environment in production, but any way you look at it, production creates pollution. We are very aware of that and that’s is why we have committed to offsetting both our historic and future carbon footprint and continue to explore ways to do better. 

We are not perfect and while there is a lot of work to be done, we are excited to be taking great steps forward in our commitment to conduct as responsible and sustainable business practises as possible - and give back.

Here's what we are currently doing: 

Organizations we support

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1% for the Planet 

We are proud to announce our partnership with 1% for the Planet. Started in 2002 by Yvon Chouinard and Craig Mathews, 1% for the Planet is a global organization that connects dollars and doers to accelerate smart environmental giving.

When you buy a Vallerret Photography Glove, you can be sure that your purchase will give back. Vallerret is committed to donating 1% of annual sales to support environmental non-profit organizations who work hard to create a healthy and vibrant future for our planet.

The Conservation Alliance: 

The Conservation Alliance is a nonprofit focused on funding for community-based campaigns to protect threatened wild habitat and outdoor recreation. The Alliance was founded in 1989 by outdoor industry leaders REI, Patagonia, The North Face and Kelty who shared a goal of increasing outdoor industry support for conservation efforts. They are all geared up to disburse $2.0 million in 2019!⠀

We choose to partner with the Conservation Alliance because since its inception in 1989, the Conservation Alliance has helped save more than 51 million acres of wildlands, protected 3,107 miles of rivers, stopped or removed 34 dams, designated five marine reserves and purchased 14 climbing areas.⠀

As recreationists and an outdoor inspired-business, we are proud to partner with the Conservation Alliance to help ensure our wild places and public lands are protected and well-managed.

Other Partnerships 

We are currently finalizing partnerships with several non-profit partners doing exciting projects around the world. We are currently finalizing the details and will be ready to announce our partnerships soon.

Sustainable Glove Care

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We all have a part to play when it comes to sustainability and part of being a sustainable consumer is making sure you get the most out of your products. We are proud of the quality of our gloves and with proper care, they should serve you in your photography adventures for years to come. Here are our tips for caring for your gloves.

Best Practices

• Hand wash your gloves
• Keep them the far away from the tumble dryer. As the gloves have 100 % merino wool liners, the wool may shrink or twist in the tumble dryer if not handled properly, so don’t take any chances here.
• If you’ve been out on a particularly damp photography mission, be sure to hang dry your gloves as soon as you get home to avoid material breakdown and mold.
• Cut your fingernails. Sound silly? Hear us out! Just like how having long toenails will wear out your socks, having long fingernails will take a toll on your gloves. Our gloves are lined with merino liner which can be delicate. To get the most life out of your gloves, we recommend keeping your nails short to avoid wear and tear to the fingertips.

Reducing your carbon footprint

We know that shipping our product from country to country takes a toll on our environment. When choosing your glove size, please be sure to measure your hand and compare it to our sizing chart. We are happy to do sizing exchanges but please keep in mind every exchange results in more carbon emissions so if we can, we’d love to help get it right from the beginning. If you have any questions about the fit, please don’t hesitate to reach out at support@photogrpahygloves.com. 

Here's what you can do to help:

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From businesses to individuals, there's always a way to get involved and do better. These are recommendations created by professionals and industry experts to share and use freely. We found it to be a great guide, maybe you will too. 

1. Tax yourself. Join 1% For The Planet, and commit to donating 1% of your revenue to environmental nonprofits. You do not have to be a business to do this. 

2. Estimate your footprint. Use a 3rd party auditor like 3degrees or Carbonfund.org to estimate your Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions.

3. Offset your footprint. Offsetting your historic carbon emissions and all future emissions surprisingly cheaper and easier than you think. Check out Carbonfund.org and Bonneville Environmental Foundation.