In 2008, Oboz Footwear, the True to the Trail outdoor footwear company headquartered in Bozeman, Montana, partnered with Trees for the Future to create the One More Tree program which plants a tree for every pair of Oboz Footwear sold.
The program has planted two million trees and in celebration of the milestone Oboz will plant two trees for every pair of Oboz Footwear sold starting November 1, 2018 and running through the end of the year.
John Connelly, company founder, said: “From the beginning, I wanted Oboz Footwear to help improve people’s lives. Partnering with Trees for the Future has allowed us to leverage our impact and see measurable results. Put simply, more trees are a good thing, and we couldn’t have achieved this without the support of our customers.”
By planting two million trees Oboz and Trees for the Future have helped reforest over 1,200 acres of land and sequester over 77,000 metric tons of carbon. Most of the trees were planted in grassroots projects in five countries of East and West Africa.
John Leary, Trees for the Future’s Executive Director and author of the award-winning book One Shot: Trees as our last chance for survival, said: “We share Oboz Footwear’s belief in being True to the Trail, the ethical compass set on doing what we know to be best for people and our planet.
“Every Oboz purchase enables us to plant One More Tree – It could be a thorny tree planted in a living fence to protect a field from grazing animals, a fruit tree planted to provide oranges or mangoes for a family, or a fertilizer tree planted to bring life back to degraded soil.”
In the mountains of Cameroon and Kenya, the trees are protecting soils and providing livelihoods for hillside communities in the form of fruit, livestock feed, and natural fertilizers. In the arid lands of Senegal and Tanzania, fruit trees combined with vegetable gardens are enabling impoverished families to end their chronic hunger.
The Forest Gardens Approach has proven to increase farmers income by 400 per cent and more and more farmers are joining the planting programs.
Beyond the One More Tree program, Oboz Footwear has enacted numerous sustainability efforts throughout its business. Oboz purchases carbon offsets for its footwear shipments, office utility bill, and employee travel including their daily commute. Oboz also powers its offices with clean wind energy from wind farms in Central Idaho and Washington, through the EPA Green Power Partnership. Additionally, Oboz donates unsellable, but still trail-worthy shoes, through partnerships with Project Sole and local non-profits.
In 2018 Oboz teamed up with Small Woods, a UK wide woodland charity to create the Hawthorn project, whereby you ‘Try a Pair and Plant a Tree’. For simply trying on a pair of Oboz footwear in one of their retail stores you receive a packet containing a British Hawthorn seed, sourced by Small Woods. As of today, the project has sent 4,000 seeds out to their retailers across the UK.
Ian Baker, CEO of Small Woods notes that “over half of the UK’s small woodlands are neglected, overlooked and undervalued.” Through the Hawthorn project we not only planted more trees supporting our native wildlife and wider eco-system but we have also improved the understanding, awareness and sustainability of small woodlands across the UK.
Those interested in helping Oboz Footwear and Trees for the Future plant more trees can purchase a pair at their local Oboz Footwear dealer or donate directly to the cause at https://donate.trees.org/fundraiser/1714415.
To learn more about the One More Tree program, The Hawthorn Project and Oboz award winning line of footwear, or find the retailer nearest you visit www.obozfootwear.com.
