Sustainability is the current buzzword of the outdoor industry. High-profile issues like plastic pollution and climate change are front and centre on the popular news agenda, and top of the list of consumer concerns. That means they’re also constantly on the minds of outdoor industry insiders, from product designers to marketing teams.
But back in 2008, when Picture Organic first emerged onto the European winter and snow sports scene, the landscape was very different. With the possible exception of industry leader Patagonia and a couple of other stridently eco-conscious brands, few companies had the planet at the top of their priority list.
Why? Because it was a difficult and thankless task. Making products more sustainable took up way too much time and effort. It meant analyzing and evaluating every stage of the product life cycle. Inevitably, this impacted on the bottom line, adding costs at almost every step. So why bother? Customers weren’t asking for it, and the global climate crisis was yet to fully emerge. It just didn’t seem that important.
But it is. The textile industry is responsible for approximately 7% of overall worldwide carbon emissions. Luckily, Picture Organic was different. Like a chef that decides to only cook with organic ingredients, right from the start, the brand was and is 100% committed to sustainable, eco-conscious design. The ‘ingredients’ in their clothing and apparel – not just the fabrics and fills, but also finishing touches like zippers, hardware and even water repellent treatments – had to be sourced responsibly and produced with minimum environmental impact.
Where did this all-encompassing environmental ethos come from? Well, to continue with this cooking analogy, it was baked in from the outset, stemming from the beliefs of the brand’s three iconoclastic French founders: Julien Durant, Vincent André and Jérémy Rochette. The trio were lifelong friends and passionate snowboarders.
Julien explains: “Jérémy, Vincent and I have been super close since we were kids and grew up together skating and snowboarding around Clermont-Ferrand. We always talked about starting a brand but ended up going our separate ways. But after a few years we all realised that following the ‘normal’ path and working in big cities for big companies wasn’t for us. So, we decided to move home and start working together to build something we believed in”.
Julien had ended up in Paris working for global brands like Coca-Cola and Schweppes, and Vincent had forged a career in IT. But Jérémy’s professional background was in architecture – a discipline integrally concerned with design and materials. This proved to be the foundation for Picture’s vision as a brand.
“Jérémy was determined that any brand we’d create must be committed to sustainability. His vision was to start a mountain brand with fresh designs and a whole new philosophy: a ‘cool version’ of Patagonia with Burton snowboard style”.
Sounds good, right? If only it were that simple. As countless failed start-ups will attest, launching a successful outdoor brand isn’t easy. But Julien and the others were determined to beat the odds. They moved back home with their parents, each investing €36,000 into the fledgling company. After securing some initial investment, they began convincing outdoor consumers that Picture Organic was about to become a serious player.
“The hardest thing was to make customers trust that eco-friendly products were a direction to take as a brand”, says Julien. “Ten years ago, there were not many brands going in that direction.”
He illustrates this perfectly by recollecting some early research that the trio did on sustainability and customer preferences. This intel was gleaned by talking directly to skiers and snowboarders on the slopes – and the findings were illuminating.
“Every summer we spent two weeks snowboarding in Les Deux Alpes. And one summer we did a short survey. We asked 500 consumers on the gondolas five questions each. The first question was, ‘Do you think eco-friendly and sustainable clothes are interesting and important?’ Most people would say yes. Then we asked them, ‘Would you pay 10% more for an eco-friendly product?’ 99% of people said no. ‘How about 5% more?’ Still no. But if the sustainable products were the same price as what was already available, they all said yes.
“For them, the sustainable aspect was just something cool and different, but not a benefit that was worth paying more for. It’s not like organic food – where the perception is that eating organic can really benefit your health, so you’re prepared to pay more. When it comes to clothing, for most consumers it’s just a kind of trendy thing. So, this is this is why we realised we needed to sell our products at the same price as non-organic products”.
That last point has been fundamental to Picture’s success. Prices are controlled to make sure that each piece of Picture clothing or apparel is a viable alternative to conventional industrial production. The kit performs just as well as those from other brands. It doesn’t cost more, yet it’s better for the planet. This was a novel approach in an industry whose eco efforts were typically restricted to short-run products with a single ‘headline’ eco initiative. Typically, this gives a brand some good PR and the chance to stake a claim for sustainability, without really changing its fundamental business practices – something that has since been dubbed ‘greenwashing’.
That’s not something Picture is interested in. In contrast, their approach looks at every stage of the production process in a critical and rigorous way. This has afforded the brand the opportunity to achieve several significant milestones. Picture was one of the first outerwear companies to eliminate toxic per-fluorinated compounds (PFCs) from all their product lines. They also helped develop the world’s first bio-based waterproof-breathable membrane. The industry soon started to sit up and take notice. A slew of awards followed, for products like a 100% recyclable ski shell and a jacket made from 50% sugarcane waste. In 2019, they were awarded B Corp status, a certification for companies achieving the highest standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability. Picture continues to push the envelope. Most recently, they came out with the first ever ski/snowboard helmet made from 100% recycled and organically sourced components. It featured a shell made from renewable, corn-based polylactide and a polystyrene lining made from discarded car dashboards. Even the chin and ear pads are made from recycled polyester.
The brand is constantly investigating, assessing and evaluating the overall environmental costs of new materials. So, they can speak with real authority about the total footprint of many different fibres and fabrics, but also wider business practices. Julien explains: “Bio-sourced materials, such as sugarcane polymers, are renewable and recyclable; they have a much lower carbon footprint than recycled polyesters. But producing sustainable products is really just the tip of the iceberg; the major issue and the biggest part of any company’s footprint is the energy you use to create those products. Burning fossil fuels generates 85% of global air pollution, so if we wipe out our use of fossil fuels, we can have a real impact. We’re working with low carbon consultancy Carbone 4 and using their data to analyse and improve our global footprint by moving our production to carbon neutral countries, for example.”
It’s serious stuff, and the guys at Picture give it serious thought. But to go back to Jérémy Rochette’s initial vision for the brand – channelling Burton snowboard-cool and fusing it to Patagonia-esque ideals – there’s a real sense of French flair at the heart of Picture too. You just need to look at the bang-on-trend colour blocked designs, the contemporary fits and the cutting-edge seasonal palettes to see that.
It’s not all snooty Parisian haute couture though, by any means. There’s also a goofy kind of humour, one that has always been an intrinsic part of board sport culture, from surfing to snowboarding to skateboarding. Want proof? Check out their spoof video on Belly Button Fluff – a tongue-in-cheek PR masterstroke that highlights the benefits of sustainably sourced bio-materials, while also being simultaneously funny, gross and oddly compelling:
So, what does the future hold for this fast-growing, deep-thinking, attention-grabbing brand? Predictably, Julien keeps it simple.
“We just want to continue to have fun in the mountains, to enjoy life. And that’s a big reason why we’re still leading Picture and happy with the brand – because we still enjoy it. As friends from childhood, I think what we are most proud of is that our friendship evolved into a business. We’re all still leading the company together, having kept the same vision for 10 years – and that will continue for the next 10 years too.”
With such demonstrable passion, commitment and firmly rooted friendship at the heart of the brand, Picture Organic appears to be in very safe hands.
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