2019 was an awesome year for us here at tentree. There were plenty of wins and lots of opportunities for us to learn and grow as a brand. Our ultimate goal is to be the most environmentally progressive apparel brand in the world and to plant 1 billion trees by 2030, and 2019 taught us a lot about how we achieve those goals. As we close out the year, let’s look back on some of the coolest things that happened in 2019.
The year we re-introduced ourselves
Among the biggest things we did in 2019 was re-introducing ourselves. Our rebrand encapsulates our drive to constantly look at ways to improve and brings to life our desire to put the Earth first. Our new logo is sleek, clear, and easy to recall from memory, our new brand colors are derived from tones you find in nature, and for our typography, we chose a font that’s timeless and classic, but with distinct strokes.
With our rebrand, we wanted to show the world a new look and shed light on how it helps us reach our goal of planting 1 billion trees. Our look may be changing, but our promise is not.
The year we set personal records
Planting 1 billion trees means we need to grow and grow fast. At the beginning of 2019, we knew we would need to set a new personal record for tree planting. In 2017 we planted roughly 7.2 million trees. In 2018, we planted over 9 million trees. In 2019, we planted more than 11 million trees! We are so thankful to all of our supporters who made it possible to set this new personal best.
Read more about where we plant your trees
The year we made WORLD history
In 2019, we started looking at ways that we could plant trees without requiring that a purchase be made. During Earth Week 2019, we launched our now infamous Double Tap To Plant campaign on Instagram. For every ten likes, we planted one tree in Indonesia. The initial goal was to plant 500,000 trees, but as of today’s writing, this post is Instagram’s fourth most liked post with more than 15.7 million likes! The trees we planted in Indonesia are creating homes for 135 endangered species and will absorb 500,000 tons of carbon dioxide over the course of their lives. That’s like taking 100,000 cars off the road each year!
Read more about our Double Tap To Plant campaign
In August of 2019, we introduced another opportunity to plant trees without making a purchase – our Wildfire Releaf campaign. The foundation of this campaign was simple – climate change is happening, it’s caused by human activity, and it’s creating perfect conditions for wildfires to flourish.
For every comment left on our Wildfire Releaf Instagram post, we planted one tree in a burned area of California and British Columbia. Our goal was to plant a total of 200,000 trees. In the end, we received 554,000 comments!
At the same time our Wildfire Releaf campaign was underway, news broke that the Amazon Rainforest was burning. This greatly concerned many of our supporters and us as well. Because we exceeded our goal on Instagram, we were able to donate an additional $10,000 to provide relief to those impacted by the fires in the Amazon rainforest.
Read more about our Wildfire Releaf campaign
The year we teamed up with incredible partners
2019 was a year marked by new partnerships. We looked for new ways to get people planting trees and supporting other amazing initiatives.
In August, to raise awareness for the declining orcas in the Pacific Northwest, we partnered up with a documentary series called Coextinction. Coextinction sought to capture the story of extraordinary people fighting to save the Southern Resident Killer Whales. For every purchase of our Coextinction collaboration tee, we donated $5 to fund the completion of this documentary.
In September, in partnership with Stanley Park Brewing Co, we launched a tree planting beer called Reforest Hazy IPA. For every four pack of Reforest sold, we plant 10 trees in Elephant Hill, BC, in an effort to reforest areas burned by wildfires. As of this writing, you can still purchase Reforest beers in British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan!
In October, we partnered with Parks Canada to help replant Whitebark pine trees. Whitebark pines are a subalpine coniferous tree native to western Canada and the United States. Unfortunately, the whitebark pine has been classified as endangered by the IUCN as well as SARA. This tree has experienced severe population decline primarily due to blister rust and mountain pine beetle outbreaks. For every item purchased in our Alpine Collection, ten whitebark pine trees will be planted by Parks Canada.
Thank you
2019 was an incredible year for all of us here at tentree. Together, we have been able to accomplish incredible things and are on track to plant 1 billion trees by 2030. Thank you to everyone who has helped us make this the biggest and best year for tentree yet.
Big change starts small.
