END Receives Industry Nod from REI and Zappos
Retailers listening to athlete demands for high-performance, eco-friendly footwear
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PORTLAND, Ore. — June 5, 2008 — END, a new sustainability company focused on designing outside gear, started by award-winning footwear designer Andrew Estey and business partner Ben Finklea, have received distribution deals from REI, a national retail cooperative, and at Zappos, an online shoe retailer with more than a million pairs of shoes in stock. Contracts from these large well-known retailers provide validation to END that consumers are advocating for high-performance shoes that have less impact on the environment.
REI will sell the shoes in three locations, in its flagship store in downtown Seattle, in Portland, Ore. at the downtown Pearl location and online at REI.com. In addition, END has secured specialty retail stores across the U.S. to sell its shoes in such places as Rock/Creek in Chattanooga, Tenn., seven locations throughout Texas at Luke’s Locker, Summit Hut in Tuczon, Ariz., and online at Backcountry.com.
END is launching its Fall 2008 line of trail training and light backpacking footwear on August 1. The line is comprised of seven styles each of men’s and women’s shoes designed for mountain sports and activities.
“END has created a new segment in footwear where we combine the performance, durability and comfort of an athletic shoe, while questioning each design, material and manufacturing process to ensure our gear is sustainable,†said Ben Finklea, co-founder and VP of Sales and Marketing.
In its first year, END has created a line of shoes that is 35-59 percent more sustainable than Outside Magazine’s Top Picks for 2007. END aims to embed its gear with sustainability values from its onset, rather than adopt it later, and lead the way in the creation of sustainable outside gear.
About END (environmentally neutral design)
Founded in 2007, END is an outside gear company building a new culture – not another corporation – through an evolutionary design approach. Founded by award-winning shoe designer Andrew Estey and business partner Ben Finklea, END questions every component of design to minimize the environmental footprint of its products. For more information about END, visit the Web site at http://www.endoutdoor.com.
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Media Contact:
Melanie Adamson
MacKenzie Marketing Group
Phone: 503.225.0725
Mobile: 503.789.8455
Melaniea@mackenzie-marketing.com
