Oboz Footwear has joined The Conservation Alliance, a membership organization of outdoor industry businesses that depend on protecting the natural environment.  Oboz joins 185 member companies that make up The Conservation Alliance, which disbursed $1.3 million in grants in 2012 to conservation groups working on grassroots environmental protection.


We are pleased to now support The Conservation Alliance and the great work they do, said President John Connelly. It adds our voice and support to fellow businesses in our industry, and we know our dues will be put toward the most worthy conservation projects around the country.


As a member of The Conservation Alliance, Oboz will be able to play a role in selecting grant recipient projects that most closely fit The Conservation Alliances funding criteria.  Currently, 25 grant proposals-narrowed from a field of 70 submissions-are up for a membership vote that determines the final 15 to 18 recipients that will receive funding for the Winter 2013 Funding Cycle.


The Conservation Alliance expects to distribute $1.5 million dollars this year, said John Sterling, Executive Director of the Conservation Alliance.


Sterling continued, We are thrilled to welcome Oboz into The Conservation Alliance. By joining, Oboz expresses a strong commitment to protecting wild places throughout North America. Oboz participation, along with all our new members, has helped increase our ability to fund the best projects in 2013.


Joining The Conservation Alliance adds to the initiatives Oboz set in place at its founding to reduce its impact and give back to the environment:



  • For every pair of shoes or boots it sells, Oboz plants a tree through Trees for the Future, an international aid organization that assists communities throughout the world with beneficial tree planting.

  • Oboz offsets all of its energy use through Native Energy, including the transportation of its footwear from the factory to its distribution center, and finally, to retailers.  All Oboz business travel and commuting costs are also offset with carbon credits.  Additionally, clean energy from the Judith Gap Wind Farm in Montana provides all the power for Oboz office in Bozeman, Montana.

  • Oboz also supports the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, which received a $50,000 grant from the Conservation Alliance in 2012. The Greater Yellowstone Coalition was founded in 1983 to help guide the healthy and wild management of the vast Yellowstone ecosystem, which comprises 20 million acres of wild country. The Greater Yellowstone Coalition has over 27,000 supporters worldwide.

  • Finally, Oboz makes sure that no shoe goes to a landfill before it has been well used.  Shoes that cannot be sold-whether they are samples, returns, or single shoes-are donated to a variety of organizations that outfit needy feet.