The SmartWool corporate offices in Steamboat Springs as well as their product development office in Boulder will be closed for business this Thursday, June 21st to allow their employees the opportunity to participate in their very own SmartWool – Earth Day. The motivation behind SmartWool Earth Day is to increase employee, consumer, and customer engagement through environmental call to service.

“Our very own Earth Day event is just is a great way to give back to our
community” says event planner Kevin Lotz. “Our objective is to find
projects in our communities to help reforest and measurably restore or
improve habitats in outdoor spaces in which we do business.”

SmartWool employees will plant trees, remove pollution that threatens water
quality, restore native plant species and remove invasive plants that
require large inputs of water, as well as general clean-up projects.
Steamboat Springs based SmartWool employees will be working with the US
Forest Service in the Fish Creek Falls area and Rabbit Ears Pass. Boulder
based employees along with forestry staff members will help restore ten
acres of unhealthy forest at Heil Valley Ranch.

Adds Lotz “We hope that the efforts of our employees will help to remove pollutants from the air, lower energy consumption levels, retain water, prevent erosion, and generally beautify outdoor spaces in an effort to
enable conservation & improve areas for recreation. The Forest Service teams are excited about working with us for the day ­we'll have plenty of work, help, and camaraderie along the way.”

In addition to the SmartWool employees, Starbucks, Safeway and City Market have partnered with SmartWool to assist in this event.

SmartWool Earth Day­ is one of two annual company sponsored days of service where all day-to-day operations are closed in an effort to bring positive change to the communities in which SmartWool employees live and
work. According to SmartWool president Mark Bryden, “at SmartWool we
believe that doing well in the market place affords us an opportunity to do
good in the community, but it also allows us to equip people to make a
difference in the world”

In addition to the company sponsored service events, all SmartWool employees
are awarded an annual benefit, enabling each to volunteer as many as 40 paid
hours per year to help local non-profit organizations. This allows
SmartWool and its employees to supply not only monetary awards, but to
contribute much needed labor as well.