We carefully consider the materials that go into Ruffwear products for durability, responsible production, and performance. An increasing portion of our materials are bluesign® approved, produced by suppliers that have met the criteria for bluesign® certification which include the highest standards for consumers, workers, and the environment. Our rubber toys are made from natural rubber, a renewable resource that when responsibly grown and harvested has low impact on the environment and low risk of contamination with hazardous chemicals more commonly associated with petroleum-based rubbers and plastics.

In 2016, we committed to a supply chain initiative of leaner and more agile manufacturing, which we called Project V (“V” for velocity, variability, and visibility). With the help of our key factory partner, Shilla, we achieved as low as a 30-day lead time from purchase order to shipment of some of our most popular styles. This practice, which we still employ today in products like our harnesses, leashes and collars, allows us to respond more swiftly to market demand and produce only what is needed.

In 2022, we implemented a new practice into our product design & development process of using the Higg Product Tools to model the environmental impact of our customized materials and products. Now when we go to redesign a product, we know exactly what impact numbers we have to beat. An example of this data-driven practice is the new design of the Front Range Harness™ which reduced the carbon footprint of manufacturing by 11% and 8% (solid color and print, respectively) over the previous design.

We're working to balance our cradle-to-customer greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions with an equivalent reduction of emissions avoided or removed.

Our goal is to achieve a 63% reduction of absolute scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions and a 52% reduction of scope3 GHG emissions per dollar of gross profit by 2029 from a 2019 base year.

We strive to remove more greenhouse gas emissions than we emit and work toward systemic change that preserves natural climate solutions, builds climate-resilient communities, and accelerates the transition to renewable energy.

We hit our internal deadline to cease all manufacturing with materials that contain intentionally added PFAS by January 1, 2024.

4 out of 5 (80%) revamped designs in the Fall/Winter 2023 launch, and 8 out of 8 (100%) in the Spring/Summer 2024 launch, reduced impact compared to their previous versions.

Two of our key webbing suppliers are now bluesign®certified, adding a whole lot of sustainable material certificates to our library of trusted and tested materials for 2024.