We recently featured Five12 Apparel in our business directory – a Tacoma-based company helping the athletic world an earth conscious way to perform well and look great! We’re thrilled to feature them and today on the blog, we bring you one of the co-founders of the company, Brooklynn Gould-Bradbury
How did you get started in your business?
Growing up in there Pacific Northwest, we have grown a love of experiencing the outdoors. Whether it is hiking in the Mountains or playing at the beach, we have had the luxury of all aspects of outdoor play. Our base philosophy in whatever we do is to reuse and recycle and to reduce waste. Are we perfect, no, but we feel to start the process, we must start the way we think when it comes to reusing items most throw out. We came across a textile mill a few years ago that had developed technical yarns from used coffee grounds. Being form Seattle, this was a synergy that we wanted to explore, and after 2 years of development, we created a very high technical yarn that translated into a stylish but NW proven technical active wear collection. We have now partnered with bag factory that also owns its on glass recycling plant. This winter we will be launching a waterproof gear bag and backpack made from recycled windshields.
It’s been a fun challenge creating products from materials that usually end of in a landfill.
What’s something about you or your business that not everyone knows?
We’re best friends! What started as competing athletes, evolved into fellow coaches, to teammates and eventually to co-workers. We began in the volleyball world and have expanded to exploring all of the outdoor adventures that the Pacific Northwest has to offer. It’s easy to turn work into play when you’re doing it with your best friends!
When you have a day off, what Pacific Northwest experiences do you like to go and enjoy?
When we step out of our downtown Tacoma office, we’re usually out exploring a new hiking trail in the Mt. Rainier national park—rain or shine! If we’re blessed with a little sunshine, we love taking our paddle boards out on Lake Tapps. After we’re done, we’re love grabbing a cup of coffee at our local shops to support Washington businesses.
If you had to describe what you love about the Pacific Northwest in 3 words, what would you choose?
Because we’re so passionate about the outdoors, we would have to say, “fresh, adventure, and coffee!”
