prAna started in a garage in Carlsbad, California, in 1992. At the time, yoga and climbing gear left a lot to be desired, so Beaver and Pam Theodosakis decided to create their own stylish, sustainably made clothing. Their goal is to create sustainable clothing from natural materials and without harmful chemicals. They sewed the first pieces of sustainable yoga pants and climbing clothing themselves, labelled them with labels made from homemade recycled paper and shipped their orders in fruit boxes from local grocery shops. The pair sewed eco-friendly clothes in their garage, put recycled paper labels on them and shipped the finished products in old fruit crates, which is how Prana was founded. Since then, we have become a global brand, but we never forget our core values. The brand respects the people who make its clothes and the planet we live on.
Today, prAna remains true to its core belief that businesses should give much more than they receive from the world. prAna's commitment to sustainability, community and doing the right thing still inspires them and pushes them to find innovative ways to do good things in a good way with sustainable yoga clothing and climbing apparel. Since 2012, prAna has partnered with bluesign® systems to ensure that the fabrics used to meet the highest environmental and human safety standards. They mainly use organic cotton, recycled wool and hemp. The manufacturing process is transparent and respectful of both people and the environment. They have partnerships with dedicated organisations such as Fair Trade, bluesign® , Textile Exchange, Responsible Down Standard and many more. Since becoming the first apparel brand in North America to produce Fair Trade Certified™ apparel, prAna has given back $400,000 to more than 33,000 workers around the world. How Sustainable is its Collection so Far? Nowadays, if you ask ten different brands, you’ll probably get ten different answers. Currently, 87% of the collection is convincing with at least one sustainable attribute. Organically grown materials such as hemp or organic cotton, recycled fibres, fair trade, bluesign certification, Prana strives to be green on several levels. Packaging waste also plays an important role here. It avoids plastic as much as possible. That's why 95% of our products are rolled up, secured with a raffia tape and not shipped in plastic bags. So far, we have been able to dispense with 17 million plastic bags. One of the highest forms of sustainability is reuse. prAna with clothing brings positive change by giving new life to products and garments when they are reused. This is especially important for materials such as recycled wool, where live animals are involved in the process. If resources can be reused, the risk to animals is eliminated and the need for new energy inputs is reduced. Replacing Hemp for Cotton There are many arguments in favour of using hemp as a raw material for clothing. Already when planting hemp, the classic cotton triumphs. Hemp is less susceptible to moisture, more resistant to disease, provides more fibre per cultivated area and degrades more CO2 than cotton. The fibre of the medicinal plant has long been considered coarse and placed in the "hippie corner". Prana eliminates these prejudices once and for all, and opts for hemp over cotton because on average, a T-shirt made of hemp needs about four times less water than a T-shirt made of conventional cotton.