Kia ora!
Pride Conservation is a boutique Social Enterprise from Aotearoa New Zealand. We create and deliver purpose-built ‘project’ brands to achieve our mission of contributing to the conservation movement.
"Really we're just activists, storytellers and adventurers who're keen to create change by connecting with people who care and feel the same way about things!"
We've noticed that if we're proud of something, we want to protect it. So if we can be proud of what makes 'us' unique, we harness those feelings toward protecting it! Here in Aotearora, we care greatly for our endemic forms of nature and the plethora of positive impacts it has on our lives. We're here to help embrace this philosophy amongst our global tribe and share the conservation journey with them.
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In more recent years we've focused on helping the kea and conversation projects that surround the beloved mountaineer parrot. Part of this strategy has been donating to the Kea Database. The Kea Database is one NZ's most exciting and inspiring citizen science projects. See our very own #PrideTheKea (male) and #Keata (female) already on there, here.
Social enterprise?
So what is a Social Enterprise? Well, to state it simply, it’s an organisation that uses for-profit strategies to build and better their underlying not-for-profit vision/mission. It’s a more balanced approach to business which puts emphasis on meeting the economic, social and environmental goals or objectives set by the enterprise.
Pride the story (Long version)
Pride started as a sub-label created specifically for Cliff Edge Wines 2011 vintage. The wine was a high quality, handcrafted, Bordeaux blend aged in Oak barrels for 12 months before being bottled. Pride was a pro-environmental wine label. Two innovative labels (The Coastal & The Alpine) were designed to display the key elements of the two charities Pride formed a working relationship with. The idea behind Pride was to challenge how business and the environment interact, to inspire people to take pride in how they consume relative to how that will affect their greater environment. The core impetus behind Pride was to; bring to market the highest quality product, raise awareness of partnering our environmental charities donate a portion of all profits to those charities as we operate. A shared goal of marketing each charities vision gave Pride real flare and distinction above the rest. Now that the years vintage is finished, we're proud to have done a total of 4 donations to Sea Cleaners & Kea Conservation Trust.
The Conservation vs consumption dilemma
It's one of the great debates in the contemporary social enterprise, fundraising and conservation spheres. By buying one of these wearable statements, yes, you're consuming new resources and arguably contributing to an unsustainable linear consumption model. As we know, this model is now having adverse effects on our environment and societal health. However, in our opinion, this argument depends greatly on your intentions with the product from the get-go. We like to think our goods do far more than just keep your torso covered and carry your beloved bits of kit. It is critical to note that every person who takes our wearable statements into the public delivers a key and consistent* message. “We care, we want to care and think you should too.” We firmly believe that the world will only begin to change when these messages become more obvious in our everyday lives. We encourage you to keep this in mind as soon as you purchase anything, you’re becoming a messenger and are expected to spread good vibes and awareness of what you’re wearing! We implore you to keep them till they're faded and ripped. Live life to the fullest in them and #LiveLikeAKea. We've done our best to reduce our environmental impacts both ‘upstream’ by sourcing organic cotton (GOTS certified) and ‘downstream’ by using no oil-plastic in the process of delivery (basically, the processes we can control). We know it's not perfect, but that's the world we have to work in currently. Buying second hand is a very valid counter-argument too, and we employ you to do so. However, the simple fact is that buying second hand isn't a vibe for everyone (for now) and think our goods are pretty sweet if you're in need!