Hey everyone, I'm Sam Shaheen and you're listening to Gear 30 on the Blister Podcast Network.

United by Blue is a unique company for many reasons. They were founded as a waterway cleanup company

and decided to sell apparel only

to serve that goal. For every piece of apparel they sell, they will clean up one pound of waste

from a waterway, and they're a certified B Corp. But none of those are reasons I wanted to talk to

United by Blue, or UBB for short. UBB has developed a whole line of apparel around salvaged bison coat fibers, something

no one else in the world is doing.

I sat down with UBB's senior apparel designer Brendan Routh to discuss creating a brand new

supply chain around bison fibers, how bison compares to wool and down, how UBB uses this bison down, and where

this unique fiber will go in the future. Let's check it out. So today, I'm really excited to be

sitting down with Brendan Routh, who works with an apparel company doing some really interesting things called United by Blue.

And we're going to get into some of those interesting things here in a second.

But first, Brendan, how are you doing today?

I'm doing pretty well considering. How are you?

Not so bad. I'm getting used to the isolation. I'm not actually sure that's true. I'm just

accepting the isolation at this point. Right. I think that's all any of us can do. Yeah, well,

let's power through. It's a good time to record some podcasts, right? Exactly.

To start off, can you tell us a little bit about your background and how you ended up in your current role at United by Blue?

Sure.

So I am the senior apparel designer at United by Blue, and I have been working in the apparel industry for about 10 years.

I started out at L.L. Bean, right after graduating

college, and worked there as an intern and part-time and contract, and eventually worked my way

...