Editor’s note: we ran into Ian around lunch time near some food trucks. He was super engaged and incredibly informative without even knowing it. Ian was, in our estimation, an ideal consumer within his behavior set. You see, it does not seem that Ian has dedicated his life to helping the world in the traditional sense, but he recognizes the consequences of his actions and his purchasing behavior and modifies them accordingly. Ian taught us a lot today. Ian, we salute you!
Name: Ian
Age: 29
Works for: oPower (for those not in the know)
Lives in: San Francisco
Last thing watched / read / listened to / seen: Greentech Media’s The Energy Group (we at BotS did not know about this one, a few of us went and downloaded it)
Major News Source:
BBC News
Brands on the Street:
- AG Jeans
- Apple
- Ray Ban
- Will Leather Goods
- Bucketfeet Shoes (we love love love this one! One or two of us may or may not have actually went and bought a pair)
Why these brands?
Bucketfeet, they are sort of like, Vans…I have always liked that style. Bucketfeet does limited runs of shoes and they let artists from all around the world submit patterns for designs. It is a nice outreach to artists and at the same time it is the style that I like (shared value). By buying them I am not losing much by not buying Vans, the big player in the market.
Will Leather Goods uses sustainable leather sourcing. I learned about them when I was in Portland. I have not dug too much into it so I don’t know too much. Everything I heard was good though I have not done that much research so they could not be doing that good, I would not really know. As far as I heard they use sustainably sourced cows. Obviously, if you are a meat eater it is better if all of it [the animal] is used–that piqued my interest.
(at this point Ian saw a friend of his. He was such an amazing interview, we needed a break anyhow to think about all the great things he was telling us)
I like supporting smaller community brands.
When you heard that Will’s acted in the way they do, what did that trigger in you to want to buy the brand?
Yeah well, I have a Lokai bracelet on…(this blue one is for water). So those types of things where a company takes a bunch of your money and reinvests, Tom’s is a good example. Especially in San Francisco.
But why does that interest you?
Um, well I think it is important because we have gotten to a point where we just use, use, use with no reinvestment into infrastructure or sustainability…well, we are on an exponential curve and that is just not sustainable. To see the companies you invest in, whether financial or your purchases, to see that they are actually of a like mindset, it just pings off of you and it makes you more likely to buy something from them.
Aside from purchasing decisions, is there any way you personally try to do good in the world?
I give to a bunch of things. Recently the NRDC (everything being what it is) but I am not a member of anything, per se