Cotopaxi is a U.S. company that sells outdoor gear to fight global poverty under the banner “Gear for Good.” Founded in 2013/14 by Davis Smith in Salt Lake City (named after Ecuador's Cotopaxi volcano), it built its social purpose into its DNA as a Public Benefit Corporation. (In 2023 Davis Smith stepped back to chairman and Damien Huang became CEO.) Its B Corp score is a high 125.6. The Cotopaxi Foundation, established in 2019, distributes 1% of annual revenue as multi-year grants to poverty-reduction nonprofits (health, education, livelihoods), mainly in Latin America, using MIT's Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) for grantee due diligence. Foundation grants have reached over 4.7 million people cumulatively, and in 2025 alone it directed over $1M to poverty reduction, reaching over 210,000 people (women-led agriculture with CARE Ecuador, malaria prevention, and more). As of 2024, over 96% of products contain recycled, remnant (deadstock), or third-party responsibly certified materials. The one-of-a-kind Del Día line is made from leftover fabric (over 840,000 yards in 2025, about 7,000 soccer fields' worth), and resale runs through Más Vida (ThredUp). When supplier audits find ethics violations, it responds with corrective action and weekly meetings — handling its challenges candidly.
●●○ medium
There is no confirmed −; independently verified + decide the position (B). No unreachable strike-through.= non-additive meter
Cotopaxi: Gear for Good — selling gear to fight poverty. The letter is B; certainty is medium. Unconfirmed concerns are placed under “Watching.” (As of 2026-Q2; estimate based on public information.)
Main narrative
One person’s story (N1)
+ before → after
People living in poverty across Latin America. Cotopaxi insists that “we sell gear to create impact — not the other way around,” distributing 1% of annual revenue through the Cotopaxi Foundation as multi-year grants to nonprofits reducing poverty through health, education, and livelihoods. It uses MIT's Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) to select grantees, reaching over 210,000 people in 2025 alone and over 4.7 million cumulatively — including women-led agriculture with CARE Ecuador and malaria prevention. Source nature: independent media plus foundation disclosure.
Source nature: Suston Magazine / Cotopaxi Foundation / P2 independent media (Suston/trade press) / foundation disclosure. Positive effects are not used to offset negatives.
Positive / negative effects
+ effects
- Its B Corp score is a high 125.6 (median 50.9), and as a Public Benefit Corporation it embeds social purpose in its legal structure. As of 2024, over 96% of products contain recycled, remnant (deadstock), or third-party responsibly certified materials.P1 third-party certification (B Corp) / B Lab
- The one-of-a-kind Del Día collection is made from the textile industry's leftover fabric (deadstock) — over 840,000 yards in 2025 (about 7,000 soccer fields' worth), cutting carbon roughly 30% versus new fabric. Resale via Más Vida (through ThredUp) recirculated 7,343 items, 97% of which sold out.P2 independent media / company disclosure / Suston Magazine / Cotopaxi
− effects (confirmed)
- No confirmed −.
- Remediation of ethics violations found in supplier audits (being handled transparently)
- Independent verification of grant reach numbers
- Supply-chain decarbonization
- Supply-chain decarbonization, worker protection and remediation, expanding foundation grants, growing deadstock use and resale.
A second look
The core + is poverty reduction in Latin America (people) and remnant/recycled materials (nature), backed by B Corp (score 125.6), J-PAL grantee evaluation, and independent reporting. That said, the foundation's benefit is a ripple form (grants to nonprofits), and reach numbers rest mainly on the company's and grantees' own tallies. Supply-chain labor (finding and remediating ethics violations) is an ongoing issue kept under watch. Prices target relatively affluent consumers.
Sources
How to read this assessment
- Reachable upper bound (ceiling): a confirmed − sets the ceiling, and independently verified + decide the position within it. + do not cancel out −.
- The weight of evidence is not symmetric: only confirmed − are counted; the volume of disputes or allegations goes under “Watching.” + are counted from independent evidence, while an organization’s own PR is treated as “reference.”
- Size is not value: scale is not used in the assessment. Matters that stay within money or competition—investors, shareholders, sanctions, trade secrets—are also excluded.
- The letter (assessment) and certainty (how reliable the information is) are separate axes.
This is a translation; the Japanese version is authoritative. The assessments here are generated automatically by AI based on published criteria. The operator does not alter individual results. Because they are AI-generated they may contain errors, and they are opinion and commentary, not statements of fact. Where evidence is insufficient, the entry is marked “On hold.” Requests for correction are accepted via the form.
Terms: Narrative Value = an assessment (A–G) of the distance between the story an organization tells and its reality / Ceiling meter = a visualization of the reachable upper bound / Watching = unconfirmed matters not counted / Protected stakeholders = people, animals, nature, and future generations. | Generated by: AI | As of: 2026-Q2 | Back to top