Using its leftover avocado pits, Chipotle is launching a sustainable line of apparel and accessories made with organic cotton called Chipotle Goods, all profits from which will benefit organizations advancing sustainability in fashion and farming. To promote the collection, Chipotle is teaming up with influencers to host a pop-up shop on Depop, where it will drop customized goods in real-time.
Timed for National Avocado Day, Chipotle Goods features apparel and branded unisex gear dyed with upcycled avocado pits. In a 30-second video spot, Chipotle shared how its heavy consumption of avocados—its restaurants are left with 300 million avocado pits per year— sparked the idea to collect, soak and simmer the pits to produce the light beige natural dye for the collection. Each piece requires five avocado pits, which amounts to five orders of guacamole.
Items like a bomber jacket and customizable graphic tees comprise the collection, which Chipotle says is “focused on size inclusivity, gender-neutral pieces and features unisex sizing on most products.”
Starting today, Chipotle’s 15 million reward members have exclusive access to the Chipotle Goods digital store using a special password shared via email. Chipotle will open the collection to the public on August 4.
On August 5, Chipotle will feature its Goods during a live Depop pop-up shop with mega influencers Avani Gregg, Natalie Mariduena, SpencerX and DevonOnDeck.
In 2012, Chipotle started buying uniforms from organic cotton farmers, making it one of the biggest US buyers of Global Organic Textile Standard cotton.
Chipotle’s uniform partner Loomstate created many of the collection’s items using energy-efficient materials. It’s the fast-casual chain’s hope that using Loomstate’s organic cotton will help prevent the use of synthetic pesticides. In 2019 alone, Chipotle prevented approximately 1.7 million pounds of synthetic pesticides from being used through its purchase of Loomstate employee uniforms.
Chipotle’s foray into merchandise coincides with an SMS guessing challenge it launched called “Unlock the Guac” as part of its yearly celebration of National Avocado Day on July 31. Chipotle is giving 52 of its rewards members a chance to win a year’s worth of free guacamole by correctly guessing the secret password for one of its six Chipotle Rewards accounts.
Despite challenges due to restrictions on indoor dining, Chipotle had a solid Q2—revenue declined 4.8 percent to $1.36 billion, but still beat expectations at $1.32 billion. In addition, digital sales surged 216 percent while comparable sales declined 9.8 percent. In July, comparable sales have increased 6.4 percent.
This article first appeared on a.list