Aspen Peak - Niche Media - Aspen living at its peak
Issue link: http://digital.greengale.com/i/93399
so hunger is a massive issue in our own country." —LAUREN BUSH LAUREN "One in five children are living in food-insecure households, Blake Mycoskie: Last year at Aspen Fashion Week you were a part of a panel of designers who had adopted philanthropy into their business model. How has your past participation in Aspen Fashion Week inspired you? Lauren Bush Lauren: Aspen Fashion Week has been a really great thing for FEED to be a part of for the last four years and, compared to other Fashion Weeks, it's definitely more on the outdoorsy side. But for my team, it's been our unofficial corporate retreat every year, which has been really fun. We ski and hang out, and also participate in all the Aspen Fashion Week events. This past year we met the Krochet Kids guys, which was also inspiring. BM: What are you working on right now? FEED 10 with Women's Health magazine—10K races in 11 cities around the country to raise money for hunger. One of our newer initiatives is not only to focus on hunger abroad, but to really focus on hunger in America as well. America, but it definitely exists and it's deep. What areas are you focusing on and what's the approach? LBL: Hunger in America is so different from hunger abroad, and it is quite shocking. Like you said, it's not something that we're confronted with, but 49 million Americans are food-insecure, which means at some point dur- ing the week, month, or year, they rely on food assistance. One in five children are living in food-insecure households, so it's a massive issue in our own country. In America there is a bit more of a safety net that obvi- ously doesn't exist with in the States? LBL: The biggest player is Feeding America. And there's a conglomer- ate of food banks and soup kitchens. So even City Harvest, which is great and operates in New York, is an affiliate of Feeding America. Share Our Strength is more on the lobby- ing side but we're supportive of them as well. BM: What new products have you launched this year and what can we 144 ASPENPEAK-MAGAZINE.COM in so many countries, but there's such a need. BM: And whom do you partner Blake Mycoskie: If I could be in a band it would be Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. Lauren Bush Lauren: For me, it's Fleetwood Mac. His recent read: The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach. "Probably the best book in contemporary American literature. The character development is just insane." Her recent read: Quiet by Susan Cain. "It's about the power of introverts." His After Hours: "Discovering bands at Austin City Limits, trips to Montauk." Her After Hours: "Definitely the gym—workout classes, yoga— and then dinner with friends." look forward to seeing in the future? LBL: We did a partnership with your great company, TOMS shoes, which went really well and was so cool because you give shoes and meals. We also did a partnership with DKNY—a cool "city survivor" collection. recently added] a diaper bag, which is something a lot of FEED customers have been asking for. We're also coming out with a lot of fun stuff for the holidays, things made with artisan groups in Haiti and Kenya. Whenever we can, we like to work with artisan groups and then have the money go back to support hunger programs within that country. LBL: We are in our fifth year, and it's been an exciting one for us. We've When did that come out? done a lot of cool initiatives outside of just products. We just did a Run 10 [We BM: I just got married a month ago and my wife had the bridal FEED bag. LBL: Yay! That came out just this spring. During my whole process of get- ting married last year I thought, you know, every bride is toting around a million papers and binders and things, why not make a special lacy bridal bag for them? BM: I think that so many people don't see a lot of poverty firsthand in BM: Where do you see FEED Projects' model going? Is it going to be more programs like the one you launched this year with the running program or are you going to continue focusing on bags, or are there going to be other products beside the bags? LBL: What's unique about FEED and TOMS is that the money and aware- ness we're raising for these causes is really through the sale of consumer HE SAID/SHE SAID: products, although we have these side initiatives like the run and we've done this million-meal concert and other events that aren't prod- uct-driven, the real focus and where we spend most of our time really is in product development. So we will be continuing down that path and growing that. And I do think FEED, beyond bags and accessories, which is our stronghold right now, lends itself so well to different product cate- gories, which we'll explore as we go. But for me, just growing it authentically and organically, as we have, is important. BM: What was the pivotal moment when you realized that not only is FEED Projects an idea, but also that it could be sustainable?