Forbes praises Cotopaxi CEO adaptation to covid-19
Davis Smith, founder and CEO of Cotopaxi, has been called “one of the best adapters to covid-19” in a recent Forbes profile. Describing how Mr Smith decided to change his fear-focused mindset to a more purposeful one, the article said the CEO met with his team to brainstorm how the Utah-based outdoor brand could best address the crisis.
Early on, the brand had to close their two brick-and-mortar stores and online sales were drawing. Needing to liquidate resources, Cotopaxi reached out to emergency and survival kit vendor called Uncharted Supply — which was having the opposite problem: soaring demand without the capacity to meet it. Cotopaxi was able to make use of its resources and create a new revenue stream by helping to fulfill Uncharted’s orders.
At the same time, the brand produced a shirt printed with “#OneUtah” (a social media rallying cry). They sold thousands of shirts, dedicating profits from the state’s covid-19 relief effort. While this didn’t generate profit for the company, Mr Davis pointed out, it helped share the brand’s ethos — plus, shoppers frequently made other purchases when buying the t-shirt.
Cotopaxi has also made the news for its collaboration with the state government on the “A Mask for Every Utahn’’ initiative. According to a statement from the governor’s office, the state of Utah, through an arrangement with the Utah Manufacturers Association and Cotopaxi, purchased two million face masks for Utah residents. Manufacturers throughout the state are producing 1.5 million masks, and Cotopaxi will provide 500,000.
