Burton Snowboards and Mountain Dew are launching the 2013 Green Mountain Project (GMP), a collection using sustainable fabric made from recycled plastic bottles.

The new outerwear collection includes three eco-friendly jackets and two pants for men, and two jackets and one pant for women, made from blended materials such as GMP Hemp Fortex, 3M Thinsulate insulation with recycled fibers, DRYRIDE EcoNanoshell 2L Fabric and 3-Layer Hemp Ripstop Fabric and recycled taffeta and mesh linings, all of which have a lesser environmental impact.

How do they actually do it? Here’s how:Continue reading...

Snowboarder Danny Davis is an advocate of a new partnership between Burton Snowboards and Mountain Dew, called Burton's Green Mountain Project.

The focus is on improved sustainability in apparel and outerwear for the 2012 and 2013 product seasons. Sustainable fabrics from recycled plastic bottles are a key ingredient in the Burton line, including a hand-crafted line of t-shirts made from 50% recycled plastic bottles and 50% organic cotton.Continue reading...

Ducatista (singular) or Ducatisti (plural) are passionate about their brand of choice, motorcycles like the Diavel and Diavel Carbon. That's why Ducati North America is one of the first brands to kick the tires on Contain, a new "white label" social community platform for brands.

In a similar vein to Communispace, for example, Contain is helping created branded communities for those brand marketers who are finding uber-sites like Facebook and Twitter too cluttered and one-size-fits-all. The name refers to its goal: to help focus and stimulate conversations among brand enthusiasts and target social content in the process.Continue reading...

Two-Time Olympic Gold Medalist Shaun White is boosting his personal brand, big time. The champion snowboarder just partnered with D6 Sports to launch his own action sports product line, Shaun White Supply Co., at an event (above) with the Boys and Girls Club of Las Vegas.

Offering action sports hard goods including skateboards, bikes, stunt scooters, protective gear, and ramps and rails, SWSC’s website says its "main focus is to create, produce and deliver authentic products at an affordable price."

What's more, "Every product has been rigorously tested, changed and tested again until Shaun and his team felt the Shaun White Supply Co. standards were met. It was important to White that not only could SWSC’s products be used by him in competition, but that they could also be used by recreational athletes in an effort to give individuals the opportunity to enjoy, experiment and excel in action sports."

The namesake collection follows on White's other high-profile deals.Continue reading...

For a band that played its first gig at one of Ken Kesey’s infamous acid tests in the Bay Area in 1965 and disbanded in 1995 following the death of Jerry Garcia, getting involved with licensing and marketing can seem like kind of dealing with evil. But the Grateful Dead brand is stronger than ever, thanks to thoughtful licensing deals for on-brand products and selective lending of the band's vast catalog to films and television.

The change came about last September when Mark Pinkus, SVP of Grateful Dead Properties at Warner Music Group's Rhino Entertainment, was put in charge of merchandising and licensing Grateful Dead products, according to the Los Angeles Times. "The band wants to turn on that 18- to 25-year-old audience," Pinkus told the Times.

As a result, the “band's music has appeared in at least four movies since April, and over the last several months, the number of licensees has increased 20%, including new deals with Burton snowboards, Dregs Skateboards and Wines That Rock,” the Times notes.Continue reading...