We know you love your gear just like we do. So, here are some tips and ideas on how to make your gear serve you as long as possible.

1. Buy to Last. Buy simple, durable products that you know are going to last. "Throw away" products waste your money and the planet's resources. If a company offers a life-time warranty on its products, like GoLite's, you can feel pretty confident the product's not going to fall apart on you.
2. Care for It. Take good care of your products while you own them and they'll take good care of you. You'll be amazed at how some simple care practices will enable you to keep your gear for a very long time.

   Clothing

   • Washing/Drying: Did you know that most of the wear and tear from and the environmental impact of your clothing comes not from how it was manufactured, sold, or transported, but from how you care for it through washing and drying it? There are lots of things you can do to reduce that impact while also helping your clothes last longer. The simplest of these tips is washing your clothes in cold water, either by hand or in a high efficiency front-loading washer on gentle cycle. And line drying them. All of GoLite's clothes are designed to be washed and dried this way. If you choose to tumble dry, do it on the lowest setting and avoid over-drying which wastes energy and shortens the life of your clothes. It's also best to avoid machine drying clothes with other clothes that have Velcro® components, because Velcro® can be abrasive to your clothes and lead to pilling and snagging.
   • Detergents/Bleach: We recommend you avoid using harsh detergents, fabric softeners or bleach. Not only do these shorten the life of your products, but most of them contain complex chemical cocktails that are not so good for your health or for the animal life that will be affected by them downstream. Seek out the least toxic, earth-friendliest, phosphate-free cleaners you can find. Your body and Mother Nature will thank you for it.
   • Storage: Clothing, especially insulated clothing like down jackets, are best stored on a hanger or folded loosely on a shelf. This enables your clothing to stay aerated and your down or synthetic insulation to keep its loft and therefore its warmth properties longer.

   Equipment

   The single thing that can shorten the life of your GoLite equipment quickest is water. Yep, plain old H2O. How? Storing your tent, backpack, or sleeping bag with moisture still in it can lead to mold and mildew. And who wants to sleep in a moldy tent or sleeping bag, anyway? To prevent this:

   • Shelters + Tents: When you return from a trip, set up your tent in a dry place and dry it out completely before you store it in its sack. If you need to clean the tent before storing, simply wipe it down with a clean wet cloth, but don't use solvents which can damage the tent material. Then dry it with a clean dry cloth.
   • Sleeping Bags: When you return from a trip, hang your sleeping bag up to let it dry out completely. If needed, you can toss into the dryer on low setting. If you dry it with tennis balls, it helps to prevent the insulation from clumping. Once dry, store your sleeping bag with as little compression as possible, ideally hanging loose in a closet or laid flat with nothing on top of it. Worst case, you can store it in its large cotton sack. But again, avoid compressing it in any way: over time, compressing insulation reduces its loft thereby decreasing is insulating value. Lastly, never store your sleeping bag in a compression stuff sack.
   • Backpacks: Simple, make sure your backpack is clean and bone dry when you store it, for the same reasons as your tents and sleeping bags.
3. Repair It. If your product gets a minor ding, scratch, or tear, consider repairing it yourself or getting it repaired locally by a professional before you send it onto its next life. You can also always send it back to us, and we'll get it repaired for you at very low cost. You'll be surprised how a little thread or glue can restore a product to near-new. Who knows, that product might have another 10 good years to give you! If you have questions about the best way to repair your product, give us a call. We're here to help.
4. Repurpose It. Not able to repair it but not ready to part with it just yet? Great! Consider turning that old shirt into a rag, that old backpack into a shopping or storage bag, the fabric from that old tent into a tarp to cover stuff in your garage or as a ground cloth. Let your creativity and your needs be your guide!

Sometimes no matter what we do, we just can't breathe life back into our favorite pieces of gear. But just because your well-loved jacket won't endure another long ski tour or because you've gotten sick of that chartreuse color doesn't mean it's not useful to someone else. Here are some options to give your product renewed life:

1. Donate It. The list of great organizations that would love to receive your used GoLite clothing and equipment is long and varies by country and region, but here are some good places to start.
   • Salvation Army
   • Goodwill
   • Vietnam Veterans of America and ClothingDonations.org
   • Local thrift stores (Thrift store finder)
   • Local homeless shelters
   • Local shelters for the battered and abused
   • Local outing clubs, schools, Scout troops, youth programs
   • Local churches
   • Local hospitals
   • Also check out www.recycle.net for a list of places that are looking to recycle all sorts of things!
2. Resell It. There are lots of ways to resell old clothing and gear.
   • List your product(s) for sale on your local craigslist site
   • Host your own garage sale
   • Sell them at a local farmer's market or used merchandise mart
   • Sell them at your local consignment store. (Consignment store directory)
   • List your product(s) for sale on eBay

Choices, choices! Still not sure what to do with your used GoLite product? We do! Send it back to us and let us take good care of it.

GoLite Product Take-Back Program

GoLite is committed to taking responsibility for what we make. Through our Product Take-Back Program we'll take any unwanted GoLite product off your hands. When you send it back to us, we will repair, donate, repurpose, and/or recycle everything we get back. And if the technology doesn't yet exist to recycle it, we'll hang on to it until it does.

What's accepted?

Any GoLite products, from any season, any year.

What's not accepted?

Products from other manufacturers. We want to start first by taking responsibility for our own products.

For U.S. Customers

Thanks for doing the right thing and giving your used GoLite product a second life by participating in GoLite's Take-Back Program!

How to participate

• We will accept any GoLite products ever made except GoLite Footwear (which is made by a different company). Note that we do not accept product back that is manufactured by any other company.
• Ship your used GoLite product back to us (at your expense) or provide us with written proof that you've recycled or donated your old product locally, and we will offer you a one-time discount of 20% on your next purchase on www.golite.com.(20% off coupon is good for one purchase only on www.golite.com. Discount does not apply to already discounted items and cannot be used in combination with other coupons.)
• Click here to download our Product Take-Back Submission Form. Please print this form, fill it out and place it inside the package or box with the product you are sending back. When you ship it back to us, mark on the front of the box or package "I'm Not Trash!"
• Please allow 7-10 business days after GoLite receives your product for us to email you with a discount coupon code.
• We'd love to hear from you! If you have suggestions on how we can make this program better or if you want to share cherished memories and photos of your used GoLite product from your many adventures, email us at sustainability@golite.com.
• Packages must be returned pre-paid: we will not accept C.O.D. deliveries. We cannot be responsible for items that do not arrive at our facility.

Please ship your product to:

GoLite

Help

By law anything returned to us for repair, donation, or recycling must be washed first. If you send us an unclean item, we will contact you first and let you know the charge for professional cleaning prior to repairing, donating, or recycling it.

For European Union Customers

Since we haven't figured out yet how to give you a product discount as we do in the U.S., we'll pay for your shipping as thanks for doing the right thing.

How to participate

• We will accept any GoLite products ever made except GoLite Footwear (which is made by a different company). Note that we do not accept product back that is manufactured by any other company.
• Click here to download our European Product Take-Back Submission Form. Please print this form, fill it out and place it inside the package or box with the product you are sending back. When you ship it back to us, mark on the front of the box or package "I'm Not Trash!"
• Contact our European headquarters office between the hours of 9:00 am and 5:00 pm GMT at +44 1827 60282 or email us at eu.info@golite.com. We'll ask you how many cartons you plan to send and your address and we'll tell you how to prepare your package for UPS pick-up.
• We'd love to hear from you! If you have suggestions on how we can make this program better or if you want to share cherished memories and photos of your used GoLite product from your many adventures, email us at sustainability@golite.com.
• Packages must be returned via the process we specify with our carrier: we will not accept C.O.D. deliveries. We cannot be responsible for items that do not arrive at our facility.

Please ship your product to:

GoLite

Help

If you have any questions, E-mail us at info@golite.com or call us at our European headquarters office +44 1827 60282 between the hours of 9:00 am and 5:00 pm GMT.

By law anything returned to us for repair, donation, or recycling must be washed first. If you send us an unclean item, we will contact you first and let you know the charge for professional cleaning prior to repairing, donating, or recycling it.

Unfortunately, our Product Take-Back program is valid only in the United States and European Union. We have plans to expand in the future, though, so stay tuned!

Did you ever notice that there are no landfills in Nature? In Nature, one creature's waste is another's food. The best human products imitate nature, and that means they never need to get trashed in a landfill.

From leaching of carcinogenic, mutagenic, and toxic substances into our water supply, to release of methane and volatile organic compounds into our air supply, to increased populations of disease-carrying critters, to land used for dumping that could have been turned into a park... sorry to get all serious on you, but let's face it: landfills just ain't natural. Throwing any GoLite product into a landfill would be a sad end to another otherwise very happy life. We recommend options 1, 2, or 3 instead.