{"id":170599,"date":"2021-10-04T08:30:00","date_gmt":"2021-10-04T15:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/?p=170599"},"modified":"2021-12-17T19:07:09","modified_gmt":"2021-12-18T03:07:09","slug":"good-gear-janji","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/run\/good-gear-janji","title":{"rendered":"Good Gear: Janji"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Quick, name the world\u2019s most precious resource. Oil? Nope. Gold? Not even close. \u201cIt\u2019s water,\u201d says 32-year-old Dave Spandorfer, co-founder of running apparel brand Janji<\/a>. The data backs him up. Water isn\u2019t a limitless resource, as 3 in 10 (2.1 billion) people currently lack access to safe drinking water and 6 in 10 do not have safely managed sanitation facilities, according to a 2019 report<\/a> by UNESCO. The situation isn\u2019t improving, and by 2030, water scarcity could displace between 24 and 700 million people.<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Water is what Spandorfer and fellow Janji co-founder Mike Burnstein had in mind when a lightbulb went off on their way to their 2010 collegiate NCAA Division III Track and Field meet finals. The training partners had always known there was more to running than winning. On that eight-hour bus ride, they talked about what it would take to launch a brand inspired by what they loved most about their sport\u2014that it offers a way to explore the world, connect with other runners and be a force for good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A year later, the teammates secured a grant for a social impact business plan and founded Janji with the intent of transforming that vision into reality. Their goal is to expand access to safe drinking water in the places people run around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe wanted to encourage people to explore different places around the world; connect with local art and local runners in that place and tell their stories; and create change by crafting sustainable running gear with a 2% giveback of funding to clean-water solutions that are specific to that place,\u201d Spandorfer says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lofty goal, but nine years later, Janji is well on its way to achieving its vision. Their model begins with selecting a region facing water scarcity. The Janji team then partners with a local artist to design a collection of running apparel that celebrates that country\u2019s culture and chooses a local, water-related organization to receive 2% of sales from the collection. The results are making an impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take Kenya, where Janji\u2019s partnership<\/a> with local nonprofit Evidence Action helped provide 25,000 people with one year of safe water. Or Peru and Bolivia, where the brand teamed up with Water For People to bring 150,000 individuals improved access to water and sanitation services. To date, the brand has donated nearly $500,000 to partners to help secure access to clean water for communities around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Runners find their stride at sunset in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Janji’s latest collection, designed in collaboration with ultrarunner and artist Christian Gering, is inspired by these landscapes. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This season, proceeds from the brand\u2019s American Southwest line<\/a>, a partnership with ultrarunner and artist Christian Gering, aims to help address water scarcity in the Southwestern United States, where conditions are dire. The region has been in a drought for much of the past eight years, according to the Environmental Protection Agency<\/a>, and temperatures across most of the region rose\u2014in some places by as much as 3 degrees\u2014between 1901 and 2016, as reported by the most recent National Climate Assessment<\/a> in 2018. \u201cThese are endemic issues that are getting worse,\u201d Spandorfer says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Janji team called on 30-year-old Gering, who hails from the Pueblo community of Katishyta (Pueblo San Felipe), about 30 miles outside of Albuquerque, to design the line. The clothing features mountains, stars and lots of color\u2014imagery Gering harkens back both to his own Pueblo roots and to the culture of Indigenous peoples across the American Southwest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gering was the obvious choice for the collaboration given how integral running is to his art. \u201cChristian is not just a runner. He is a mountain runner,\u201d Spandorfer says. \u201cHe\u2019s about elevation. He\u2019s about being between the Earth and the stars. It\u2019s only natural that mountains play a role in the Janji line because they play a big role in Christian\u2019s life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, Gering\u2019s running habit involves going high, long and fast. In the last several years, he\u2019s broken course records<\/a> at the 2018 Jemez Mountain Trail Runs 50-miler and Arizona\u2019s Javelina Jundred 100K. He finished fourth at the USA Track & Field 50-Mile Trail Championships last year, covering the distance in six hours and 56 minutes. Six months later, Gering claimed fifth at the Pikes Peak Marathon, where he completed the 13.3-mile, 7,800-foot ascent to the 14,115-foot summit in 2 hours and 29 minutes, with an overall time of three hours and 54 minutes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Runners in Janji’s newest line. Two percent of proceeds from every purchase go toward clean water initiatives throughout the American Southwest.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Although elevation, distance and speed are the \u201cwhats\u201d of Gering\u2019s running career, the \u201cwhys\u201d center more on connection (to the Earth and its people) and transformation (of the self and the world). \u201cWe are able to be grounded, rooted to the land, but we aspire and we are influenced also by our skies,\u201d he says, noting that he appreciates that Janji, too, celebrates culture and the interrelatedness of people and place\u2014and their preservation. \u201cWhen I\u2019m able to practice running and be in a routine of creation, I\u2019m just reminding people of the power that is within ourselves when we put dedication, discipline and self-knowledge into practice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those ideals are core to Janji, too. Its company motto is \u201cPerpetual Forward Motion (P.F.M.),\u201d which translates to continual improvement, with a focus on sustainability and social justice. The brand\u2019s primary fabrics are bluesign\u00ae-approved and OEKO-TEX\u00ae-certified and one-third of its main fabrics use recycled polyester. Spandorfer and Burnstein say they care deeply about \u201ctrying to craft gear that makes you feel better, that makes you want to go on a run a little more,\u201d Spandorfer says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That reason for being came into sharper focus in 2018 when the brand launched the Janji Collective, a membership program with special perks like a 15% gear discount, access to a digital platform with fellow members and an invitation to attend the annual Janji retreat. Every cent of the one-time, $50 membership fee goes to supporting clean-water initiatives. Today, on top of the brand\u2019s 2% giveback program, the collective has donated an additional $119,050 to improving clean-water access across the globe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite all that, Spandorfer recognizes Janji\u2019s efforts can only do so much. \u201cWe are a small, niche running-apparel company. We are not going to solve the world\u2019s issues,\u201d he says. Yet that\u2019s no excuse not to \u201cdo our small part to make the world a little better one run at a time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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For more stories of brands doing good work, visit our Good<\/a><\/em> Gear<\/em><\/a> landing page.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Quick, name the world\u2019s most precious resource. Oil? Nope. Gold? Not even close. \u201cIt\u2019s water,\u201d says 32-year-old Dave Spandorfer, co-founder of running apparel brand Janji. The data backs him up. Water isn\u2019t a limitless resource, as 3 in 10 (2.1 billion) people currently lack access to safe drinking water and 6 in 10 do not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":72,"featured_media":171739,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[724,1944,1376],"internal-tag":[],"class_list":["post-170599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-run","tag-gear","tag-good-gear","tag-running"],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/rei.com\/blog\/run\/good-gear-janji","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Good Gear: Janji","url":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/run\/good-gear-janji","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/run\/good-gear-janji"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/07\/JANJI_SANTAFE_IM_06_Hero.jpg?resize=150%2C150","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/07\/JANJI_SANTAFE_IM_06_Hero.jpg?fit=2000%2C1000"},"articleSection":"Run","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jessica Bernhard"}],"creator":["Jessica Bernhard"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Uncommon Path \u2013 An REI Co-op Publication","logo":""},"keywords":["gear","good gear","running"],"dateCreated":"2021-10-04T15:30:00Z","datePublished":"2021-10-04T15:30:00Z","dateModified":"2021-12-18T03:07:09Z"},"rendered":"