Meet the Family: Grand Trunk Goods for the Road

Meet the family: Grand Trunk Goods for the Road
Shepherd & Schaller is Wausau’s outdoor experts and we respect quality and commitment.  So, for hammocks we choose Grand Trunk.
For every dollar you donate, Grand Trunk will match your donation on their site. After all, it takes two trees to hang a hammock, so Grand Trunk is committed to planting 5000 trees a year. They stand by ethical, fair-trade manufacturing which is good for their retailers, customers, partner and the world. They promote sustainable small business livelihood and enhance opportunity for economic progress. These are things we believe in too.
Grand Trunk “Goods for the Road” is not just hanging around.
Grab a single or double hammock, easy to use suspension straps, shelters and mosquito nets, travel pillows and get outside!

Mosquito covers make every outdoor setting comfortable

Meet the Family: Sherpa Adventure Clothing

Meet the family: Sherpa. A small brand can change the world.

Sherpa, by it’s own definition, is a modern brand with ancient wisdom. It weaves together the latest designs and technology with the rich heritage and time-honored beliefs of Nepal.  They focuse on providing economic and social stability to the people of Nepal through steady employment, quality working conditions and educational opportunities for future generations. As a Sherpa-founded company, the adventure clothing produced embraces technical materials and designs, passes grueling tests in the Himalayas, and weaves a rich heritage of humility into every garment.

“Our footprint may be small, but the Sherpa heart is big with belief that a modest brand can lift people up, train and educate the next generation, even help reverse the ravages of poor governance and a changing environment,” they say.

At Shep’s, we respect the values, wisdom and experience that Sherpa shares. They match our own.

Meet the Family: Kupilka Dish Ware and Cutlery is at Shep’s

Meet the Family: Kupilka
 
Support nature with a cup. KUPILKA – Adventurer’s Great Companion – products are made from their very own biomaterial with EKOenergy. (Hint: it’s mostly wood! That’s something we can appreciate here in the Northwoods right?)
 
The Finnish company’s products are made from natural fibre composite which favours the use of renewable energy sources. The wood for the material comes from the certified forests in Finland. Both the products and the material are manufactured in Finland using EKOenergy. Kupilka one of the first companies in the world to start using green electricity? The wide operating temperature of the product (-30 °C – 100 °C) together with the resistance of the material ensures durability and a smaller carbon footprint. At the end of the life span the products can be recycled, incinerated for heat energy or returned to the manufacturer for re-use. KUPILKA packaging is made from recycled cardboard which can be recycled or burned. So cool!
 
Like the other brands we choose to partner with, Kupilka invests in it’s employees and community, locally and globally. Check out their site to learn more and visit us to shop this unique dish ware and cutlery only at Shepherd & Schaller in downtown Wausau.
 

Meet the Family: Shep’s Has United by Blue Clothing and Bags

Meet the family: United by Blue
 
United By Blue is a water-friendly brand of apparel that removes a pound of trash from oceans and waterways for every product sold. And though the nearest ocean is very far away from our home in Wausau, the health of our waterways is something we can all appreciate.
 
UBB says “We created this company because we wanted to make a bigger, more measurable impact on our oceans and encourage people to do the same. So we stopped simply writing checks and started organizing and hosting these cleanups. We wanted to do our part to clean the waterways ourselves. The amount of plastic waste in our oceans and waterways is mind-boggling: 8 millions tons of plastic enter oceans each year. Plastic bottles alone make up 1.5 million tons of plastic waste annually. Plastics and other litter ultimately end up in the world’s gyres, or circulating ocean currents, and can turn into dense vortexes of trash. The most famous marine trash heap, The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, is twice the size of Texas.
 
That’s also why we take the care to create products that use responsible materials (like recycled polyester, which reuses plastic bottles so they won’t wind up in gyres). If you’d like to help, we’d love to see you at our next cleanup.”
 
We’re proud to partner with UBB and buying an awesome piece of their clothing (often of organic cotton) or gear bags (canvas or tech fabric)  is an easy way to lend support. Shep’s is Wausau’s home to United by Blue.