Cold, a sustainability management platform that leverages AI to streamline compliance for leading outdoor and apparel brands, and Outdoor Industry Association (OIA) announced an official partnership to bring Cold’s solution to more OIA members at a time of mounting regulatory complexity and burden.
In response to regulatory rollback at the federal level, states are stepping in to fill the void by enacting their own environmental legislation, creating a patchwork of regulations that has become increasingly challenging for businesses to navigate. As a result, sustainability leaders are spending more and more of their time on compliance, which comes at a significant opportunity cost. Cold launched its platform in early 2024 to provide organizations with a more efficient alternative to manual regulatory tracking and reporting.
The OIA partnership comes just as Cold is rolling out an end-to-end Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) compliance solution for its customers, helping companies to meet deadlines and requirements in Oregon, California and Colorado with more states to follow.
“Manual compliance and reporting takes time and resources, which are precious commodities for small and midsize companies, especially in today’s challenging economic environment,” said Eric Dayton, founder and CEO at Cold. “Cold solves this problem by centralizing and automating compliance so that business leaders can focus on the work that matters most.”
Prior to Cold, Dayton founded Askov Finlayson, a climate positive winter outerwear company and only the fourth in the outdoor apparel industry to achieve B Corp certification. Cold’s co-founder Dan Lindquist brings extensive experience creating innovative SaaS solutions as the co-founder and former chief product officer at Mainstreet.
“In our conversations with OIA members, we consistently hear about the mounting pressure of compliance and reporting as they navigate new regulations,” said Julie Brown, director of sustainable business innovation at OIA. “We have confidence in Cold’s solution to this challenge, and the feedback from our members who are already using the platform has been overwhelmingly positive.”
Leading brands in the apparel and outdoors industries — including Bombas, Topo Designs, Outdoor Research, Faherty and Peak Design — trust Cold to streamline compliance and automate their sustainability reporting. The platform helps organizations save valuable time, unlock new markets and protect against risk, the company said in a release.
“As the pile of compliance requirements grow, I have found myself spending more time filling out reports than doing the actual work of making Peak a more sustainable company,” said Annie Nyborg, head of environmental and social impact at Peak Design, an OIA member. “Cold allows me to focus on driving progress while they take care of the reporting.”
Cold is backed by a strong team of advisors and investors with deep retail industry backgrounds, the company said, including Doug Baker, former CEO of Ecolab and current Target board member, Michael Francis, Target’s former CMO, and Archie Black, who served as the longtime CEO at SPS Commerce. Cold’s $2.65M pre-seed round in 2024 was led by York IE, with participation from Better Ventures.
Visit coldclimate.com to learn more.
