Mottainai: Sourcing With Respect

Honor Resources & Reduce Waste

Every piece of gear starts with a material decision. For us, that decision begins with Mottainai—a Japanese concept about honoring resources and reducing waste. It’s not about being perfect. It’s about being intentional.

The outdoor industry tosses an absurd amount of fabric every year—fabric that took thousands of gallons of water and serious energy to produce. Sometimes it’s because of a typo in an order. Sometimes it’s because a brand can’t print their logo on it. Sometimes it’s because of tiny cosmetic flaws—a faint stripe, dots no one would notice. We’ve seen it firsthand. We’ve even seen fabric burned, just to prevent other brands from using it.

That’s not us.

Pingora’s sourcing process starts with performance. We build for real-world use: running, skiing, climbing, hiking. Each pack has a job to do, and the materials have to deliver. But we also ask: Can we meet performance needs without making new fabric?

So we dig. Through spreadsheets, through deadstock catalogs, through limited-run leftovers from the world’s best mills. We match material to mission—and sometimes the results surprise us.

That’s how we land on our colorways. We don’t start with a moodboard, we start with what’s available and high-performing. If that means we only get 100 yards of stormproof crimson, cool. That’s 100 packs. Done. We won’t make more until we find the next match.

This process is slower. It’s harder. But it’s how we reduce waste, stay nimble, and respect the supply chain from fiber to finish. Every Pingora pack is a result of constraints we embrace—limited materials, infinite care.