Pura Vida Bracelets
Philanthropic Mission
Pura Vida Bracelets is a San Diego-based company that sources ethically-produced handcrafted bracelets and accessories from artisans worldwide, with a socially-minded mission at its core.
The idea for Pura Vida (an homage to the Costa Rican philosophy meaning “pure life” that encourages the appreciation of simple treasures) was inspired by a chance encounter between co-founders Griffin Thall and Paul Goodman and two artisans on the beaches of Costa Rica. Since its launch in 2010, the brand has grown from a beachside business into a multi-million dollar company, providing jobs to more than 650 artisans around the globe and raising more than $1.7 million for charitable causes.
Despite the brand's enormous success, Pura Vida has kept their mission pure -- continuing to give back both globally and locally by expanding their investments within various artisan communities, while continuing to support homegrown philanthropic initiatives. In the past 8 years, they’ve increased their work and impact with the artisan community beyond Costa Rica to countries such as India and El Salvador, and their original artisan partners still remain as the brand's most senior partners (and even oversee their own team of employees on the ground in Costa Rica), a true testament to their dedication to make ethics as much of a priority as profits.
Pura Vida’s product line features a robust charity collection, in which they donate a portion of bracelet proceeds to organizations such as Oceanic Preservation Society, Breast Cancer Awareness, Save the Sea Turtles, LGBT Pride, Autism Awareness, and many more. Outside of their organization, Griffin and Paul also actively support social causes themselves -- most recently, Griffin teamed up with Colton Underwood in support of the Colton Underwood Legacy Foundation to pass out bracelets to the kids at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego.
While consumers have only recently become increasingly interested in the social missions behind the brands they purchase, social consciousness has been at the heart of Pura Vida’s brand from the very beginning.