Dorsal Bracelets - Chad Ross
By: Kaitlyn McMullin
Dorsal bracelets was created a little over two years ago by a man named Chad Ross. The company sells a variety of merchandise such as bracelets, stickers, apparel and more recently they began to sell necklaces all of which are ocean-themed. The company was created to help bring awareness and to help aid in the clean up of oceans and beaches.
“Our mission is to help from land to sea… We believe that spreading awareness and getting many people to take small steps leads to big change.” Says Chad Ross, CEO of Dorsal
“With every purchase we remove one pound of ocean plastic, fund coral restoration, and aid in ocean conservation. We use our bracelets as a reminder to not use single-use plastics and start conversations with friends about how you can help the ocean/environment.”
The merchandise sold mainly consists of “metal allows and paracord.” However, in the future, they have decided to test new materials to use “such as waxed cotton, hemp, and recycled plastic.”
Chad Ross is currently working on growing his business and nearing the end of its wholesale program at the end of the year 2020 and they will begin to expand their business into retail stores. Chad comments:
“We want Dorsal to become a common household name within the accessory industry. That means being in thousands of stores in the product line.”
The work has already had an impact on beaches and oceans today by cleaning up “over 88,000 pounds of plastic.” Not only do they help aid in cleanups around the world, but they have also donated $44,000 dollars to assist other ocean companies they have partnered up with.
With the pandemic on the rise, they have been exploring the idea and testing multiple types of face masks to release on their site. However, they are uncertain to make public they have been focusing more on future jewelry to be created and released to the public for purchase.
Due to the pandemic, he has mentioned that the cleanups his business helps set up have been delayed since trying to keep their staff and volunteers safe. COVID-19 has not only impacted their ability to clean up but has caused an effect on their business as well:
“COVID-19 has definitely had pros and cons on Dorsal. The biggest cons were our manufacturers closing for a while, so we sold out and unable to make additional products. The biggest pro was more people being online which made advertising easier for a while.”
Now the company has adjusted to the new situation they found “more control and predictability” for the creation and selling of their products.
This company has exceeded the expectations that were dreamt up by Chad Ross mentioning how the company has grown each year with no sight of the growth to be slowing down. The company’s passion for bringing awareness to the urgency of the ocean and its call for help has gotten the attention from people worldwide. Not only the customers who purchase from the company but also to the Dorsal Crew who speak on the importance of the company, bringing attention to them, and avidly purchase many merchandise for the cause that Dorsal stands for.