About Us
Our Mission
At Tillak we create innovative, affordable and durable outdoor products, constantly strive to minimize impact, and utilize our platform to facilitate environmental awareness, contribute toward conservation efforts, and advocate for outdoor recreation.
Goods That Give Back™
As outdoor enthusiasts first, and as an outdoor brand second, we recognize that our sanity as fun-seekers, and our longevity as gear-makers relies entirely on having healthy and wide open spaces for us all to play in and enjoy. Clean water along our coastlines, loamy, shaded singletrack through dense forests, cold and clean rivers teeming with fish, access to trails, crags, surf spots, and fishing holes – these coveted places and processes are always at risk of being lost somewhere at almost any given moment.
Certified B Corporation®
Certified B Corps are for-profit companies certified by nonprofit B Lab® for meeting rigorous standards in social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. They integrate these commitments into their operations and legal documents. Certified B Corps aim to utilize market influence to tackle social and environmental issues effectively.
Our decision to become a Certified B Corporation® in 2018, merely a year after establishment, demonstrates our alignment with B Corp™ standards that reflect our core values of social accountability and environmental responsibility. This certification mandates our ongoing efforts to minimize environmental impact, prioritize worker and community welfare, and ensure transparent practices, enabling you to make informed choices as a consumer. We strive to foster confidence by showcasing our identity, purpose, and commitment to these values.
We want you to feel confident in knowing who we are, why we do what we do, and what we are all about!
1% for the Planet®
At Tillak we recognize our deeply rooted dependence – and that of the entire outdoor community – on the existence of these accessible and healthy open spaces, which is why we’ve implemented our Goods That Give Back™ program. Goods That Give Back™ is our commitment through the 1% for the Planet® program to allocate a minimum of 1% of our total revenue toward conservation, restoration and outdoor recreation-related environmental stewardship efforts.
Climate Commitment
We also go beyond minimizing our footprint — we actively invest in cleaning up the planet. Our Climate Commitment program offsets the shipping emissions of every Tillak order by supporting cutting-edge carbon removal technologies. From the trails to the checkout, we're committed to a cleaner future for outdoor adventure.
Who We Work With
We work internationally with a wide variety of mills, suppliers, and manufacturers, each being hand-selected for their specific areas of expertise, and then thoroughly vetted for adherence to our rigorous standards of quality.
Additionally, as a Certified B Corporation® our manufacturing partners and suppliers are evaluated to ensure that strict environmental and ethical standards are met. For these purposes, we constantly strive to partner with Bluesign certified (or certification pending) manufacturers, and utilize REACH certified materials for products whenever possible.
Who We Are
Tillak originated from a small collection of us spread out along the West Coast, who worked other jobs and had various career paths, but we best described ourselves as outdoor addicts. We would spend our weekdays toiling away behind computers or out in the field, but off the clock we were mountain bikers, backpackers, car campers, fly anglers, surfers, snowboarders and climbers. Our obsession with recreating in the outdoors is the backbone of Tillak – our varied lifelong passions and pursuits shape and mold every single product that we make.
In parallel with our love of outdoor activities is our admiration of the outdoor places that we enjoy. One of the main purposes our founders created Tillak was as a means to leverage business as a tool for environmental awareness and stewardship, and in an effort to establish a new precedent for the outdoor industry. At the very core of our team is a shared desire to give as much back to the places we love as we can. Through our Goods That Give Back Program, through volunteer hours with local organizations, or through partnerships with non-profit organizations, all of us here have dedicated our time and ourselves toward the betterment of the environment.
The Team
Here is the small but growing list of faces that make up our Sisters, Oregon and Southern California offices.
Octave Zangs
Co-Founder
Octave Zangs grew up with a fly rod in his hand. He is also an established filmmaker, multi-faceted musician, web designer, coder, and devout environmental conservationist originally from Normandy, France. Octave spent the better portion of his childhood and formative years working tirelessly to protect his local, native brown trout fishery until a devastating industry-related cyanide spill occurred. The spill, which completely sterilized his cherished local watershed, opened his eyes to a world where short term gains in business almost always outweighed long term environmental losses. Shortly after losing his local stream, Octave relocated to the West Coast of the United States. Since his arrival here over nine years ago his filmmaking and his imagery has helped to raise awareness about the wild places that many of us take for granted - a commodity that long ago vanished from much of his native Europe. Octave co-founded Tillak in hopes of inspiring the outdoor community (and beyond) to cherish, enjoy, and protect the remaining natural landscapes and public lands that we still have.
Jason Fitzgibbon
Co-Founder
Jason Fitzgibbon is a lifelong mountain biker, surfer, fly angler, climber, writer, photographer and wildlife biologist based out of Dana Point, California. Jason's love and respect of the outdoors began at a very young age and blossomed through his constant recreational and academic pursuits, eventually leading him to obtain his Master’s of Science degree in Environmental Science and Conservation Biology. As a wildlife biologist, avid outdoorsman, and respected adventure photographer and writer, Jason has spent the better part of the last decade introducing the outdoor industry to environmental issues and concerns, losses and victories. Through founding Tillak, his hope is that he can establish a new norm in the Outdoor Industry - a dedication and a commitment to giving back to the places that we all enjoy.
Jenna Lagonigro
Product Designer
Jenna Lagonigro was born and raised in a small town in North Carolina. She spent much of her time as a child running around in the woods, hiking, camping and swimming - and not much has changed in her adult life. Jenna received her Bachelor's of Art + Design from North Carolina State University and continued on to pursue a career in fashion in New York City. Shortly after moving, she realized that city life failed to quench her constant thirst for nature so she packed up and headed across the country to trade skyscrapers for Douglas fir. Now happier and thriving amongst the conifers and wildflowers, Jenna continues to pursue her passions and refine her beliefs in ethical design and sustainability. Her work for Tillak emulates her shared commitments to ethical, intentional design and environmental advocacy.
Austin Leonard
Social Media & Community Manager
Austin, originally hailing from the picturesque mountains of North Carolina, made the transformative move to Central Oregon more than a decade ago, driven by his passion for a professional snowboarding career. While he initially pursued the dream of excelling in snowboarding, Austin's trajectory shifted towards honing his expertise in photography and videography. Over a span of ten years, he cultivated a profound understanding of the nuances of the camera and developed a profound love for capturing captivating imagery and finding ways to better conserve the PNW’s fisheries. Austin found his true calling in the unique realm of crafting exceptional outdoor and cannabis content for some of the industry's most prominent brands. Beyond shaping brand identities, Austin's heart lies in the great outdoors, where he's often found immersed in the art of fly fishing, chasing after the perfect catch in his cherished natural settings.
Conrad Gowell
Conservation Advisor
Conrad is an expert angler, river snorkeler, biologist, naturalist and forager, with a knowledge and appreciation of his natural surroundings that is both undeniable and incredibly contagious. Conrad spent his youth exploring and learning amongst the old growth forests and wild watersheds of Coastal Oregon before obtaining his Bachelor of Science degree in Natural Science from the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington. He has since worked with various non-profit organizations, academic institutions, indigenous cultures, and fisheries consultants, aiming to advance the sustainable management and restoration of watersheds. He is a lifelong advocate for wild fish and watersheds, whose consistent dedication has brought many communities to action. Conrad currently occupies the role of Biologist at the Wild Fish Conservancy.
Chloé Lepeltier
Sustainability Consultant
Chloé Lepeltier is a passionate writer, an avid hiker, and a recently enthralled forager who lives in Portland, Oregon. As a professional translator specializing in International Humanitarian Law, Chloé has worked on three separate continents, in cities and towns both big and small. Through her work and the varied places it has taken her, she has developed an acute awareness of the need to preserve native habitat and culture. Chloé is a Portland Master Recycler, an Agent of Change of the Center for Earth Leadership, the author of the sustainable lifestyle blog Conscious by Chloé, and the founder of Zero Waste PDX, an organization whose mission is to inspire and empower companies and individuals to reduce their negative impact on the planet.