Outdoor Retailer - Summer 2019 - 35

miles north) are stores that sell things, the creation of which harm the environment.
Hutchinson and McCarthy are both keenly aware of the disparity between wanting to
be a sustainable business and engaging in an
economy with an enormous carbon footprint.
"I know," says Hutchinson. "If nature could talk
to us, we'd hear, 'You're hurting me.' But people
need 'stuff '-that's the reality of the world. As
long as they come into our stores, there's an opportunity to push our business model a bit further. We're just trying to make Proof Lab an example of a business that's trying to do as much
as it can for sustainability. And we need to survive by selling 'stuff ' so we have a good impact."

THE MAIN ATTRACTION
Movie nights in the
parking lot between
Proof Lab Surf Shop and
Equator Coffees & Teas
help anchor the Marin
County community in an
adventure sports ethos
that's also incredibly chill
and welcoming.

FIVE PROOF LAB PARTNERS ON WHY THEY
JOINED THE PROOF LAB UNIVERSE
Mill Valley Potter's Studio, owner
Jennie Ditto
CONNECTION: Like so many of the business own-

ers linked to Proof Lab, Jennie Ditto was a
longtime friend of Hutchinson when he approached her to see if she wanted to join in
creating "something cool for the community"
after the lot next to Proof Lab Station became
available in 2010. The two, along with another
friend, Dan Dufficy, started to dream and came
up with a business idea called the Grow Art &
Education Center, which focused on teaching
people about sustainable gardening techniques
and agriculture, with classes like beekeeping and permaculture, as well as fine arts like
pottery. For years, Ditto had been a hobby potter; now she had a chance to teach others. And
there were no potting studios in Marin County,
so she seized the opportunity. The original idea
eventually tanked-it turned out the citizens of
Marin didn't want to do their own sustainable
gardening-but Ditto's business stayed. Today,
the Potter's Studio is thriving. "Doing pottery is
incredibly therapeutic in that it slows you down
and gets you out of your head," Ditto says. The
studio offers classes as well as open times for enrolled students and monthly members.
WHY PROOF LAB? "I jumped on board with being
part of the Proof Lab community because Will
and Nate are visionaries and executers," Ditto
says. "The vision was to activate and provide
a place for the neighbors to gather, exchange
ideas, have fun, and grow our businesses. It was
a wonderful concept that aligned with my goals
of operating a 'community centric' business too.
I couldn't pass up the opportunity!"

"We try to engage
with the community and do lots of events,"
says Ditto. "We do fundraisers and give donations to a local organization that provides
art classes to homeless kids. And while Marin
used to be a mecca for artists, the cost of living
has pushed them out. We're trying to recreate that community to the best of our ability."
SUSTAINABILITY MISSION:

Magic West Music School,
owner Alexi Glikman
Glikman was hanging with
Hutchison and some other guys in the hot
tub at Hutchinson's house when he first heard
Hutchinson talk about the Proof Lab dream.
"Surfers are known for being spacey and
a little disorganized and having a bunch of
wild ideas, but really only being able to commit to surfing and partying sometimes," he
says. Hutchison and McCarthy were different. Incrementally, they began making the
dream happen, and eventually they asked
Glikman, a classically trained musician with
a rock band who also taught music lessons,
to be a part of it. "I wanted a music school,
not to just be a traveling music teacher, and
the idea of having a music school inside a surf
shop is kind of like a fantasy," he says. In 2011,
he and his brother opened the Magic West
Music School in a room above Proof Lab Surf
Shop. On a quiet day, you can hear the sounds
above the shop's skate ramp with a mural of
giant swimming salmon on its walls. At any
given the time the music school has between
25 and 50 students.
CONNECTION:

WHY PROOF LAB? "Over time it's become the com-

munity hub for Mill Valley," says Glikman. "It
doesn't matter what you do or what you're into,
it's where you can engage with others every day.
Marin County is a pretty affluent place, where
people are already disconnected. Without Proof
Lab there'd be more gaming and phones and no
music lesson or bands being formed."
SUSTAINABILITY MISSION: Community building
through the power of music. "We're not 'School
of Rock,'" says Glikman. "We're not teaching
kids "Smoke on the Water" and "Seven Nation
Army." We're teaching them to be artists." Magic
West also holds recitals on the skate ramp.

Equator Coffees & Teas,
owners Brooke McDonnell
and Helen Russell
CONNECTION: Equator was already a very robust

business by the time the three owners interfaced with McCarthy and Hutchinson. The
brand had started in 1995, and by 2010 was
roasting thousands of pounds a month and
partnering with famous restaurants and chefs
in the Bay Area. So when McCarthy approached
the owners about opening a cafe on the Proof
Lab property, they weren't interested and instead encouraged him and Hutchinson to feature their beans but open their own cafe. "That
kind of freaked them out," says Equator's director of coffee culture Devorah Freudiger, and
they put on the brakes. But in 2013, Equator
decided to join them, opening its first cafe in a
small building in front of Proof Lab Surf Shop
that had housed used surfboards and wetsuits

Summer 2019 / OUTDOOR RETAILER 35

Outdoor Retailer - Summer 2019

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