Volcom V.Cological is partnering with the Sumatran Orangutan Society (SOS) for the Fall and Holiday 2012 collections in efforts to support awareness, attention and education for what is happening with the Orangutan endangered species. With this project, Grace Lee from the Volcom design team along with our Volcomunity filmer Mark Samuels went to Sumatra to meet up with our Volcom Indonesia partners and the SOS foundation. This documentation and learning experience gave rise to even more insight of how important supporting awareness around this endangered species is. With these efforts a web documentary will be launching in May along with Volcom V.Cological product that gives back to supporting the SOS foundation.

My name is Grace Lee, I’m a senior designer at Volcom. I never imagined while designing the Fall 2012 V.Cological collection, that months later I’d find myself trekking deep into the jungles of Sumatra to visit the very creatures that inspired our prints for this line! 5% proceeds from the sales of our (SOS) V.Cological products will be donated to our ‘1% for the planet’ organization of choice: The Sumatran Orangutan Society (SOS). I was so stoked to tag along with Mark, our Volcommunity filmer, and some Volcom Indo marketing friends, Sanuk, Merissa, Karl and Regan as they worked on a documentary exploring what SOS is all about and how our contribution to this cause is really going to make an impact on the environment. What a trip of a lifetime, it was so rewarding to see all this raw beauty and how Volcom Girls is doing our part in making a difference! Here are some behind-the-scene photo’s, stay tuned for the documentary, it’s going to be epic!!

Our first stop was a jungle in Besitang in the island of Sumatra.

I fell in love with this adorable baby owl that was rescued and being rehabilitated near the forest restoration site.

This is what a virgin rainforest looks like. Alot of rainforests have been burned down or cleared to make room for palm oil plantations. This is usually the home to many endangered species, wild orangutan, sumatran tigers, and elephants. Walking through the tall grass, I could totally imagine a crouching tiger hiding in the field waiting to pounce. And Just the night before, villagers spotted a whole herd of elephants chilling in this very spot. So amazing!

Here’s the crew at the homestay, our first leg of the journey.

Gotta get that shot!! Mark getting a better vantage point at the lookout hut.

Tree seedlings getting prepped for restoration projects around the jungle.

It felt so good to get our hands in the dirt and help plant trees in Gunung Leuser National Park! Everyone on the volcom indo team helped plant trees!

Here’s the tree I planted, aptly named ‘seribu naik’. Roughly translated it means rise to a thousand…grow grow grow!

Stay tuned for part II and part III of my trip to Sumatra! To learn more about Volcom’s efforts with sustainability and giveback efforts please visit the Volcom New Future Blog.

xx Grace