Holy moly, I can’t believe it’s been a year since Roozt launched. It’s been an incredible journey delivering you amazing deals from inspiring brands these last 12 months and there’s some really exciting new changes to the Roozt shopping experience coming very, very soon. But before we look forward, let’s recap where we have been in the last 12 months.

In the Past 12 Months…

1. Your Roozt purchases supported over 100 truly inspiring socially conscious brands using theirbusiness to makea positive impact on the world
2. Through Roozt’s partnership with B1G1, your orders were able to provide over 1,000 children across the globe with access to clean drinking water, school supplies, or life changing medicine
3. Roozt designed and launched a Social Venture Competition in LA for low-income high school students in conjunction with the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship and saw 15-year-old Hayley Hoverter, a member of the Roozt’s inaugural class, win the entire LA competition for her eco-friendly business concept.
4. Roozt received a humbling feature in Forbes as a “Name You Need To Know in 2011” for our work in the social entrepreneurial space.
5. And lastly, we began developing the next generation of the Roozt shopping experience (deals, products, rewards & more) that is very close to launching!

As you may have noticed, there have been a few changes this week with your regular Roozt experience, so I wanted to personally let you know that behind the scenes our team of ninjas, elves, and gnomes have been working extremely hard on creating a really cool new Roozt shopping experience which will be launching very soon.

The Next Generation of Roozt Shopping will let you:

Discover all the coolest, trendsetting cause-conscious brands and their entire product catalogues (and deals!) under one roof – making those hard to find companies, easy to discover and shop from in one simple & rewarding purchase.

Engage with the inspiring story behind each highly curated Roozt brand and learn about what they do that makes the world a better place – simply as you shop!

Shop from all your favorite Roozt brand’s in one easy shopping experience, making multiple product orders convenient, streamlined, and backed by the Roozt Guarantee.

Share your fav products, purchases, and brands with your friends and get rewarded with cool schwag and sweet prizes!

You Got Questions? We Got Answers! 

What about deals? Not to worry! Deals will still be a part of your Roozt experience and we will continue to bring you “limited time, limited quantity” deal gems into your inbox on a weekly basis.

What about RooztBux? All your points and discounts that you earned with RooztBux will roll over into the new site and we will honor all issued Roozt Gift Cards or issued discount codes.

What is a Roozt Founding Member? Roozt Founding Members are a part of an elite club of change making people who actively vote with their wallets to support the right types of companies that helping make the world a better place (aka Roozt Brands).

Am I a Roozt Founding Member?  Yes. Why? Because you’ve been with us since the beginning and we want to thank you for your continued support. As a Roozt Founding Member you will: get VIP access to special promotions, schwag giveaways, and get first crack at the amazing deals when they go live on the site.

What can I expect in the next few weeks? We will be sending out a 2-3 emails as we get closer to the “big day” of launching the next generation of Roozt shopping. We won’t send many, so when we do, make sure to check out the latest update – you might just win a prize!

How can I stay engaged? Facebook. If you haven’t already, click this email to “like” us on Facebook to enter pre-launch promo / schwag giveaway contests and to be the first to know when we launch.

Questions? Phew, that was a lot. But if you have any questions, you can always drop us a line directly at WeMakeYouHappy@Roozt.com and we promise to get back to you within 24 -48 hours (or sooner). If you decide to test that theory out at 1am on a Saturday night, we prob won’t get back to you till Monday since even our ninja, elves, and gnomes like to go out on the weekends…

If you are in Downtown LA tomorrow, please join Roozt in bringing your dusty, unused, or broken electronics to be recycled for a chance to win gift cards and prizes!  Roozt will be at the 7th and South Park View corner of McArthur Park from 11am – 6pm Saturday for the ReGreen Corporation’s Electronic Recycling Fundraiser.  The proceeds will go towards building a solar panel for local radio station KPFK.  Participants who bring in electronics will also be entered into a raffle to win cool prizes, including a $10 gift card for Roozt!  Twenty Roozt gift cards will be raffled out by ReGreen and if you stop by the Roozt booth and don a cool Rooster hat for a picture, you will be automatically entered for a chance to win a $50 gift card!  Please come support your Roosters and ReGreen at a day of fun, food and music.  We look forward to seeing you there!

September 21^st marks the United Nation’s International Day of Peace.  The event was established in 1981 as a way for the UN to commit itself to the spread of worldwide peace and encourage individuals, communities, and nations to work in cooperation towards this goal.  By creating one day of global truce, the UN along with various international groups such as the World Health Organization and UNICEF have been able to reach previously inaccessible at-risk populations to provide them with vaccinations, food and humanitarian aide. We at Roozt believe wholeheartedly in this mission and are inspired to make our small mark on World Peace Day 2011.

To celebrate this movement, Roozt could not have teamed up with a greater life-changing, awe-inspiring company than This Shirt Helps to give away a free premium-quality shirt to one lucky winner!  Company founder and apparel expert, Joe Huff, created the company after going through some tragedy of his own. In just one year, Joe had lost his father, his dog, and was separated from his wife.  The painful chain of events forced him to reanalyze his life and figure out what really mattered.  Instead of dwelling on his losses, Joe found strength and focused his attention on ways to positively impact the lives of others.  He wanted to commit himself to making a difference for those who wouldn’t get the opportunities he was privileged enough to receive.

Thus, This Shirt Helps was born.  Joe combined his skills for creating upscale, trendy apparel with his multiple philanthropic passions to create his dream job.  TSH takes conscious consumerism to the next level by developing a transparent business model that allows shoppers to choose the cause they wish to promote with every purchase.  When adding a shirt to your cart, you can decide if a portion of the proceeds will:

• Provide clean water for a year for a person at risk of
life threatening waterborne illnesses
• Enable a child to receive one week of schooling
• Plant 3 trees through much needed reforestation projects, or;
• Save an animal in a shelter, either through spay and neuter
programs or food and health services

A quarterly report will reflect all the aid the sales have contributed to and show customers just how many lives were improved through their purchases.  TSH hopes to inspire and engage more companies to get involved in social contributions and work together to change the world.

The Contest:

Through the generosity of This Shirt Helps and the celebration of World Peace Day, Roozt is giving away a TSH shirt to one lucky winner!  The winner will get to pick the shirt of their choice and also their preferred cause.

To Enter:

Simply “Like” This Shirt Helps on Facebook then “Like” and leave a comment on Roozt’s Page telling us what humanitarian cause you’d like to contribute to for World Peace Day and why.  Enter before Sunday Night 11:59 P.M. PST.  The winner will be chosen at random on Monday, September 26th to receive his or her free feel-good tee!

We’re so excited to watch Joe and his team bloom and prosper and hope everyone out there participates in World Peace Day on September 21st!

This Shirt Helps apparel will be displayed at Conveyer in Fred Segal, Santa Monica this month. Additionally, to celebrate its launch, TSH will be giving an extra week of schooling for every shirt purchased in the month of September! Want to know more?  Find out about the company’s mission in this video.

VS.

On the left: Ray Ban Woody Wayfarer sunglasses

Price: $600+

Pros: They’re the original wayfarers, they’re impossible to find collectors items, and they take shabby chic to a whole new level

Cons: One pair (if you can even find them) will cost about the same as 10 pairs of nice sunglasses.  Losing them at the beach would pretty much guarantee heartbreak for a week.

On the right: Proof Bird Sunglasses

Price: $95 – $125

Pros: They have the same retro-chic factor as traditional Ray Bans at a fraction of the cost of the Woodies.  Also, with every pair purchased, Proof donates 10% of the proceeds to a life-altering sight surgery to an individual in need in India.  The person also receives a free pair of Proof sunglasses to protect their eyes after the surgery. If that’s not enough, Proof only manufactures their glasses with sustainable wood sources and is also giving back to the process by planting trees in Haiti.

Cons: Your wallet will be a lot heavier

One-of-a-kind vintage classics may elevate your cool status, but it sure doesn’t give you the same warm fuzzies as knowing you’re changing someone’s life with the gift of sight.

Bulge up your wallet even more today by purchasing the daily Roozt deal for $50 of $100 dollars worth of Proof products!

Learn more about the Proof philosophy HERE

- courtesy of 911memorial.org

Emotions from ten years ago come flooding back today at the inauguration of the 9/11 Memorial at the World Trade Center site.  While families and friends gather to commiserate, reflect and honor the lives that were lost on September 11, 2001, the rest of the world will congregate around the television to watch the vigil unfold at the new Memorial and Museum in New York.

The site, designed by architect Michael Arad and landscape architect Peter Walker, is not only a striking remembrance of the tragedy of 9/11 but also encapsulates the vision of the future, following sustainable guidelines in its design.  It features an irrigation, storm water and pest management system to conserve energy, water, and other resources.  The project is pursuing the Gold certification in the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED for New Construction program and has already been described as one of the most eco-friendly plazas ever constructed.

On its surface, the memorial is dotted with 400 swamp white oak trees serving as a green roof for the museum 70 feet underground.  Rainwater will be harvested and used as irrigation.  The trees surround the two behemoth-sized reflecting pools, each measuring close to an acre, and hold the largest man-made waterfalls in North America.  Each pool is equipped with a variable frequency drive, which controls water flow and ensures the motors run at optimal speeds to prevent wear and tear.  This will help to dramatically reduce energy consumption and CO₂ emissions over time, and ensure a sustainable solution while reducing maintenance costs.

Names of all the victims are engraved on the bronze panels edging the pools to remind future generations of the lives lost on the sacred site. The plaza will be free and open to the public the day after its dedication on September 12^th, 2011.

There have been a lot of exciting changes around here lately.  After working with B1G1 for a number of our past causes, we at Roozt have partnered with Buy One Give One (B1G1) to be its exclusive cause giving platform in the United States! B1G1 is a social enterprise that ‘gives businesses the power to change lives’ through connecting them with high impact and worthy causes around the globe.

B1G1 links businesses to over 600 humanitarian projects worldwide so that businesses can give back in definable, high-impact ways by just focusing on their core business model.

- courtesy of B1G1

Through  B1G1 and Roozt partnerships in the past three months, Roozt and all our our socially saavy shoppers have already:

•     given 516 children access to clean water,
•    provided school supplies to 400 children,
•    distributed life-saving medication to 314 children in Kenya and,
•    adopted 379 plots of endangered rainforest land!

B1G1 Chairman, Paul Dunn, said that the Roozt partnership represented the company’s first major link in the US.  Roozt will be B1G1’s exclusive partner in the US, helping Roozt to promote social entrepreneurship and the integration of social responsibility into emerging businesses.

Roozt founder, Brent Freeman, believes that the power of B1G1 is in embedding the giving into the platform. “Because B1G1 has done such great work in finding great projects, our partnership allows us to focus on what we’re both good at while achieving the highest impact possible in our giving.” he said. “It’s not something that’s tacked on — giving is part of who we are, our customer purchases, and the entire Roozt shopping experience.”

“B1G1 has already impacted 1.6 million lives through over 4 million giving transactions, and that’s before our US presence” Mr. Dunn said. “We’re thrilled to be playing a part with Roozt to harness the power of eCommerce to create a positive impact in the world. Roozt’s focus on providing a central online destination for socially conscious companies to sell to is just the perfect place for us to be.”

Thank you to all our deal subscribers and shoppers for making this possible. We’re thrilled to be partnering with B1G1 and look forward to creating a tangible impact on the world of social entrepreneurship!

Click HERE to find out more about B1G1 and the impact your purchases will have around our planet.

Charging a cell phone is now pretty much a standard nightly routine in every American household – we brush our teeth, change into our PJs, take Pluto for one last walk around the block, then plug in our mobile devices to get it juiced up and ready to go again by morning.  There’s hardly a second thought into the action and we frequently have to carry it out multiple times a day.

But what if you were able to get ten times the battery life on your phone just by doing all the activities that you normally do in a given day?  Scientists at the University of Wisconsin – Madison are working on just that.  In an industry-buzzing article released last week in the Nature Communications Journal, Wisconsin’s mechanical engineering department boasted about a technology that would harness the body’s natural power through a small device in the shoe and use it to recharge and prolong the battery in small electronic devices.

- courtesy of Instep NanoPower

Amazingly enough, you’ve probably already seen this technology in action before – think back to those L.A. Gear light-up sneakers of your elementary school years, the ones that flashed a bright neon-pink with every step, skip and hop.  That childhood fad was powered with a similar energy harvester but at the most basic of levels. This new development would take that concept to a whole new galaxy.

While capturing the human body’s energy output normally lost in heat is not a novel idea, many a scientist have failed to create a device that could store enough of that power to make an impact.  But the researchers at University of Wisconsin claim their new concept of “reverse electrowetting” could generate roughly 20 watts of electrical power per person – enough to recharge the average cell phone battery.

The reverse electrowetting, or REWOD process goes something like this: Our body’s mechanical energy (walking, running, etc.) is captured by a micro-fluidic device consisting of thousands of micro-droplets between a thin film of electrodes that line the shoe – when we hit the ground, a force is applied on the micro-fluidic device, causing the electrodes to change the circuit’s capacitance, allowing for the energy to be captured and converted into an electrical current.

- courtesy of nature.com

The next step is why many critics are still skeptical about the practicability of such an innovation – now that the power’s there, who would ever want to plug their cell phones into their shoe?  It turns out the Wisconsin researchers have thought of this challenge as well.  They propose to use the converted power less as a direct energy source but more as an intermediate wireless transmission device similar to a mobile hotspot.  This would drastically reduce the battery draining process of transmitting and receiving data via long distances and potentially have you only charging your cell phone once a month!

If this innovation succeeds, the impact could be monumental.  The military could incorporate the device into their foot gear to relieve soldiers of hundreds of pounds of excess battery weight.  Rural areas without regular access to an electric grid or monetary funds could power their own portable devices.  We could even drastically reduce the amount of waste and pollution caused by improper disposal of common batteries.  The possibilities would be limitless.

Yet still, there is most likely a long way to go before we will see this technology in mainstream footwear.  The Wisconsin scientists have founded a start-up company called In Step NanoPower to commercialize their concept and attract key footwear designers who could incorporate this device into a functional, everyday shoe.  For now, the team continues to develop a prototype sole insert via various grants and hopes it will be ready for testing in a few years.

We at Roozt recognize a ground-breaking social innovation when we see one and are excited to follow these innovators’ growth in the upcoming years!