When two guys from Forest, Indiana met when they were in the first grade, they probably didn't think their friendship would go on to help the environment. Their names are so interchangeable, Tyler Erickson and Tyler Eads, that people sometimes jokingly call the pair, "Tyler E."
The two went to Clinton Central High School, but they split up; Erickson went on to study at Indiana University-Kokomo, earning a Bachelor's degree in business, and is now pursuing a Master's degree at University of Southern Indiana. Eads went to Ball State University, earning his Bachelor's degree in Telecommunications with a focus on audio and video production.
But, the duo stayed close, and over in July, they founded Lifecycle, a sustainable and environmentally conscious brand. The pair started the business in hopes to encourage consumers to make small, incremental changes that will have a positive impact on the environment.
Lifecycle is one of two parts; partially retail, offering wares like t-shirts and hats, and an environmentally conscious social media platform.
"For me, Lifecycle started as a way to run a business and get hands-on experience with running a business, which was something I had on my mind for a while," Eads said. "But Tyler and I both are very passionate about the environment and the climate, so making that the center of our business was a no-brainer."
The business' bio touts, "clothing with a cause." The items are made with sustainable practices in mind. Therefore, percentage of every purchase made from Lifecycle will go toward organizations that further the work of sustainability and battling the climate crisis, Eads said.
"These organizations are ones we've grown fond of, they're out on the front lines, doing a lot of work from an environmental standpoint," Erickson said.
As of right now, donations are going toward The Ocean Cleanup and The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), but Erickson said hopefully Lifecycle will be able to work with more organizations in the future.
The Ocean Cleanup, a non-profit organization, is working on advanced technologies to rid the world’s oceans of plastics, and is aiming to clean up 90% of the ocean's plastics. The organization, in full scale, could clean up to 50% of the ocean's garbage in just five years, according to theoceancleanup.com.
EDF is an organization that began in 1967, and now focuses on positively impacting climate, energy, ecosystems, oceans and health. For instance, EDF's work giving landowners incentives to help wildlife has saved 4 million acres and protected 63 rare species, according to edf.org.
In order to further the impact Lifecycle can have on the environment, growing an online platform comes into play.
"We especially wanted to do something that has a positive effect on the environment and offer a way to do that which inspires others to share our mission," Eads said.
In the beginning, Lifecycle was mainly focused on marketing sustainable clothing; shirts, jackets, hats, backpacks and more. Then, the focus pivoted to include building content online.
"We're working on videos or images that we put on our social media or YouTube that can just educate or inspire others to adopt a more sustainable lifestyle," he said.
For instance, Lifecycle shared a video on bottle bricks to their Facebook page on Oct. 1. Bottle bricks, also known as eco bricks, are plastic bottles filled with inorganic materials such a plastics and landfill waste. They're easily made by packing the bottle with material until it can hold the weight of a person without deforming. Then, these are used for building, just like traditional bricks. Learn more about making and donating bottle bricks at ecobricks.org/exchange.
Erickson said informational videos and other social media posts is "definitely the direction Lifecycle is headed." While Lifecycle will continue to build on its clothing line and merchandise, the pair recognize that building an online community is crucial to a properly functioning business.
"The more we can promote different solutions to living more of an eco-friendly lifestyle, and being just environmentally aware, that would be kind of the goal and we would like to build a community around that," he said.
The pair, now located in Hamilton County, plan to use their passion for the outdoors to get involved in local conservation efforts.
"We'd like to plant trees, get in touch with more localized organizations that are focused on park cleanups and trash pick-ups," Erickson said. "We've gone out and done some park clean-up things but we'd like to do it on a much larger scale."
So what made the Tyler E.'s take the plunge to start Lifecycle? Erickson said it was combination of things.
"We've been best friends for a long, long time, and we'd talked on and off about wanting to do something together for years," he said. "We're very like-minded and always wanted it to be built around a good cause. As we built an appreciation for the outdoors, camping, hiking, trailing, it seemed more clear that was the direction we were going...
"Then, information came out about the climate crisis, we have a limited amount of years until this is irreversible, and that's when we knew."
The business is still in its early stages, something the pair decided around 2 a.m. one night in July.
"We thought, 'Let's just go for it,' and we stayed up all night, made our mission statement and that was that," Erickson said.
Eads said they've always wanted to inspire and incentivize people to make small, incremental changes in their lives, because those small changes can add up.
So far, most of the Lifecycle social media presence has been focused on reducing use of plastics. For instance, using bar soap instead of bottled soap, which usually is in a plastic bottle, to reduce plastic waste. The brand is currently working on a project about water waste and how to reduce that waste, Eads said.
Lifecycle isn't an initiative that encourages people to overhaul their entire lives, but to engage small, achievable practices that make differences.
"There's a lot of great solutions out there but it would be a big stretch for people on a normal level, so a lot of the low-hanging fruit would be using reusable bags at the grocery store, be sure you're using reusable water bottles," Erickson said. "... things that are easy for people to immediately take advantage of in their owns lives are what we're out for."
Some of these changes are new to the pair, as well. Eads said he and his wife began ordering 100% recyclable toilet paper online, and using bamboo toothbrushes, canvas bags instead of plastics, have been some changes they've made. Erickson echoed the sentiment.
"Some of these changes we just made over this last year," he said. "We were guilty of buying just the pack of water bottles and using those, so we finally switched to reusable water bottles. We're using water filters and tap water, and that's been one kind of a low-hanging fruit. But when you think of how much plastic we aren't using now, it's a lot."
The pair encourage anyone who is interested in becoming more eco-friendly to consider the implications of the climate crisis.
"I'll point to the things that are happening right now, the wildfires in California, hurricanes in the south, things that we've never experienced before in this magnitude. It's sort of an illustration of how we've been doing things so far as human race," Eads said. "Making these changes now could have a huge impact going forward."