Ursa Major, Topo Designs team up on a Dopp kit to benefit bison

Two up-and-coming indie brands, skin-care company Ursa Major and backpack and gear bag maker Topo Designs, have teamed up to stock a holiday Dopp kit, with some proceeds going to benefit the American bison.

The set consists of one of Topo’s sturdy, triangular-shaped Cordura-fabric Dopp kits in a teal and duck camouflage color way, filled with four of Ursa’s signature men’s grooming products -- face wash, shaving cream, tonic and after-shave balm -- for $125.

While that’s already a bargain -- the suite of skin-care products plus the Dopp kit to house them would cost you at least $135 purchased separately -- the brands are making the money work even harder by donating 5% of sales to help preserve the winter habitat of the American bison, an initiative organized by high-end purveyor of hunting and fishing goods Orvis (which is headquartered in Vermont) and the National Wildlife Federation.

Although both brands are headquartered far afield -- Ursa Major in Stowe, Vt., and Topo Designs in Denver, their collaboration has its roots in Southern California. Ursa’s co-founder, Oliver Sweatman, first connected with Topo’s founders Mark Hansen and Jedd Rose, in July at the new Launch LA trade show in Santa Monica, and then met with them again in Las Vegas when both brands took their wares to the Capsule trade show.

The initial run of Dopp kits, which was sold through Ursa Major’s website, sold out in just a week and a half -- as of this writing they’re listed as out of stock -- but Sweatman assures us they’re in the process of restocking the cyber-shelves. (Kits can also be ordered through Topo Designs’ website.)

So go ahead -- make a Bison’s day.

ALSO:

Usain Bolt’s Dopp kit essentials

Ursa Major makes your face feel Vermont-y fresh

Launch date: New SoCal trade show set for July 2012