Supporting Ukrainians and Journalists

Doing what we can as the War in Ukraine rages on.

By Peak Design

April 21^st, 2022

TLDR: We're trying to help. If you want to help journalists reporting on the ground in Ukraine or other conflict zones around the world, check out this crowdfunding campaign that the Rory Peck Trust is running to supply these journalists with protective equipment.

In early March, as Russia began its illegal and unjustified invasion of Ukraine, Peak Design announced that we were 1) collecting all gently used returns and second-hand bags that we could to get to refugees fleeing Ukraine, 2) creating a system to get Peak Design photography equipment and bags to photojournalists and journalists working on the ground in Ukraine, free of charge, and 3) no longer doing any business in Russia.

While the impact we might have is minimal in the grand scheme of a devastating conflict of this scale, we still believe firmly that businesses should look for ways to contribute in whatever way they can and follow-through on those ideas.

A month and a half later, here is an update on these endeavors:

We have so far gotten 220 bags into the hands of refugees with the help of our Polish distributor, both at border crossings and a train station in Warsaw where many refugees are arriving.
We have thus far supplied 58 journalists working in Ukraine with Peak Design gear that we hope can help them in their continuing efforts to share with the world what is happening on the ground during this conflict.
Business operations are still ceased in Russia. Admittedly, this was not an enormous market for us and it doesn’t bring anyone at Peak joy to take business away from partners in Russia. However, this is one of the few ways Western businesses can pierce the veil of misinformation that hangs over much of Russia in regards to this conflict.

Additionally, we’ve been connected with the Film Directors’ Guild of Poland (polishdirectors.com), who work closely together with the Polish Film Academy (pnf.pl) and film producers all across Europe to support Ukrainian filmmakers that have decided to stay in Ukraine and document the war. The PFA is making regular runs to various parts of Ukraine where fighting is fierce to get gear into the hands of journalists and filmmakers. We’ve supplied them with 6 Peak Design Duffelpacks full of our gear to distribute as-needed to their contacts.

We have also donated $1000 to the Rory Peck Trust (https://rorypecktrust.org) to help them source vital protective gear and first aid kits to journalists on the ground. We encourage customers to look into supporting the Rory Peck Trust and Frontline Club if they would like to contribute support to journalists working around the world in conflict zones.

The sobering reality continues to set in that this war does not show signs of abating. We will continue to find ways to help in ways that we think our positive, at whatever scale we are able to. We encourage other businesses to do the same.