Pio the Pioneering Penguin LLC is based in Hayward, CA, here in the United States.

The company's manufacturing process is not based Hayward, CA at this time, and the company's manufacturing partners are not affiliated with the Pio the Pioneering Penguin brand. Pio's partners are chosen for their specific capabilities, and Pio takes advantage of their climate- and people-friendly capabilities.

Yes! Since its inception, Pio the Pioneering Penguin LLC has been an independent company, and is not associated or affiliated with any other corporation or conglomerate of brands. This means that when you buy anything from Pio, you are truely supporting a small business!

Pio the Pioneering Penguin has been a 1% for the Planet member since the company's beginning. However, donating is just the beginning.

While donating to important causes (like sustainability, climate education, and accessibility) helps fund the experts who have been working in their respective spaces, reversing damage is always a slower process than stopping further damage from happening.

The Wonder-Worn Program is Pio the Pioneering Penguin LLC's answer to preventing Pio's from ending in the landfill. Pio's goal is to help individuals and families make memories, so people may grow attached to the physical toy, which is an encouraging concept! So instead of throwing away a friend, Pio the Pioneering Penguin offers a discount for qualifying "retirements". To retire a Pio, a customer can either share some photo memories they have with Pio or send Pio back to us, and in return, they get a nice discount as a thanks for being a conscious consumer. The retired Pio plushes that are sent back to us are sent to a recycling partner to be properly recycled and given a second adventure beyond the Pio brand.

In addition, all of the company's shirts are made from organic cotton!

Organic cotton:

• is a renewable resource
• sheds no microplastics, as it is not made of plastic and is therefore all safe organic material
• uses less water and less power than conventionally sourced cotton
• uses no pesticides, which is a leading cause of chemical damage to the lands cotton is harvested from
• has a lower carbon footprint than conventionally virgin polyester and recycled polyester
• is recyclable and compostable, not that you'd want to discard a Pio plush or shirt! But in the case of damage, you don't have to worry about PIo ending up in a landfill damaging the planet for hundreds of years!

Pio does not use AI in any end-product. Pio works with artist around the world to help bring the Pio vision to life, and Pio not only supports artists making original artwork, but also prohibits the use of AI in the art-making process.

In the spirit of transparency, AI might be used in internal non-artistic documents that will not normally see a consumer. As Pio grows (and experts are brought in) the use of AI in technical/clerical internal documents will be eliminated.