Cascale brings real-world insight to sports-product management students on aligning sourcing strategies with climate action and decent work.

This week, Cascale’s Joleen Ong, senior director, brand and retailer membership, joined the University of Oregon Sports Product Management (SPM) graduate program to explore how sustainability is operationalized across global supply chains — and why sourcing and costing decisions matter for both climate and decent work outcomes.

Ong was a guest lecturer at  the sourcing and costing strategies course led by instructor Eric Goldner, where 48 graduate students explored the intersection of purchasing practices, environmental performance, and the impacts of tariffs. Goldner is a seasoned supply chain executive with over 25 years of experience at major brands including Nike, Coach, and Columbia Sportswear, while Ong worked in the outdoor and sporting goods industry – first at Columbia Sportswear, then Fanatics – before joining and leading Cascale’s brand and retailer membership. She gave a compelling lecture on the sourcing challenges faced by sustainability professionals.

A Deeper Dive on Sourcing Challenges

Following an overview of recent U.S. tariff developments, Ong’s session explored Cascale’s role in convening brands, manufacturers, and stakeholders to align on credible tools and shared standards. She also uncovered real-world sourcing and costing case examples from industry experience at Columbia Sportswear and Fanatics. Using a factory audit walkthrough, Ong highlighted how common social and environmental violations are often symptoms of poor purchasing and planning decisions. Finally, she touched on the role of responsible purchasing and Better Buying approaches in addressing root causes and strengthening decent work across supply chains.

Throughout the session, students demonstrated strong engagement and thoughtful questions about how collective action can move the industry from compliance to measurable impact.

Importance to Industry

The University of Oregon Sports Product Management Program was co-founded by former Nike leader Ellen Schmidt-Devlin and prepares talent for the sports and outdoor industry. The specialized, industry-partnered program teaches the full product creation lifecycle, supported by advisory board participation from brands, manufacturers, and organizations such as Cascale, where Ong has served as an advisory board member since 2024.The curriculum emphasizes hands-on learning through its Portland-based innovation lab, located in a city widely recognized as a global hub for the footwear and athletic apparel industry, often referred to as the “sneaker capital of America.” Approximately 90 percent of alumni work within the industry.

Engaging with academia helps connect Cascale’s work to the next generation of sourcing, product, and sustainability leaders. It also reinforces a key message: decisions made upstream – across areas like planning, costing, and purchasing – directly shape environmental performance, worker outcomes, and long-term business resilience.

Several students expressed interest in future internship opportunities, signaling strong alignment between emerging talent and the industry’s growing focus on credible, collective sustainability solutions.

The lecture follows a series of Cascale student engagements including speaking opportunities at Parsons, the Ohio State University (via the Educators for Socially-Responsible Apparel Practices (ESRAP)), and more this quarter.