What if every board you bought, every snow trip you went on took centimeters off the total snowfall that would accumulate over your lifetime? Would you change your habits? We’re hardly scientists so we’re not going to pretend this is accurate. But here’s the harsh truth snowboards are bad for the environment.
Creating a product that has the potential to reduce the amount of snow fall we get is something we have been struggling with for the last few years. Back about 2 years ago, in the lead up to the Aussie season, our factory was temporarily shut down. The local government was intent on getting business’ to clean up their act and most of the components that go into a snowboard just aren’t good for the environment. We had to urgently sort out shit out or risk never making another board.
For the last two years, we have been on a quest to tidy up our act and look for ways to get better. Its been tough as there is no way to make a snowboard 100% green. The best answer we can come up with is to make our boards last longer and help you repair them so that you buy less snowboards.
That’s right we want you to buy less snowboards – Which is completely opposite to the quiver mentality most of us have been sold since day one. Being a small snowboard company, this is going to be a huge task for us -but we’re up for the challenge.
Here’s what we have planned.
Biodegradable packaging.
We use a lot of tape, satchels, shrink wrap and bubble wrap getting your boards out to you safely. Earlier this year we switched all out packing materials over to 100% biodegradable.
We’ve got a new top sheet material.
We’re not going to claim this is green but its better. The pitted top sheets are stronger and don’t require a layer of lacquer or UV coating. The extra strength means your top sheet wont crack, chip or get dirty, for longer.
Free basic repairs and half price major repairs for 2 years.
This is probably the toughest challenge for us. Repairs in Sydney and NSW are easy we have you covered – but we are also confident we can roll this out in other states. We’ll have more details on this as we roll it out, so stay tuned!
Building boards you want to ride and meet your needs.
We realised pretty early on we wanted our boards to be customer focused. Rather than focusing on the needs of our team riders and building boards specifically for them, we looked at our customers and where they ride. You guys hit a little park, a little groomer, even pow when its available. Realistically, the majority of our customers never leave the resort boundaries. So we aim to build boards that can be taken anywhere on the hill. We don’t want you to have board regret and end up having to try and sell off a super niche board on a buy, swap, sell Facebook group 2 weeks later when you realise it doesn’t meet your needs.
2 year board cycles
It can feel like a week after you buy a new board they’re already advertising the following years model with new graphics and shiny new tech. It can leave you feeling pretty bummed and take a bit of the shine off a new board. For the past few years we have been running board designs and specs for 2 years rather than the standard 1 season/12 months. The only exception to this rule is our blank series where graphics are updated yearly but board specs remain the same.
We’re not here looking for a pat on the back or praise, we’re just telling you what we’re up to. As a company, we believe in trying to do the right thing because it’s the right thing – we don’t use it as a marketing gimmick. The reality is, if we don’t change – we wont have a business in 20 years anyway.