latest stories
 
The ActionWatch Panel's Best-Selling Shorts Of Q1 2008

Welcome to ActionWatch Mondays, your weekly snapshot of top sellers from ActionsWatch's Retail Panel of more than 100 specialty stores. This week we unveil the best-selling shorts through the months of January, February, and March of 2008.
05/12/2008

Top Ten Tips for Successful Exhibiting

Wondering how to plan your exhibit program to maximize your show results? Candy Adams, aka the "Booth Mom", lays it out in ten simple tips everyone can follow.
05/08/2008

Nike Lands On Top Of Climate Counts Company Scorecard

The Beaverton sports giant not only has the world's best-selling skate shoe, it's leading the pack on the Climate Counts Scorecard: "Nike is at the forefront of the sector due to long-term leadership on climate, including its public support for meaningful climate change legislation."
05/08/2008

Dive Industry Association Teams Up With Surf Expo

Representing more than 1,500 retailers, this trade association is working hard to increase the reach and business of its retail members through its Undersea Showcase newsletter, educational programs, and through its partnership with trade shows such as Surf Expo.
05/07/2008

BRA Summit 5 Helps Unify Specialty Retail Marketplace

Retail attendees were worried about business when they gathered that first night in Puerto Rico. Could the BRA Summit reveal a new path to follow—or at least allay some of these fears, that feeling that each shop was fighting a battle alone?
05/06/2008

Photo Highlights From The BRA Retail Summit 5

The Board Retailers Association Summit was a huge success--both for the quality and quantity of the conversations that occurred and information presented, but also for the activities Melissa Clary organized for the group. Check out all the photo highlights here.
05/02/2008

Barnacle Bill's Surf Shop Rides Again

Two feet of snow and a frozen Lake Erie as far as the eye can see! Surfing anyone? If you’re Dan Roth, owner of Barnacle Bill’s Surf Shop in Vermillion, Ohio, the answer is an enthusiastic “Yes!”
04/29/2008

SIMA Hosts Green Boot Camp On Earth Day

About 50 surf industry executives gathered at the Ocean Institute on Earth Day, April 22, to hear from experts on how they incorporate sustainability and green practices into their business—and why it makes business sense.
04/24/2008

A Steady And Tranquil Dedication

On this Earth Day 2008, we take a short look at how concern for the environment is beginning to transform our industry.
04/22/2008

Countdown To Image Awards 6

There’s less than a month until the 2008 SIMA Image Awards, and this year’s event promises to uphold the tradition of sober, dignified, and well-reasoned acceptance speeches. Just take a look at last year's event.
04/18/2008



Page 1 of 11 1  2  3  Next 

Syndicate  

 
A Steady And Tranquil Dedication



By Vicki Vasil

 

 

Eco awareness is now not only universal, it's expected. Hybrid cars. Green channels on television. Post-consumer-material furniture. Everything’s got the potential to be green, including the boardsports industry. Now that it’s become cost-effective—and dare we say trendy—many more Americans are willing to join the cause by supporting environmentally friendly companies and products. They’re pinning a green ribbon next to their pink, red and yellow ones.

Success—both eco- and image-wise— is all in how a company approaches the cause. Some industries and companies are more easily converted than others. However, even those with the biggest challenges can make significant and commendable advances.

Air travel stomps one of the largest carbon footprints on the earth. Delta took steps to make it up to the environment by initiating the first recycling program by a U.S. airline. Delta’s Environmental Blogger Jennifer O reports that in ten months Delta “saved roughly 192 trees, recycled more than 16 tons of newsprint, and recycled enough aluminum cans to build a Boeing 747.”

The company has since expanded the enterprise to over a dozen cities. It also supports the Conservation Fund which encourages passengers to offset carbon emissions from its flights with small donations. While all of this hardly offsets the environmental impact Delta has during a single week through its Atlanta hub, the point is: it’s a start. It’s also a priority for the company, if only in that its customers now fully expect these sorts of initiatives.

The onus is even higher in our industry, wrapped as it is in the lush environmental milieus of our sports. Our industry boasts accomplishments like organically-grown cotton, hemp, and post-consumer recycled materials that are all fashioned into myriad products—anything from T-shirts to surfboards. A few select businesses have embraced this eco-awareness in all facets of their operation, and in that group Sole Technology is first among equals. Sole Technology has instituted wide-reaching environmental initiatives—everything from extensive recycling programs and solar panel arrays on the roof to a pledge to eliminate the company’s carbon footprint entirely by the year 2020.

Other companies have found novel solutions to manufacturing challenges. Wetsuit manufacturers using petroleum-based neoprene are among the most challenged. Body Glove's Eco wetsuit line, first launched last September, is an accomplishment of revolutionary proportions. Body Glove uses their signature non-petroleum Bio Stretch and Eco Flex to create the wetsuit exterior. The result is a suit that consumes only a tenth of the energy used to manufacture a standard petroleum-based wetsuit. The latest SKU in the series is the Eco Surf Shirt, which will extend the potential to support the Eco suit to warmer waters.

Matt Walls, surf brand manager for Body Glove, says the success of the Eco suit has transcended the action sports world. Mainstream media like National Geographic, Outside, and the Weather Channel are spreading the word and lavishing awards on the company. “We’re excited to continue the evolution of unique environmentally-friendly products affordable for the everyday surfer,” says Walls. And in case you were wondering, the pricepoints are comparable with petroleum-manufactured suits of its caliber.

Propaganda Headquarters, a youth brand consultancy out of Laguna Beach, has inspired participation amongst the ranks of the action sports industry for environmental causes since its inception. Founder and Brand Strategist Vipe Desai is intent on spreading the “blue” movement instead of just a green one.

What’s that mean? According to Desai, being blue incorporates green practices in addition to personal ones to better your life and your surroundings. Propaganda’s latest initiative—aptly named Project BLUE—unites top manufacturers such as Billabong, O’Neill, DaKine, Reef, Electric, and Nixon to create products with proceeds supporting coastal protection initiatives. “It’s not a charity,” says Desai, “it’s a plan of action.”

Other organizations have also come to the fore. The Action Sports Environmental Coalition (ASEC) was formed to “improve our collective environmental impact and to find better ways of educating the world about the dangers of global warming and the need for social responsibility.” ASEC both measures and celebrates eco-friendly companies in its marketplace:



The best intentions for any manufacturer or individual taking their first eco-friendly steps: take them slowly and deliberately. “I’m reminded of a great quote that I heard recently that parallels the excitement around environmental practices and the rush to go green,” says Desai. “’Patriotism is not the short, frenzied outburst of emotion, rather it is the steady and tranquil dedication of a lifetime.’”

Desai continues, “Any brand or individual taking on the responsibility of using best practices in either making environmentally friendly products or purchasing responsibly should keep this quote in mind. The changes that we want to see will happen over a lifetime. We need to build these responsible practices into our daily activities in order to have deep and lasting impact.”

 

Log on for Surf Expo's Earth Day report from the SIMA Green Boot Camp

null

Author: Vicki Vasil
 
 
Rating
Rating: Not rated yet

1

2

3

4

5

Number of ratings: 0
 
Comments
Comments
Add comment
Title:
   
Name:
   
Comment:
 
Save

Features & Press Releases - Share this page - del.icio.us del.icio.us | digg digg | reddit reddit | facebook facebook

 

 

Send your news to sobrien@surfexpo.com