Sustainable Surf is excited to welcome Airush Kiteboarding as the newest brand to join The ECOBOARD Project. This innovative kiteboarding manufacturer focuses on environmental and sustainability projects as one of its key ideologies. This step reflects the growth of the ECOBOARD Project into new markets and to a wider global audience and ocean-minded community.
According to Brand Director Clinton Filen, “We are very excited to be part of the ECOBOARD Project, as a key part of our broader initiatives to fundamentally change the way we engage with our environment. Our ultimate goal is to be environmentally ”˜net positive’ and support as much of our industry and broad community to do the same.”
“We’re stoked to be working with Airush, our largest kiteboard partner, and helping them to shift their board range to plant-based epoxy resins,” says Michael Stewart, Co-founder, Sustainable Surf. “Their commitment to sustainability throughout their entire product range, and to measure and offset their carbon emissions, sets a new benchmark in kiteboarding. We look forward to working with the entire kiteboarding community to develop ECOBOARDS and accelerate our ocean-health movement.”
By pioneering the kiteboarding industry and shifting 100% of their global surf and foil board production to now use ECOBOARD-approved plant-based, low/zero VOC epoxy resin, Airush’s actions will result in a smaller carbon footprint across their board ranges and reduce the overall impact of their products.
This is done in conjunction with a focus on details such as plant-based resin in their Fin systems and removing the traditional plastic components from board packaging such as bubble wrap and outer dust protection bags.
Airush has also taken this path with kites, where kitebags in the majority of their new ranges are manufactured from 100% recycled polyester, developed in alignment with Waste 2 Wear along with a unique kite upcycle program in conjunction with Mafia Bags, where old kites can be converted into unique backpacks and travel bags.
These focuses on the product are combined with an unconventional approach to Carbon offsetting by Airush, coined “One Ton for the Planet”. For every board or kite sold, Airush ultimately offsets one ton of carbon through their support of a mangrove replanting program in the Thor Heyerdahl Climate Park. In Airush’s 2016/17 Carbon Footprint report, the outcome of 4380 trees being planted results in a projected 4380 Tons of Carbon being absorbed, an estimated 10 times above projected emissions for the same period.
As Starboard Group CEO Svein Rasmussen highlights: “These are some of the first steps for us, and we continue to focus on stepping up our environmental and sustainability focus, without sacrificing our commitment to performance.
Some of these changes are not easy; in this case, we had to setup our production in a completely different supplier, Cobra International, due to their clear commitment to take the environmental steps forward.
All of this is only possible with the incredible support of our development team and partners such as Sustainable Surf, Cobra International, and the Starboard group.”