Most manufacturers are motivated by cost of raw material. How does your manufacturing cost compare to using more traditional materials?
We pay a little more at times. Our product is part of our marketing and our values drive everything. There is more of a good vibe about our boards and the return on the investment is loyalty from the skaters.
Do people buy because it is eco-friendly, or is just because it is a damn fine product?
People like our boards because they last several times as long as other boards and skate great. When they dig a little deeper and find out about our core values, they are extra stoked. In the last year, however, many sales have been driven by our commitment to less impactful materials/eco edge.
How close are you to using your soy-based protective covering?
We are finishing the prototyping of the soy polymer and bio-composite boards in August and launching them in the fall. We have been working on this with E2E Materials in Ithaca, New York for two years to make sure it will live up to the Comet performance standards before we launch.
I was talking to a friend of mine about natural-based lubricants; have you tried any of these as a replacement for oil-based?
I was just on a panel with Jeremy Ridenaur from Wise Solutions in Watsonville, California. We may collaborate on a bio lube for skateboard bearings.
The final third of the show concerns Alison Gannett, a well known ‘free skier’, best known for throwing herself of the top of really scary looking mountains! She has set out on her “Global Cooling Tour”. With CO2 emissions growing, and global warming being the result, the winter sports industry is in danger. Alison cites a study that claims that within 15 years ski resorts under 5,000 feet will cease to exist. Like most of the people featured in Big Ideas, she is just one person trying to make a small difference. Use energy efficient bulbs, campaign for energy producers to cut back on the use of coal and move to sustainable energy resources, are among her messages.
Big Ideas For A Small Planet airs Tuesday at 9pm on the Sundance Channel; don’t worry if your cable provider does not carry Sundance, you can see most of the action on their website.
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