Sustainability
Our goal is to bring together the most sustainable products available for outdoor swimming. Every product sourced and every process within our business involves careful consideration for people and the environment.
We are realistic. There is no way to be 100% sustainable, and although we favour organic and natural products, it is particularly hard in swimming where synthetic products make up a large part of the kit that is required. We work in an ethical, honest and transparent way in everything we do. In areas where sustainable practice is difficult, we try and come up with solutions such as our swim hat and goggle amnesty. Here are some of the things we are doing to make our business as sustainable as possible.
Values
Each person has different priorities when it comes to a sustainable lifestyle. We have developed a key which allows you to identify products with the values that are most important to you.
Packaging
We do not use plastic packaging to pack our orders. All orders are sent out in unbleached paper mailing bags or boxes that are made with FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified or recycled paper and card. Instead of using bubble wrap to protect orders, we use paper to fill the boxes and paper tape to secure the package. Our gift wrapping is plastic free, even down to the paper raffia ribbon we us to hand tie the gift.
We encourage our suppliers to reduce their plastic usage and many are switching to more environmentally friendly practices such as shipping greetings cards without cellophane or using corn starch bags. All plastic that we collect from deliveries is recycled and we reuse suppliers packaging wherever we can. Where a packaging solution has not yet been found, some of our suppliers send items wrapped in plastic and we are talking to them about ways in which they can reduce this. If items are individually wrapped in plastic we may send it out to you in this way as it will continue to protect the item when it is sent to you. Many large supermarkets now have soft plastic recycling points.
We don't add unnecessary paperwork to you order as all details are emailed to you in an order confirmation. To avoid wastage, we do not print out returns labels and ask you to head to our website, should you wish to return something.
Suppliers
We are developing strong relationships with our suppliers. We only work with suppliers who are committed to ethical and sustainable working. We are working on a more formal approach to welcoming new suppliers to ensure the health, safety and welfare of every person in the supply chain.
Giving Back
We donate 1% of our sales to environmental organisations. Currently we are donating to Surfers Against Sewage. By donation a proportion of our sales, rather than profit, charities always receive benefit of our donation even in the leaner times for the business.
Swim Hat and Goggle Amnesty
Most swimmers have a pile of old hats and goggles. To prevent these ending up in landfill, we run an amnesty where you can be rewarded by sending your old hats and goggles to us. Find out more here.
Ethical Move
We have pledged to the ethical move of a new marketing standard based on transparency, trust, and honesty. Please connect with us if you see us not honouring our pledge.
To read more from us discussing sustainability in Outdoor Swimmer Magazine, head to our press page.