Duotone DRIVEN Magazine No.04

Are there more sustainable materials in sight for kite cloth? Not really yet, unfortunately. We are currently testing various materials. These are more resource-efficient but often not necessarily better in terms of their energy balance. Ocean plastic, for example, which is recycled, is very polluted and not very suitable for contact with people. And it has a poor energy balance: It must be collected, cleaned, and granulated in order to be processed. In addition, it is not yet clear whether a material consisting of 100% recycled material can meet our quality requirements. We are working very closely with our cloth manufacturers here and continuously challenge them to develop further in this direction. And what is happening in the board sector in terms of sustainable production? There is more movement there, and you can also achieve more CO 2 savings there. Because the boards are being manufactured with more energy input. For example, our twintip production in Dubai put photovoltaics into operation in 2020. This will allow it to cover almost 100% of the energy needed for the production site. And for both twintips and surfboards, fiberglass can be replaced with flax and basalt. Flax as a raw material is more expensive and more difficult to process. But you have to start with it once and gain experience. Because if it works in series production, then you can usually get the costs under control. As with all products, our clear goal is to gradually replace existing materials with more sustainable ones and thus achieve a positive impact. With flax and basalt, we are taking a first step. What does that mean in concrete terms? We will have two twintip models in the 2024 collection, with wood cores from sustainable sources and a flax basalt fabric instead of fiberglass. In this way, we are trying to implement what is sustainably possible. And not just on one special model but on two boards from Duotone that make up large numbers in our range: the Select and the Soleil. The whole thing will go under the title 'Concept Blue'. Similar to the high-end sector with our D/LAB series, with Concept Blue, we want to explore the possibilities of what is feasible in sustainable production. Even with the risk that we will become uncommercial in the process, i.e., we don't know whether the products will be accepted on the market or not. But we are rising to the challenge. We want to become more sustainable and reduce the CO 2 footprint of our products. If we don't try out promising changes, we never know if it will work. Duotone produces both kites and boards in Asia. Transport routes also play a major role in a product's carbon footprint. That's for sure. We have yet to find a way to produce in Europe that is cost-effective. Even with the current global inflation, customers are unwilling to pay significantly higher prices. But it also has to be said: producing in Europe only makes limited sense if the majority of the raw materials for production come from Asia – as is the case for our kite and board production. Here, you have to take a detailed look at the procurement channels. And you also have to remember: Duotone is an international brand for a global market. We sell just under half of our products outside Europe all over the world. What is a long transport route for Europe is a short one to Australia, for example. All your products are labeled as 'CO 2 compensated'. This means that you make compensation payments in order to offer a CO 2 -neutral product. Why? Yes, this is a hotly debated topic. Internally, too, we are always taking a critical look at it. But we are fundamentally convinced that it simply won't work without CO 2 offsets. All our sustainability efforts go step by step. And even though we have already made good progress: On the product side, we simply cannot yet be as sustainable as we would like. That's why we feel it's only logical to counteract the part we can't implement with CO 2 compensation. Despite all this, our clear goal remains to reduce as far as possible the CO 2 emissions that we generate as a company through the manufacture of our products. With Concept Blue, we are taking a a crucial first step with the boards. It is a kind of lighthouse project for us, which will soon be extended to other products. Becoming more sustainable is a big task. It's often a back-and-forth process, but I think we're on the right track, even if it's only slowly and in small steps - the important thing is that we're making progress. S U S T A I N A B I L I T Y 88 D R I V E N D R I V E N 89