ION Water | Sustainability

SAVE OUR Playgrounds

We at ION believe that limits are defined mostly by an individual’s skills and passion. Wind and weather are barriers that we can overcome. Therefore, we provide you with the gear to find - and exceed - your own limits. We support all of you in fulfilling your dreams and your desires on the water, on the slopes and in the air. But when our planet is not healthy, we are confronted with other insuperable limits. We see it as our mission to counteract this development by helping to keep the sea and the air clean and our earth healthy.

LIMESTONE

From the very beginning ION wetsuits are made from Limestone neoprene, replacing neoprene based on petrochemicals

B&M CYCLING INITIATIVE

Employees were given an Incentive to come to work by bike. Within half a year more than 15.000 km were done by bike.

SAVE ENERGY

Energy audit: to recognize energy saving opportunities/ reduce energy consumption within the company Switch to green electricity

2016

R&D

Ongoing research of new material and packaging to reduce the economical footprint of each product

2017

aqua-α™ Technologie

aqua-α™ is a solvent-free and completely water-based adhesive for laminating the neoprene sheets and bonding the seams

PACKAGING

Reuse of packaging at our warehouse

2018

CLIMATE PARTNER

All duotone products and related processes as well as ION wetsuits were termed "climate neutral", as their carbon emissions have been calculated and offset by supporting a recognized carbon offset project - a hydroelectric power plant in southern Sri Lanka. A total of 4000 tons (4047,46 tons) of CO2/season A Car going around the entire globe would emit approx. 7562 kg CO2. Emitting 4000 tons a car could circle the globe 529 times

DUOTONE CLEAN BEACH DAY POWERED BY ION

May 1st Duotone called for the first global Clean Beach Day. The goal was to rid the beaches and the sea of garbage and, above all, of plastic, as it not only limits the enjoyments of kiteboarding but also threatens the lives of marine animals, humans and the whole planet. During the first ever Duotone Beach Clean up in 2019 we collected approx. 800kg of trash from beaches around the globe. ~ A german household produces approx. 450 kg trash per capita during one year (* in 2018)

JOBRAD®

In cooperation with Jobrad, employees have the option of leasing a bike for the way to work at a discount. Maintenance and insurance are also paid by the company

CURV

Curv Composite is the most durable material ever processed for a harness. Besides the advantage that it lasts forever, it is made of 100% polypropylene and is therefore 100% recyclable. Curv Composite can also be manufactured without the use of any toxic resin. The goal is to use the material for bags and other harnesses in the future.

2019

WASTE2WEAR®

All Boardbags made out of recycled ocean plastic

POLYBAG

Introducing Polybags out of recycled polyester

SAVE OUR PLAYGROUNDS

After the success of 2019 Duotone decided to go bigger: together with the partners from B&M company the "Save Our Playgrounds" initiative was founded. As part of the initiative, B&M calls on again this year to not rely on anyone else to save our world and thus our "playgrounds": From April 30th to May 3rd it is time again to keep as much plastic waste as possible from being washed into the oceans.

2020

DOPE DYE YARN

In Dope Dying, color pigments are added to molten plastic solution to produce colorful threads without the actual process of dyeing. This dyeing of the threads eliminates the need to dye the finished woven fabric, saving over 50% of the dye. It also saves large amounts of water as well as energy and prevents water contamination

ECO CARBON BLACK

Here, for the production of the neoprene foam, among other things, carbon black/carbon pigments obtained from old tire recycling are processed. This significantly reduces energy consumption and saves approx. 200g CO2 emissions per wetsuit.

HANGTAGS

All Hangtags made out of recycled paper

RECYCLED LINING

ION introduces the first wetsuit with lining made out of recycled nylon yarn waste.

2021

WASTE2WEAR®

All Rashguards and wetshirts made out of certified recycled PES

OYSTER SHELL POWDER

I-foam neopren (SELECT; AMP) will be made out of recycled oyster shell powder

LIMESTONE

From the very beginning ION wetsuits are made from Limestone neoprene, replacing neoprene based on petrochemicals

B&M CYCLING INITIATIVE

Employees were given an Incentive to come to work by bike. Within half a year more than 15.000 km were done by bike.

SAVE ENERGY

Energy audit: to recognize energy saving opportunities/ reduce energy consumption within the company Switch to green electricity

2016

R&D

Ongoing research of new material and packaging to reduce the economical footprint of each product

2017

aqua-α™ Technologie

aqua-α™ is a solvent-free and completely water-based adhesive for laminating the neoprene sheets and bonding the seams

PACKAGING

Reuse of packaging at our warehouse

2018

CLIMATE PARTNER

DUOTONE CLEAN BEACH DAY POWERED BY ION

JOBRAD®

In cooperation with Jobrad, employees have the option of leasing a bike for the way to work at a discount. Maintenance and insurance are also paid by the company

CURV

2019

WASTE2WEAR®

All Boardbags made out of recycled ocean plastic

POLYBAG

Introducing Polybags out of recycled polyester

SAVE OUR PLAYGROUNDS

2020

DOPE DYE YARN

ECO CARBON BLACK

HANGTAGS

All Hangtags made out of recycled paper

RECYCLED LINING

ION introduces the first wetsuit with lining made out of recycled nylon yarn waste.

2021

WASTE2WEAR®

All Rashguards and wetshirts made out of certified recycled PES

OYSTER SHELL POWDER

I-foam neopren (SELECT; AMP) will be made out of recycled oyster shell powder

We see it as our mission to minimize the environmental footprint with several efforts in all business areas.

ION is a brand of Boards & More. Together with the other brands Duotone and Fanatic we contribute to this overall mission by processing leftover materials, reducing print materials and extend the overall product life cycle. All of this while developing high-quality sports gear which is designed for long-term use.

Who could explain our Mindset better than the CEO himself? In the interview below, Till Eberle illustrates our approach at Boards & More in detail.

INTERVIEW WITH TILL EBERLE (CEO)

Hi Till, it has already been several years that you have been implementing sustainability initiatives within Boards & More. However, it is only recently that you have started to speak more openly about what the company is doing to reduce its footprint. Why was Boards & More not promoting these actions more prominently earlier on?

Till: In our industry, claiming to produce environmentally friendly or “green” products is an empty phrase, as the main materials we use to produce our products are not naturally good for the environment. Therefore, we waited to get different concepts executed and up and running that can have a real impact, before we started talking about them.

What are some of the biggest moves that Boards & More has made in recent years towards becoming a more sustainable company?

Till: From my view, we haven’t made any big moves yet, but we are starting and implementing all of the small initiatives that we can. Starting with CO2 compensation for all of our main products (Kites, Boards, Bars, Sails, SUPs), we redesigned all packing to use less material which is from postconsumer sources wherever possible, we are using recycled polyester for our bags and we are organizing and supporting beach clean ups.

How will these initiatives impact company actions and what will be the resulting effect or reduction in waste?

Till: At the moment we compensate 6.342t of CO² per year. A car that goes around the entire globe once would emit approx. 7562kg. To emit 6.342 tons, that same car would circle the globe 838 times!

With our new packaging concept, we managed to save about 22 tons of paper and about 7 tons of plastic every year.

Further, with our last beach clean-up event, we cleaned up 27 beaches in 16 countries worldwide and collected about 800kg of trash. (Unfortunately, due to COVID-19 we had to postpone our summer 2020 clean up, however we will start this again as soon as it is safe to do so or more locally).

Another initiative is our cooperation with Waste2Wear who recycle postconsumer plastic bottles and produce high-end yarn. This yarn is then woven or knitted into fabrics that are used to produce our ION Core Boardbags and Duotone Kitebags. In one Core Boardbag approx. 51 bottles are processed.

What is your impression of how the majority of employees at Boards & More feel about these policies and projects? Do they jump on board easily?

Till: All B&M employees believe it´s a necessary and important direction. Often, we have discussions about what makes sense and what does not at this stage in our development and with the resources we have available. However, once we agree on what projects we are ready to implement, everyone at B&M jumps onboard quite readily. Sometimes it can take a little time to change people’s habits in terms of making the choices to minimize their personal footprint like by carpooling to work or by taking public transportation instead of driving a personal car, but we’ve already been seeing significant improvement in these areas as well.

What are the challenges that come with these new policies?

Till: The biggest challenge for us is that currently there a not many sustainable materials on the market, which fulfill our quality standards. Which is why for now we focus on using materials and building products that will have a longer useable lifetime and will require the user to replace them less frequently.

Why is it worth the effort despite these challenges?

Till: It´s our responsibility to save our playground! And I would like to be able to look into the eyes of my son and at least say that we have tried to minimize our footprint.

Sustainability is about more than environmentalism, what are some of the ways that Boards & More strives to be sustainable in the broader sense?

Till: I agree! For B&M, ‘sustainability’ also encompasses our employees and partners that we work with in our offices as well as our factories. We regularly visit our factories to ensure that they are meeting strict standards for working conditions and ethics. We strive to always be improving our work environment at our offices as well as our factories.

What are you most excited about in terms of sustainability at Boards & More? (i.e. future project, overall initiative, coming close to a certain goal?)

Till: Instead of being exited, I am a bit frustrated that we are not able to make bigger improvements at the moment.

What would you say to people who question if sustainability at Boards & More is more about marketing and less about having an actual positive impact?

Till: It´s easy to criticize, but difficult to make it better! Our approach to this topic is by starting with the small steps, we will eventually accomplish our goal to be the most sustainable company that we can be, while continuously contributing to positive social and environmental change. We know we have a long way to go, but we believe that it is better to start today than tomorrow.

We see it as our mission to counteract the development of environmental pollution by helping to keep the sea and the air clean and our earth healthy.Therefore we decided to supporting organizations that fight global warming.

So we started to calculate and offset the carbon emissions caused by our products and processes by supporting recognized carbon offset projects. Besides avoidance and reduction, offsetting carbon emissions represents an additional important step in comprehensive climate protection.

Greenhouse gases like CO2 disperse uniformly throughout the atmosphere, which means the concentration of greenhouse gases is approximately the same all over the planet. Thus, the location on Earth where emissions are generated or saved is irrelevant when it comes to the global concentration of greenhouse gases and the greenhouse effect. That is why emissions that cannot be avoided locally can be mathematically offset through climate protection measures at another location.

We take these efforts very seriously because we are responsible for ensuring that also future generations can experience the stoke of surfing elements.

How does a carbon offset project work ?

Carbon offset projects demonstrably save greenhouse gases through activities such as afforestation or renewable energies. Independent organizations such as TÜV, SGS, PwC, and others check the exact volume saved. The project operator can finance the project through the sale of certified emission reductions. Only projects requiring additional financial support are recognized as carbon offset projects.

Carbon offset projects must meet internationally recognized standards. The most important criteria here are:

It must be ensured that the project can only be realized if it receives additional financing through emissions trading. This means the project must be reliant upon emissions trading in order to cover its financial needs.

It must be ensured that the carbon emissions saved are only counted once — by the certificate owner. In particular, this means that certificates may only be sold once and then have to be retired.

Emissions savings must take place permanently. For example, carbon sequestration in forests must be long-term in nature. A reforested area that is turned back into a livestock pasture through slash-and-burn farming a few years later cannot receive recognition as a carbon offset project.

Carbon offset projects must be audited in regular intervals according to the criteria listed above. Independent third parties such as TÜV, SGS, or PwC perform these audits. Audits like these retroactively determine the actual volume of carbon emissions saved.

ION Water_Protection_Hardcaps_Vests_SS22

How do products become climate-compensated?

Companies, processes and products are termed "climate compensated" when their carbon emissions have been calculated and offset by supporting recognized carbon offset projects. Besides avoidance and reduction, offsetting carbon emissions represents an additional important step in comprehensive climate protection.

Our products are rendered climate compensated in three steps:

We have calculated the relevant carbon emissions of our company, reduced them as much as possible, and calculated the emissions generated by our products.

The product carbon footprint is calculated based on factors such as raw materials, production, and logistics. In addition we take our general business activities into account, such as administration and business travels.

Carbon offset projects save or sequestrate emissions through measures such as afforestation or the replacement of fossil fuel technologies through innovative, climate-friendly alternatives. By supporting one of these projects, you can offset the carbon emissions caused by the production, packaging and transportation of our products.

All projects are regularly audited by independent organizations and certified according to international standards, meaning that you can be sure the measures are being implemented on site.

You obtain full transparency thanks to the ClimatePartner label featuring a unique ID for your order: By entering the ID at www.climatepartner.com, you can find information on the quantity of emissions offset and the carbon offset project you are supporting.

About Climate Partner

ClimatePartner is a leading solutions provider for corporate climate protection. Together with its clients, ClimatePartner implements customized solutions for calculating and offsetting CO2 emissions to achieve climate neutrality for companies, services and products.

As part of this process, ClimatePartner ensures transparency through a clear labeling system that is anchored in an IT solution certified by the Austrian technical inspection authority (TÜV Austria). ClimatePartner is considered to be the inventor of the climate neutral printing process and participated in the creation of ISO 16759 for carbon footprinting for print products.

Projects

Clean Electricity and support for local communites

The project activity involves the construction, commissioning and operation of a 51.2 MW wind farm in the state of Gujarat in India. The power plant comprises 64 wind turbine generators with a rated capacity 800 KW each and of the type Enercon E-53. The project generates an average of 115.312 GWh of electricity per year which is supplied to the state electricity utility. Thereby the wind farm contributes to reducing the energy demand supply gap in the state of Gujarat. The project also stimulates a sustainable economic growth in the region by providing clean electricity to the state grid.

The project replaces greenhouse gas emissions by displacing the equivalent amount of electricity generation through the operation of existing fuel mix in the grid comprising mainly fossil fuel based power plants and future capacity expansions connected to the grid.

Improving Livelihodds through afforestation

The project saves greenhouse gases through afforestation in the counties of Huangping, Wengan and Anlong in Guizhou Province. These counties belong to China’s most impoverished areas, with most residents having no education and ethnic minorities make up a large share of the population. Irrational exploitation of soil resources have led to increasing rocky desertification and land degradation, which in negatively affect the survival of animal and plant species as well as socio-economic development.

The project uses native species like fir, cypress and pine with great vitality and adaptation to Karst area, planted on 39,000 hectares of barren lands. The afforestation areas belong to the villagers are managed by village committees. The project provides 28,500 jobs for locals, 60 percent of them being women. Besides the greenhouse gas sequestration, the project contribtues to biodiversity conservation by increasing the connectivity of forests, improved soil and water conservation and generates income and job opportunities for local communities.

About ION

ION is a brand run by passionate people, whose first love was watersports. Launched back in 2004, we initially focused on wetsuits & neoprene products for the international surf, kite and wakeboard scene. ION's unique combination of high quality products wrapped in a progressive style and design found fans all over the world.

In the end, we just love to shred. No matter what kind of board or bike we ride. This mindset is reflected in our brand philosophy: ION is about challenging yourself, experiencing nature and feeling the force of gravity. Therefore we develop gear that is not only smart and innovative, but also transforms our passion into a unique design.

Home office

As a forward-thinking company, we believe working from home gives our employees new opportunities and the flexibility to spend more time with their families rather than wasting time every day commuting to the office. This is why, employees living further away from the office have one fixed day per week on which they are free to work from home.

As a measure of health precaution we are currently extending this measure to multiple days available to everyone.

Free for Kiting and Biking

Once in a while, conditions are just too god not to make the most of them. Meetings can be resumed and work can be caught up on. But whenever there is wind is on at the local lakes or the trails are calling our employees are free to get together and enjoy their session. The importance of team building is highly valued which is why we are flexible about giving time off.

At the end of the day we develop gear that expresses our passion and...to be honest, we just create the best possible stuff to have the most fun out on the water or trails.

We are pioneers and passionates.

Flexible Office Location

The area around our main office in Munich is not exactly a water sports hotspot. So we have devised a way to give our employees more days out on the water each year. Everybody has the chance to work remotely from a kitesurfing hotspot for two weeks per year. Of course this also applies to other watersports & mountainbike spots.

A session during lunch break sounds like a fair balance, right?

WORK-RIDE-SLEEP-REPEAT

FREE GEAR FOR EMPLOYEES

Lots of people dream about being able to combine work and leisure activities. We support our employees with the latest kite gear on the market so they can get the most out of their kite sessions. This allows our employees to test and bring in their first-hand feedback. Another reason why we only make stuff that we like.

JOBRAD

At Boards&More, we believe sustainability starts at home. The first step involves the people who show up every day to our main offices in Munich, Germany, which is why we decided to invest in them. By teaming up with JobRad, Boards&More offers every employee the opportunity to lease a bike, which they can use to commute to work, get around town, or for whatever other activity they want. Lots of our employees have taken advantage of this scheme and now get their exercise on their way to and from work. Not to mention lowering emissions by leaving their cars at home.