FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT CONCEPT BLUE
WHY ISN’T THE COMPLETE RANGE CONCEPT BLUE?
In general, the idea is to implement Concept Blue to the whole product range,
yet it takes time. New raw materials need to be found and implemented without
compromising on quality and performance, long time durability needs to be
assured. As soon as all these aspects are guaranteed, a product is valid
to get the Concept Blue stamp.
WHY ARE KITES NOT MADE OF RECYCLED MATERIAL?
Whilst we have been actively collaborating with manufacturers of recycled materials,
we have faced challenges in developing kites made entirely from recycled materials.
The recycling process often leads to lasting damage to the plastics used, affecting
their durability and performance in our high-performance sports. Ensuring that
kites made from recycled materials last long and perform well, has proven to
be a significant obstacle. However, we are committed to finding sustainable
alternatives and continually improving the overall sustainability of our products.
Whilst recycling materials is important, it's just one aspect of our
efforts to become more environmentally friendly.
WHY AREN’T ALL THE TWINTIPS CONCEPT BLUE PRODUCTS?
First and foremost, we have not found a solution to build all the SLS boards with
Concept Blue materials. Thus, the range is already limited to our original boards.
We do not have all our original boards in the Concept Blue range as it takes time to
develop every board one by one and to adapt it to the Concept Blue layup.
In our development and testing timeframe it is impossible to adapt the layup to
all the boards especially as every board needs to be developed individually.
Step by step the aim is to include the whole range to the Concept Blue concept.
WHY AREN’T ALL THE SURFBOARDS CONCEPT BLUE PRODUCTS?
There are two reasons for this, primarily it is because our new surfboard manufacturer
does not have the capacity yet to build the number of boards which we would require.
The range of surfboards has just been developed and boards are working great, but
also here, step by step more models will follow.
WHY ARE THE LINES OF THE BAR NOT
MADE FROM RECYCLED MATERIALS?
Dyneema is an HMPE (high modulus polyethylene) fiber that cannot be
recycled. Thus, to produce a line from recycled fibers is unfortunately
simply not possible. But, there are already Dyneema fibers whose
raw materials have a very low percentage of biological impact.
In addition, some manufacturers advertise that biobased Dyneema
lines are having the same biological share like fossil Dyneema lines,
but the only difference is the name "biobased" and the higher
price for the end customer.
WHY ARE ACCESSORIES LIKE THE NTT NOT MADE FROM RECYCLED MATERIAL?
Mainly because there is no commercial approved alternative to EVA yet.
Supplements, such as Bloom®, an algae product, will influence
shrinkage and production time of each part, which will have great
impact to process cycles and price of the final product. We are doing
what we can do now: Buckles and Heel Cushions as spare parts,
packaging using recycled material, sourcing new material for long
term test and exchange bit by bit without losing performance.
WHY ARE THE BARS NOT MADE FROM RECYCLED MATERIAL?
On most of the plastic parts of the bar are always a lot of loads
(e. g. the bar beam or the safety system). At the moment the recycled
raw materials like e. g. nylon don't have great physical characteristics,
that's why we can't use it for the loaded parts yet. For the non loaded
parts, like the EVA of the floaters, we already tried our best to find
some better alternatives like using a percentage of the
BLOOM material and more to come.
WHY ARE WE CO2 COMPENSATING, ALTHOUGH IT IS SOMETIMES DISCUSSED CONTROVERSIAL?
CO2 compensation is discussed controversial and even been abused by some companies
like airlines as one of their biggest green washing tools. As long as we can’t be CO2 neutral,
we at least see it as one of the small steps we’re doing, to act responsible and to try
to use as many different options available to do the right thing.
WHAT IS THE IDEA WITH CONCEPT BLUE FOR THE NEXT SEASONS?
Step by step all products and materials should meet the Concept Blue requirements.
All product managers are constantly researching for the best materials to exchange
current materials, without compromising on quality and performance or in best case
even enhancing quality and performance.