COP27 : a greener outdoor industry

So, COP27. Twelve months since COP26, when nations adopted the Glasgow Climate Pact, aiming to turn the 2020s into a decade of climate action and support.

Members of the Re-Action Collective are working to do exactly that within the active outdoor industry, based on our manifesto of principles supporting a greener future for our planet.

WhoSki.com is an active member of the Re-Action group. You can read the manifesto below.

As COP 26 President Alok Sharma says: “It is critical that we do everything within our means to keep 1.5C in reach, as we promised in the Glasgow Climate Pact.”

Every action that we as an industry and as individuals can take is another step towards a more sustainable future.

The Re-Action Collective Manifesto

Re-Action says:

👉 We cannot continue to consume products in the way we are doing today.

🌱 Our manifesto represents system change. A change towards better maintenance of our kit, a change towards repair, reuse, rental, repurpose and a desire to find other circular solutions that will keep us playing in the outdoors.

🌿 Join us!

👉 As an individual, pledge to buy once, and buy well. Maintain and repair your gear, donate or resell it responsibly once you have finished with it. Support a Re-Action member.

👉 As a business, open conversations with your suppliers, introduce a second-hand rail, find a way to provide repair services to your customers, offer rental, identify and reduce waste

WhoSki.com : best for Business Innovation

Team WhoSki.com enjoyed a super-successful Merton Best Business Awards ceremony last night, taking home a trophy for Business Innovation – AND a runner-up award for Sustainable Impact.

Judges put us in first place for innovation, stating our entry demonstrated ‘new skills, approaches and attitudes’. Exactly what we are all about at WhoSki.com: a new approach to wintersports that puts #SkiGreen and sustainability front of mind.

Circular economy wins

Making sure you extend the active life of your ski and snowboard clothing by selling it on via WhoSki.com when it’s of no more use to you, is one of the easiest ways to #SkiGreen. It also helps make a trip to the mountains more affordable by keeping down the cost of essential clothes and enabling you to monetise your existing ski wardrobe.

Back to the awards…

After that first win, WhoSki.com co-founders Sally and Nicola were delighted to be called back to the stage as second place runners up for the Sustainable Impact category. Our entry was pipped to the post by the brilliant Polka Theatre in our hometown of Wimbledon. Congratulations to them!

Keeping textiles out of landfill

Remember: experts calculate that extending the active life of clothing by just
three months per item, leads to a 5-10% reduction in its carbon, water and waste footprint.

By choosing secondhand and re-selling on WhoSki.com, you are helping keep valuable textiles out of landfill and in circulation.

A top awards night

A big thank you to all Merton Best Business Awards organisers, sponsors and attendees at the event, which took place at Wimbledon’s AELTC All England Club. It was a treat to meet so many talented, interesting and committed business owners, staff and volunteers. Well done all.

What is the circular economy?

WhoSki.com is a proud circular economy business – but what does this even mean?

In the simplest terms, circularity means keeping stuff – like ski clothes – in use for as long as possible, in either its existing form or at its highest value.

For example, rather than taking to the dump a ski jacket or snowboard pants that you no longer want or need, you make sure they are re-used as secondhand clothing by someone else while they are fit for purpose. Selling them on via WhoSki.com as long as they are wearable extends the life cycle of your pre-loved ski clothes, cuts their carbon footprint and reduces their impact on the environment.

Experts calculate that extending the active life of clothing by just three months per item, would lead to a 5-10% reduction in the carbon, water and waste footprints of your family’s secondhand ski outfits. Find out more on our ski eco page.

THE PUREST FORM OF CIRCULARITY

A peer-to-peer marketplace like WhoSki.com is the purest form of a circular economy business. Other circularity business models include taking existing items and ensuring they are either re-used as something else, or their components are recycled into other useful items. Doing so ensures that materials such as textiles, metal or plastics are re-purposed rather than sent to landfill or incinerated.

WHY THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY MATTERS

Textiles are among the five main areas where the circular economy can make a difference because they are a major contributor to current waste volumes, touch all of us at some point in our lives and show real potential for improvement. Find out more about this at the ReLondon website.

ReLondon (formerly LWARB) is a partnership of the Mayor of London and London boroughs to help the city waste less and re-use, repair, share and recycle more.

Similar organisations exist elsewhere in the UK. For example, Wales has Circular Communities Cymru.

In Glasgow, the Chamber of Commerce runs the Circular Glasgow Network.

It highlights textiles as among the key sectors where the circular economy can help reduce carbon emissions, focusing on “secondhand, re-sale and rental models that extend the lifetime of garments” as key. Circular Glasgow also points out that “the impact of the added logistics of cleaning and transport must be carefully considered”. Selling your secondhand ski clothing peer-to-peer via WhoSki.com keeps these logistics to a minimum.

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY

If you want to find out more about the circular economy, we recommend visiting the websites linked to above. Additionally, the Zero Waste Scotland website has much useful information as does the Ellen MacArthur Foundation which has long been researching and lobbying on circularity issues.

Image by Freepik

WhoSki.com at LISTEX

Look out for WhoSki.com at this week’s Mountain Trade Network conference – calling on other businesses in the wintersports industry to support our sustainability ambitions.

The theme of this year’s LISTEX conference is ‘Facing the Future’: a perfect match for WhoSki.com goals. Our business model is all about helping you reduce the carbon footprint of your ski and snowboard habit, keeping hard-to-recycle textiles in circulation and facilitating the resale of wintersports clothing.

We believe the best way to do this is by making it safe and simple to #PassItOn. That’s why we love working with other brands to spread the circularity message, supporting skiers and snowboarders to use the circular economy when buying and selling wintersports wear.

Reuse – Resale – Rental

We are delighted to see that others in the sustainability sector will also be present at LISTEX this week, taking place at The Snow Centre in Hemel Hempstead. Joining us at the conference will be EcoSki.co.uk , One Tree At A Time , Snowcarbon , ProtectOurWinters UK – all among the organisations and businesses that we talk to often and are delighted to collaborate with in our joint goal to help the ski and snowboard industry become greener.

If you’re attending LISTEX on Wednesday (May 4), please pop into the 16.15 PITCH@LISTEX session where WhoSki.com will be presenting. Our Co-Founders Nicola and Sally will be at the event on and off on both days (May 4 and 5) so look out for us – we always love to connect with likeminded businesses.

We hope to see you there – or do get in touch if you can’t make it and want to know more.

Schuss into spring 2022 with new-look WhoSki.com

Welcome to new-look WhoSki.com. We’ve had a marketplace makeover, making it quicker and easier to buy and sell pre-loved wintersports wear on our UK-based website, with transactions powered by Stripe for financial confidence and security.

What’s new?

  • upload technology SO SIMPLE that you can list your no-longer-needed clothing by mobile as you travel to and from the piste
  • reliable click-to-buy transactions powered by trusted provider Stripe
  • focused ski and snowboard community: no trawling through page after page of irrelevant content
  • #SkiGreen Directory to help you make eco-choices when you visit the slopes

PLUS we continue to donate a quarter of our commission to teen mental health charity stem4 on every sale.

Think green as you head for the mountains

Sustainability is the No1 reason why we set up WhoSki.com. Extending the lifetime of textiles is the most environmentally friendly way to keep clothing in circulation and out of landfill. It’s a step that we can all take, by passing on our good quality, secondhand clothes to other enthusiasts.

Experts calculate that extending the active life of clothing by just three months per item, leads to a 5-10% reduction in the carbon, water and waste footprints of your family’s no-longer-needed ski and snowboard outfits.

Find out more about sustainability in winter sports and the fast business on our Eco page here.

Meanwhile, around three-quarters of clothing donated to charity shops fails to find a home – especially specialist items like ski wear – and a mere 15% of our textile waste is recycled.

The good news is, every one of us can make a difference. So why not put sustainability on your to-do list this back-to-ski season? Selling through WhoSki.com instantly reduces the carbon footprint of your wintersports habit, helps you earn a bit of money and keeps down the cost of kitting out yourself and your family.

Sell simply and safely in our dedicated community

So whether you’ve fallen out of love with your wintersports wardrobe since you were last on the slopes, or had a clear-out and realised those ski and snowboard clothes no longer fit, the WhoSki.com shop is the place to sell them, simply and safely.

We look forward to welcoming you to our refreshed online marketplace – join us too on social media, @WeWhoSki on Twitter and Instagram.

Expert #SkiGreen tips from our webinar

We were delighted to assemble a super-knowledgeable panel of experts for our #SkiGreen webinar today, so we couldn’t let them get away without sharing their quick tips for improving your eco profile on the piste. Perfect timing for #WorldEnvironmentDay, and with one proviso: no one was allowed to promote their own business.

Our experts’ #SkiGreen tips:

1 Keep harmful microfibres out of the waste stream: use a Guppy bag when you wash your clothing.
Rachael Westbrook, Founder of EcoSki clothing

2 Choose veggie or vegan food when you can, even while out on the mountain, to help make best use of the world’s resources.
Iain Martin, Founder of Ski Flight Free and presenter of The Ski Podcast

3 Take the train to the slopes – it’s more fun, less hassle and massively reduces your carbon footprint.
Jim Stewart, Founder and MD, BUTTA eco ski/board wax

4 Favour resorts that use renewable energy (there are plenty of them)
Peter Speight, Team GB Olympic freestyle skier and account executive Futerra

5 Don’t wash ski clothes more than you have to – spot clean hot chocolate or vin chaud stains rather than putting the whole thing through the machine.
Nicola Davenport, Co-founder, WhoSki.com

6 Provide environmental feedback to your ski resort, operator, supplier as it will encourage them to do the right things and address the things they are getting wrong.
Daniel Elkan, Founder of Snowcarbon and sustainable travel journalist

Circular Economy Week, London 2020

The WhoSki.com #SkiGreen webinar, chaired by WhoSki.com Co-founder Sally Warren, formed part of this year’s ‘virtual’ CE Week London, with a a series of snappy presentations from our expert panellists followed by a Q&A session.

Topics covered included:

  • how to spot a ‘green’ ski resort
  • why we should all choose environmentally conscious wintersports clothing
  • how to organise your ski train trip to the mountains
  • why secondhand is no longer second rate when it comes to pre-loved
  • why PFCs are ‘the forever chemical’
  • how we can protect our mountains for the next generation

Many thanks to all who took part, Circular London for proving us with a slot at this prestigious event, and Sustainable Merton for supporting us with the advice and tech expertise that powered the #SkiGreen webinar.

Watch the video of our #SkiGreen webinar: 

https://youtu.be/ZfiL6yiNme4

Read the presentations:

See also: 3 ways to #SkiGreen this and every season

How to ski greener in 2020/21

Much of the ski industry has been slow to deliver greener options for skiers and snowboarders, but there are resorts, organisations and businesses which are starting to make a mark and lead the way for change.

Co-founders of Wimbledon-based WhoSki.com Sally Warren and Nicola Davenport were invited by Sustainable Merton to discuss the circular economy, how the wintersports clothing we purchase impacts on the environment, some of the moves forward in the industry, and how a few changes can make your ski habits greener.

The eye-watering facts:

  • the PFC chemicals in outdoor clothing are harmful to wildlife
  • it can take up to 200 years for the polyester used in ski wear to break down
  • 23% of the clothes in the average Londoner’s wardrobe are NEVER worn
  • 70% of snow cover globally could disappear by the year 2100

Top tips for a greener ski habit, from the WhoSki webinar:

  • take the train or drive to the slopes rather than fly
  • take your own water bottle
  • choose a green resort (some are wind- and solar-powered)
  • choose a car-free resort (eg Avoriaz, Les Arcs 1950)
  • use a sustainable travel agent and offset your trip
  • buy good as new secondhand ski clothing – and sell it on when you no longer need it
  • insist on eco-friendly ski and snowboard wax (toxic hydrocarbon waxes leach chemicals into the snow which can end up in the water table)
  • choose a clothing range that uses recycled/eco-friendly materials when buying new (eg Planks, Picture)  – and check whether it can be recycled

Find out more:

To see the WhoSki webinar presentation in full CLICK HERE 
To see a PDF of our presentation CLICK HERE 

If you want to get in contact with us, please email us at info@whoski.com

Happy green skiing!
Sally and Nicola, Co-founders, WhoSki.com.

Circular economy: exciting. Government response: disappointing

The excitement of last week’s festival of the circular economy in London was tempered today by the Government’s announcement it would not be intervening to discourage wasteful practices in the fashion industry.

Despite recommendations from Parliament’s Environmental Audit Committee to bring in a levy on clothing sales to help tackle environmental damage and encourage circular economy practices, ministers decided to “encourage” rather than legislate to ensure fashion companies do the right thing.

Circular Economy Week

The decision comes in the wake of a week of activity organised by the London Waste and Recycling Board to celebrate and boost the city’s circular economy sector.  We at WhoSki.com were delighted to take part, share our story, learn from others operating in this vibrant sector, and connect with likeminded entrepreneurs whose goal is to help deliver a resilient, resource-efficient community.

There is a huge bank of energy, talent and enthusiasm in the circular economy sector. There is also a massive desire to curb – and harness – the waste generated by this country’s 66 million inhabitants.

Re-use in the ski sector

Our business, building a peer-to-peer marketplace for preloved ski clothing, is a mere drop in the ocean compared with the massive challenge facing the fashion industry which consumes globe-threatening amounts of resources and creates literal mountains of waste.

By targeting the ski clothing industry, we are making a tiny difference to the fashion industry’s problem of waste and over-production. But we believe it is a valuable one. Specialist outdoors clothing such as ski wear is made of multiple materials, making it particularly difficult to recycle. Manmade fibres also break down extremely slowly – if ever. Re-use will always be the eco approach, as well as the low-cost way to revamp your ski wardrobe. A fresh look on the slopes without breaking the bank or condemning unwanted but still serviceable clothing to landfill: that is our aim.

#PassItOn

Even though the UK Government is unwilling to force change, we are confident that retailers and manufacturers will want to do the right thing.

WhoSki.com is the place where you can pass on your end of line, out of season or returned winter sports wear for re-use by within a dedicated community of skiers. Consumers will respect your sustainable fashion credentials, spread the word about your corporate efforts to end wasteful practices and act as advocates for your brand. #PassItOn

Retailers! Team up with WhoSki to re-use, recycle

We are actively looking for retail partners to help us grow the circular economy in ski wear. Read on to find out why it is in everyone’s interest to get involved.

Retailers in France have been warned to make sure that unsold clothing is sent for re-use or recycling in a bid to curb wasteful practices in the fashion industry. The ban on destroying clothing and other items comes after it emerged that more than £576m of new consumer products were discarded in France EVERY YEAR by the businesses selling them.

How long until similar legislation making stores responsible for their unsold or discarded stock is adopted in the UK?

Parliament’s Environmental Audit Committee recently reported on the British fashion industry, and it wasn’t pretty. The Government is already thinking about taxing clothing companies that fail to adopt the circularity model.

They want to see less fashion waste, more recycling, and retailers taking responsibility both for the provenance of the materials they use AND what happens to their clothing after it is sold or comes off the rack.

As far as ski and wintersports clothing is concerned, that’s where WhoSki.com comes in. (You can thank us later, retailers)

Re-use beats recycle

Re-use is always going to be more eco than recycle, as less energy and fewer materials are involved. Think bottle returns: washing out and reusing a glass pop bottle is more environmentally friendly than having to dispose of a plastic one.

Back in the day, kids used to supplement their pocket money by collecting bottles and returning them to the corner shop for coppers. We didn’t call it the ‘circular economy’ but that is exactly what it was.

A circular economy for ski wear

The same principle applies to ski clothing. There are piles of it in warehouses, stores, discount shops that our online marketplace WhoSki.com can help sell on, thus cutting its carbon footprint by ensuring that the raw materials and energy that went into its creation do not go to waste.

We aim to work with ski shops and manufacturers around the UK, taking pre-loved, unwanted ski gear and making sure it gets re-used rather than dumped. Wake up to the change that is coming: do the right thing now or there will be legislation to make you do it. It is simply a matter of time.

Recycling facilities drive footfall

Does encouraging people to pass on their used but serviceable ski wear mean retailers will suffer? Think about it: by establishing a used-clothing drop-off facility and promoting it as a green initiative you will in fact be encouraging people to visit your store.

Some 25% of people are likely to buy something at a shop when dropping off items for re-use or recycling, so joining us in the circular economy actually drives footfall. You collect the pre-loved ski clothing then we will take it off your hands, and ensure it is recommerced on WhoSki.com.

Result? The clothing item enjoys an extended life, the owner gets to refresh their ski look, guilt-free, and the retailer ticks the CSR-box and gains valuable PR.

Sounds good? We are actively looking for retail partners to help us grow the circular economy in ski wear, so get in touch and let’s get together help make ski fashion circular.

Who and what is WhoSki.com ?

Hi! We are Sally and Nicola: WhoSki.com foundersWe LOVE skiing. We love looking good on the slopes.

But we don’t like spending a fortune on ski gear. And we absolutely HATE to see perfectly good ski kit go to landfill.

Sally: Why do I love skiing? It’s freedom, family time and the time of year when I can fill my boots with cheese fondue and hot chocolate and STILL feel healthy. That’s why skiing is my kind of holiday!

As for WhoSki.com: why is it so expensive to get stylish ski wear online – especially for children? You buy ski clothing for the kids that fits and clearly has a bit of growing room, but within MONTHS they shoot up, lanky legs, gangling arms, and boom! You’re left with one barely worn, almost new ski suit that no longer fits.

And ski stuff? Well, the industry’s recycling credentials are poor so we want to grow the world of #PassItOn: reuse, recycle and reduce the impact this fabulous sport has on our planet.

Nicola: As the mum of teens who have both been on skiing holidays every year since babyhood, I have accumulated and passed on shedloads – literally – of preloved but outgrown ski gear. But the number of ski families in my immediate circle is limited, so there’s not always a ready secondhand market for my kids’ high quality, good as new snow gear.

(I must admit I’ve also got a bit of a weak spot for a new ski jacket and love to upgrade probably more often than I should…)

WhoSki founders Sally and Nicola

Life’s too short not to look good on the slopes: buying and selling via WhoSki.com makes a piste fashion refresh affordable AND sustainable.   

  •         RECYCLE your secondhand ski clothing
  •         REFRESH your piste style every year
  •         MAKE money
  •         SAVE the planet
  •         CLEAR OUT your clutter
  •         LOOK good on the slopes for less

How it works: we’re an online community of people who ski, who want to pass on ski kit that still has more to give, who want to pick up a great deal on good quality, pre-loved or end of line ski gear.

  • Got a cupboard full of children’s ski clothing that no longer fits? List it on WhoSki.com.
  • Fancy a new ski jacket but can’t justify paying full price? Search on WhoSki.com.
  • Looking for ski gear for your first ski trip? Buy it on WhoSki.com
  • Fancy an affordable ski wardrobe make-over? Style up with WhoSki.com.