Tag: eco

Ski wear from the Alps – with ZERO carbon footprint

Ski resort workers wear technical, branded ski clothing through the season – but what happens to it when the snow melts? This year, some of those ski clothes have been repaired, refreshed, refurbished and will be back in active usage – thanks to a zero carbon footprint collaboration between WhoSki.com and our Alpine eco-partner One Tree at a Time.

All logos have been obscured or removed, with the ski jackets, fleeces and tops – all little-used and good as new – washed and refurbished before making their way back to the UK from the Alps this summer with ZERO carbon footprint.

One Tree jackets. Eco ski wear from the Alps
One Tree ski jacket. Ski wear from the Alps - with zero carbon footprint
One Tree mid layer ski jackets. Eco ski wear from the Alps

Aren’t they gorgeous? Bright, stylish, rescued and repaired. And now on sale at WhoSki.com.

a secondhand success story

A secondhand success story. But just a few months ago, they were end of season cast-offs from seasonal ski resort workers in the Alps.

You’ve probably never thought about what happens to the branded ski clothing used by saisonnaire staff when the snow melts. Barely used but no longer required, most corporate ski jackets, fleeces and mid-layers are probably headed for landfill or incineration.

It’s a story that our eco-partner One Tree at a Time is working tirelessly to re-tell. One Tree is a grassroots organisation based in the hamlet of Bozel in the French Alps, nestled between Courchevel and La Plagne. With their help, we are extending the life of these valuable textiles by enabling re-sale of their pre-loved and 100%-perfect ski clothing via our UK marketplace.

Like WhoSki.com, One Tree at a Time is among the sustainable outdoor activity organisations which belong to the Re-Action Collective, an international group of second handers, renters, repairers and individuals sharing ideas and resources to support and promote the messages of re-sale, re-purpose and re-use.

Here’s the story of how our range of One Tree at a Time refurbished eco ski wear made its way from the Alps to the WhoSki.com marketplace, where you can buy it now…

January 2023
In the Alps, One Tree starts sharing photos of the ex-ski company wear that is being donated for re-use. Good as new or unused items like ski jackets, fleeces, salopettes and woolly hats that are surplus to requirements and will never be used again.

February 2023
WhoSki.com co-founder Sally starts to wonder whether there is a sustainable way to extend the market for One Tree’s pre-loved and refurbished ski wear range to the UK. Selling it on via the WhoSki.com marketplace would help promote the re-use message, highlight the issue of winter sports sustainability and make top-quality ski clothing more affordable and accessible to a wider audience in the UK.

March 2023
Workers at One Tree are busy repairing and refreshing ski wear ready for re-sale. This entails removing all branding and logos, replacing travel company slogans with flashes of reclaimed fabric, making sure zips are in working order and that all items end up good as new.

One Tree workers repair and refresh the ski clothing
Image: Gwilym Thomas
One Tree seamstress in the Alps brings ski clothing back to life
Image: Gwilym Thomas

Manon, Justine and the rest of the talented One Tree at a Time repair team work at their sewing machines from home. A cottage industry of passionate, creative people working to provide circularity solutions. Their motivation? To keep textiles in active usage as long as possible.

The results are stunning: high quality, good as new ski and winter wear ready for re-use.

April 2023
Sally calls Gavin: “Any chance we can bring some of your ski gear to the UK? But we need to do it in as low-carbon a way as possible.” WhoSki.com and One Tree start working out how to transport the clothing back to the UK without generating emissions.

June 2023
Bingo! One of Gavin’s repairers will be driving back to the UK next month and has space in her car to bring over a batch of refurbished ski wear. It’s a journey that she will be taking anyway, so zero carbon footprint for our clothes.

July 2023
Justine arrives in Warrington with a couple of boxes of One Tree ski clothing. WhoSki.com co-founder Nicola’s sister lives nearby and is visiting the area anyway so agrees to collect the boxes and stash them at her home. So far: no extra miles.

Boxes of ski wear from the Alps - brought to the UK with zero carbon footprint
Boxes en route

August 2023
Arrival day! Nicola’s sister travels south for a family occasion, bringing with her the two boxes brimming with One Tree’s brightly coloured, expertly refurbished ski wear. It’s fabulous: unique, sustainable, perfect.
Next step: upload the pre-loved clothing – base layer fleeces, mid-layer puffers and ski jackets – to WhoSki.com ready for re-sale.

Boxes of ski wear from the Alps - brought to the UK with zero carbon footprint
Unboxing ski wear from the Alps - brought to the UK with zero carbon footprint

September 2023
Sustainable One Tree at a Time refurbished ski wear goes on sale at WhoSki.com. By buying one of these unique items of clothing, you are keeping an unrecyclable item in active usage, out of landfill and reducing its and your own carbon footprint. Ski wear from the Alps to the UK with zero carbon footprint: a circular economy success story.

If you live anywhere near SW London, visit the WhoSki.com stall in Wimbledon on Saturday September 16. We have a presence at the open-air Love Wimbledon Sustainable Market outside the Odeon in central SW19 – so you can get hands on with the refurbished clothing we are selling through our collaboration with One Tree. Please pop by for a chat and to find out more.

Are you a travel or sports business that would like to see end of season branded items refurbished and put to good use? Get in touch – we would love to help you normalise re-use for discarded winter sports wear. It’s good for sustainability and the environment, good for consumers, good for the industry and great for your corporate profile.

Check out the One Tree items for sale at WhoSki.com here.

Green up your watersports habit

Outdoors, on the water, in the fresh air – we love marine activities. Simple steps will help you keep on the right side of the environment, to green up your watersports habit this summer.

CHOOSE BIO-FRIENDLY SUN SCREEN

It was established in the early 2000s that the chemicals in some sun screens are harmful to coral reefs. Further research indicates that protective sun creams can also damage other marine organisms including wildlife.

Oxybenzone and octinoxate are among the culprits, and sunscreen containing these chemicals is banned in certain sensitive marine environments and resorts. Check the ingredients in your sun cream: choose marine-friendly and biodegradable formulations.

Fresh water in lakes and rivers also suffer pollution by sunscreen, scientists now believe. Harmful side effects include the water surface ‘sun cream slick’ that can prevent aquatic insects from laying eggs, thus depriving other river and lake dwellers of food supply.

Chemicals in sunscreen can harm fish, mussels and algae too. Research continues, but in the meantime, opt for eco sun protection when you swim, surf, paddleboard – whatever your watersports habit.

LEAVE NO TRACE

Most of us are aware of the need to leave only footprints – but how about going one better, and heading home from the beach / riverbank / lakeside with MORE than you brought by doing a quick litter pick every trip?

Take a 10-minute walk up and down the waterside between paddleboard outings and gather whatever bits of rubbish or general manmade debris you find. Stick them in a bag and put them in the bin / recycling when you get home.

Look out for local clean-up initiatives while you are water-side and do your bit. Plastic Free North Devon, for example, runs a series of green action days to deal with the rubbish that is clogging our shores.

Surfers Against Sewage provides advice on organising a beach clean as well as listings for local beach clean up activities.

PASS IT ON

Look for secondhand watersports equipment before you buy new – and sell on any pre-loved outdoor activity items you no longer need.

For example, watersports kit like boogie or body boards, essentially a sheet of polystyrene wrapped in a thin layer of nylon decorated with a cartoon character or similar, are cheap to buy but an eco nightmare. Surfer Today calls them ‘a silent environmental disaster’.

Rather than buying a cheap single use board, bucket or spade for the kids that won’t even last the weekend, invest in quality equipment that you can use repeatedly, then pass it on to another family member or sell on via WhoSki.com.

Reducing consumption is key to reducing your carbon footprint, reducing air miles and preserving valuable resources.

RENT BEFORE YOU BUY

Not sure whether paddleboarding is really for you? Think you’ll only go surfing once a year? Maybe you don’t need to clutter up your shed / loft / garage with a large piece of watersports or outdoor activity equipment you’ll barely use.

However cheap it is to buy, it is much less costly to the environment to hire or rent your watersports gear where possible. Stuff like wetsuits, kayaks and canoes requires a lot in the way of (often unrecyclable) raw materials to create, and most are used very little.

Green up your watersports habit. Try hiring on the spot from local providers and check their eco credentials. Or take a look at our circular economy friends KitUp who are building a UK-wide network of outdoors equipment owners willing to rent out their equipment on demand.

Why new neoprene is a no-no: what happens to our unwanted wetsuits

What happens to unwanted wetsuits?

An estimated 8,380 tonnes of neoprene, much from unwanted wetsuits, ends up in landfill globally every year. Wetsuits and other neoprene products have traditionally been impossible to recycle.

The only option has been to dump or shred them. The best way to prevent this eco disaster? Keep your unwanted water sports wetsuits in use as long as possible.

Selling on any wetsuit that is in good condition is the least polluting option, especially children’s wetsuits as they are generally little used and perfect for re-sale. As with other outdoor clothing, re-sale keeps no longer needed wetsuits out of landfill and in active usage. However cheaply you can get hold of a new wetsuit, for paddleboarding, surfing, a water sports course or whatever, buying one secondhand is the more eco option.

Wetsuits are exceedingly slow to deteriorate, depending on how they are stored and looked after. They do not break down in landfill.

Care about the environment? Keep your old wetsuits in active usage: sell them on.

Re-use and extending the usage of your wetsuits and other outdoor clothing and equipment beats recycling every time. Why? Because re-use saves the energy required to re-manufacture it into another product, reducing wastage and pollution at the same time.

Can you recycle neoprene?

Alternative plant-based materials are being developed, but right now pretty much all wetsuits are made from neoprene, a non-biodegradable synthetic rubber derived from petroleum or limestone: both non-renewable resources.

Until recently, there was no way to recycle neoprene.

Instead, the neoprene was shredded or simply re-purposed into other items such as laptop bags or mouse mats. The reason neoprene is used for wetsuits is because it is temperature resistant. It is also chemically inert, with a low oxidation rate and high sun and ozone resistance. Hence neoprene wetsuits are tough. They degrade very slowly and make a perfect secondhand purchase.

Be confident: that wetsuit you bought for your child when they were aged eight will most likely still be perfectly wearable at least a decade later. I am still using the wetsuit I bought for dinghy sailing back in the 1990s: 30 years on and it is still as good as new. Luckily, it still fits. If it didn’t, I would be passing it on to a younger family member or selling it on WhoSki.com.

What to do with your secondhand wetsuit?

Selling on a good condition, unwanted wetsuit is obviously the most environmentally friendly way to keep it in active usage and minimise its carbon footprint.

If you are looking for a wetsuit, think pre-loved before you buy new. Check out the outdoor clothing section of WhoSki.com to buy or sell secondhand wetsuits.

However, if you are looking for alternative ways to dispose of an unwanted wetsuit, the good news is that sustainable technologies are evolving.
A company called Circular Flow is working on a process to effectively and sustainably recycle neoprene for re-use.

The amount of neoprene it can cope with is limited, but some retailers have already partnered with Circular Flow to ensure their returned wetsuits are recycled using their proprietary technique.

Alpkit, Finisterre and Boardshop are among UK outdoor shops that will pass on unwanted neoprene wetsuits for recycling.

As with all outdoor wear, maximising its usage is the most eco way to ensure it causes least damage to the environment.

Think WhoSki.com next time you are having an outdoor clothing clear-out, and when you are stocking up for your next adventure.

Image by pressfoto on Freepik

Cutting carbon impact with the support of Ski Line

Welcoming specialist wintersports travel agent Ski Line as a new WhoSki.com partner – you may have spotted their logo on our Partners Page.

We have teamed up with them because of their commitment to sustainability. As the company explains: “Ski Line promises to highlight green initiatives being undertaken by our featured ski resorts”. They also promote more eco-friendly travel options like taking the train. Bravo!

So this is a quick welcome and well done to Ski Line as our latest partner in the #SkiGreen movement, plus a shout out to the 15,000 plus skiers that will be travelling with them this winter.

If just a fraction of those skiers think pre-loved ski clothing this season, we will be keeping A LOT of extra wintersports clothing in active usage and out of landfill. Which is of course what WhoSki.com is all about.

Read the WhoSki.com guest blog on the Ski Line website

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

Is the snowsports industry ready for a sustainable future?

As Sally hurtled off to the Mountain Trade Network‘s autumn LISTEX conference at The Snow Centre in Hemel Hempstead last week, delegates were revving up for a debate on how the snowsports industry is waking up to sustainable options for the future.

The panel covered a range of topics including ski and snowboard clothing, climate change, aiming for net zero, and what seems to always be the most contentious item for the wintersports industry: the transport you use to get to your ski resort.

Sally’s top learnings from the debate:

1 Switzerland has a transparent approach to sustainability

Ski giant Switzerland has opted for an umbrella approach to sustainability, providing resorts, hotels and other key snow sports businesses with clear directives on how to develop their green credentials.

For visitors it’s easy to understand, as businesses will be awarded three level ‘badges’: Level 3 – Leading; Level 2 – Engaged; and Level 1 – Committed. It is a simple way to judge how far down the sustainability route a Swiss business, service provider or destination has travelled.

2 You can’t do everything immediately, so aim for manageable targets en route to net zero

It can be all-consuming trying to do everything at once, so a business aiming for net zero should break down its actions into manageable, achievable goals. Charlie Cotton from ecollective calls this the ‘7% rule’, whereby you make regular 7% improvements on the road to net zero.

Extra good news: HotelPlan, which owns ski holiday brands including Inghams and Esprit, has signed up to reach net zero: a big shout out to them.

3 Climate change is affecting resorts already

According to University of Surrey sustainability PhD student Harry Rice, there is growing concern over the impact of increasing temperatures on lower snowsports resorts, the pressure climate change will put on higher resorts and the impact of increased temperatures on the slopes.

Ski resorts are starting to look at how they adapt to this change, weighing up social and economic progress and how the adaptations could impact more heavily on the mountain environment.

4 More of us are driving to the slopes (and it’s easy by EV…)

James Gambrill from the Ski Club of Great Britain presented figures showing that post-pandemic more of us have driven to the mountains.

Reasons for this are unclear, however. Is it because of an increase in airline flight cancellations, passenger worries about catching Covid, price hikes or are we starting to think ‘greener’ in our travel choices?

On a positive note, the ease of driving an EV to the ski slopes is aided by improved EV charging facilities through France.

5 Young people positively embrace BUYING secondhand ski CLOTHES

It is estimated that 64% of young people prefer to buy secondhand clothes. Not just because they are more affordable, but also for the bragging rights: pre-loved fashion is very much on trend and growing across the market.

It’s time to feed that demand. Clear out your ski clothes from your wardrobe. List them for sale (at WhoSki.com, obviously). Lend them, mend them, re-use or re-sell them. Just make sure you don’t allow your ski jackets, ski pants and salopettes to end up in landfill.

Fact: ski textiles are likely to be around long after many of us have stopped skiing. 

Expert panel

The eclectic panel of international speakers at LISTEX included Charlie Cotton from travel consultancy ecollective, Myriam Ziesack of the Swiss tourist board which runs Swisstainable, Harry Rice, climate change and sustainability PhD student, our own Sally Warren, co-founder of WhoSki.com, and Iain Martin of SkiFlightFree.

LISTEX, the London International Ski Trade Exchange, is a B2B event that brings together many of the movers and shakers in the snowsports world, from industry leaders to independent specialists.

Thank you to The Snow Centre, Hemel Hempstead, for hosting and Babsi Lapwood of the Mountain Trade Network for organising.

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 supporting Secondhand September

WhoSki.com is all about making best use of secondhand clothing, so naturally we are 100% supporting Oxfam’s Secondhand September campaign.

The campaign – now in its fourth year – encourages us all to buy secondhand before we consider buying new. Do it properly and you will buy NOTHING NEW all month. Find out more about the Secondhand September campaign here.

LIST YOUR SECONDHAND SKI COTHING NOW

September is good timing for skiers and snowboarders, as it’s the perfect time to sort out your ski clothing into what still fits and you want to keep, versus what doesn’t fit or you are tired of and is good enough quality to sell on.

Listing it for sale NOW on WhoSki.com gives you the best chance of getting no longer needed ski clothing out of your wardrobe and into circulation. Selling it via our peer-to-peer marketplace has (at least) three benefits:

Click here to visit the WhoSki.com shop where you can list your clothing for sale – registration is free. We donate to teen mental health charity stem4 on every sale.

Are you taking part in Secondhand September? Let us know via social media: @WeWhoSki on Twitter and Instagram / https://www.facebook.com/whoskiLLP at Facebook.

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 10% 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.

Join us at the National Snow Show!

The slopes are re-opening, the kit is being dusted off, so rather than filling up landfill with your old ski and snowboard clothing, come and see us at stand D70 at the 2021 National Snow Show and discover how you can ski greener this season.

We are revamping our website, but – like your favourite pistes! – we will be back in business soon, with our eco-focused peer-to-peer marketplace where wintersports fans can buy and sell pre-loved ski wear. Saving money and supporting the circular economy.

We are the UK’s only website dedicated to helping you pass on secondhand ski and snowboard clothing, enabling you to ski green AND look good on the slopes for less.

It’s been a long time since we were at the last Ski Show in Battersea Park, but we are looking forward to meeting skiers again in person at the NEC in Birmingham, Saturday and Sunday October 23-24. You’ll find us between the Snow and Shred Stages, at stand D70.

Do pop by and say hello: we’d love to hear how you’re planning to reduce the carbon footprint of your ski or snowboard trip next season #SnowShow

Before you visit: current NEC guidance here: https://www.thenec.co.uk/visitors/plan-your-visit/

Join our #SkiGreen webinar to mark Circular Economy Week

We’ve gathered some of the leading voices in the UK’s eco ski movement to discuss in a free-access online seminar how we can ALL take actions to ski a bit greener once the slopes re-open for season 2020/21.

From the clothes we wear, the way we travel and how we maintain our kit, to the changes being made by resorts – our expert panel of ski businesses and lobbyists will be highlighting the ways we as consumers can take positive action to reduce our impact and help protect the mountains we love to visit.

Our webinar (11am-12 noon on Friday June 5, 2020) will help you understand more about where the issues lie and how small things can make a big difference. Plus you’ll take away some easy-to-implement top tips on how to ski greener next season.

CE Week London 2020

The event is part of a programme of seminars organised to mark this year’s ‘virtual’ CE Week London, with subjects ranging from fashion to building, finance to babies. The WhoSki.com panel will be promoting the broad #SkiGreen agenda.

Our webinar brings you a series of snappy, enlightening presentations from our expert panellists, followed by a Q&A session. Please feel free to submit questions in advance to info@whoski.com or ask questions during the #CEWeekLDN event (register for FREE to watch/listen and take part).

We’ll be outlining the ways in which skiers and snowboarders can reduce their impact on the environment before, during and after a trip to the slopes, including their wardrobe, travel options, destinations and actions while on the piste. The circular economy, recycling and sustainability are all key.

Our panellists:

Sally Warren and Nicola Davenport : Co-founders, WhoSki.com
Textiles, the circular economy and the impact of wintersports wear on the environment.

Jim Stewart: Founder and MD, BUTTA eco ski/board wax
Keeping fluorocarbons off the piste: how one small thing can have a big impact.

Daniel Elkan: Founder of SnowCarbon, and sustainable travel journalist
How easy it is to get the train to the slopes, and overcoming travel obstacles.

Iain Martin: Founder of Ski Flight Free and presenter of the Ski Podcast
How attitudes and behaviours towards the environment from a younger generation have started to influence consumers and the ski industry.

Rachel Westbrook: Founder of EcoSki clothing brand
How buying new wintersports wear from the right sources is a crucial cog in the circular economy.

JOIN US: 11am on Friday June 5, 2020. FREE registration via Eventbrite
SPREAD THE WORD: #WhoSki #SkiGreen #CEWeekLDN

Our thanks to Sustainable Merton for supporting this webinar event.

Be a sustainable student skier

Your uni ski trip is coming up, and you’ve got a small budget and a large social conscience.
Take the easy route to skiing greener, keeping costs down and assuaging your eco guilt: buy your ski essentials SECONDHAND.
Here’s why it’s good for you AND good for the environment.

Keep wintersports clothing out of landfill

Fashion is the second most polluting industry IN THE WORLD (after oil), using vast amounts of water and raw materials to create – let’s face it – far more clothes than we will ever need. Most of them never sell. Many end up in landfill or incineration: a sustainability disaster.
Ski clothing, made of mixed materials (many non-biodegradable) and specialist coatings, is built to last. Yet many skiers and snowboarders wear pants and jacket for a single trip – perhaps they found skiing wasn’t for them, got injured or can’t afford another trip.
Others want a new look for every vacation. And some even buy multiple outfits to wear throughout the ONE week they are away. Yes, really: Instagram, you know? Themed dressing up days, you know?

Make money – do good!

Their waste is your gain – which is where WhoSki.com comes in. We are the dedicated peer-to-peer marketplace that ONLY sells wintersports wear. Focused market means better choice and easier to buy. And we give 10% of our commission on EVERY SALE to teen mental health charity stem4 – so you’re doing good at the same time.
Sustainable fashionistas say that we should all wear every item we own 30 TIMES in order to neutralize its carbon footprint. Tough when you only ski for six days a year – and are sick of the sight of that ski jacket you’ve worn every trip since you were 16.
But remember! A jacket that’s old to you will be new to someone else. So:

  • #PassItOn via WhoSki.com
  • Help keep textiles out of landfill, out of incineration and in circulation
  • Make Livia Firth happy – and cheer up Greta Thunberg too ?
  • Save yourself money (and boost your Folie Douce budget)

And once you’re back from the slopes, save space in your wardrobe and join the circular economy by putting your no longer needed ski and snowboard clothing up for sale – it will help other skiers AND mean you’re schlepping home with less stuff come the end of term.