Manufacturing in Asia isn’t as bad as most believe—really, that is not some green wash gibberish.
I’ve met the people working the machines and sowing our product, they are much like you and me—searching for opportunity, working to get ahead in life, facing the realities and challenge of providing for their families. Traveling opens your eyes to the richness and diversity of foreign cultures. But yea—there are lots of problems too.
Most of all it’s the transportation footprint that keeps me up at night. It’s 10,069 kilometers from Asia to California. That’s a long way from point A to point B. I don’t like the fact that the ocean is being used either, the ocean was made for surfing, not for transporting.
I first thought about manufacturing our eco surf products in California when the ‘buy local campaign’ started to gain momentum in organic food circles. There is no reason we shouldn’t attempt to apply the same ‘buy local’ vision for all of our surf consumables—this is what has made the Etsy movement so appealing—real people making real products right in our backyard.
We are just starting to explore these options at Wave Tribe—but more than explore we are acting. Wave Tribe is proud to report that we are now producing several of our bag styles in California and it sure feels great to support local businesses and substantially decrease our transportation footprint by more than 10,000 kilometers. But what feels even better is to know that our bags are being made in partnership with fellow surfers, people who share a similar vision and stoke fro life.
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