Mathieu, you’re the main ambassador for the ‘Recycled for Radness’ campaign in Europe. Why you?
M: My story with Quiksilver started a long time ago. I’ve been on the team for more than 25 years now since I was 10 years old. Sustainability is something I’ve been trying to bring into the line for a long time, but it’s been difficult to develop a snow kit made out of recycled materials that could still live up to the technical needs of a rider. You don’t want to compromise on the quality. It felt very natural for me to be the ambassador for this, and I’m really proud of how far we’ve come and how much we have achieved.

“You don’t want to compromise on the quality”

I started an NGO together with my father and a couple of friends of mine called the Water Family. It’s about educating and sharing our love for our playing fields, which is water in every form and about the cycle of water from the mountains to the waves. We educate kids on this and how to be able to use water more efficiently in our day-to-day life.

Thomas, you’re the Snow Product Manager over at Quiksilver. What brought you to where you are now?
T: I was a professional snowboarder for about 10 years, and really into the snowboard world, so I wanted to get involved in the business side of it. I’ve always been quite passionate about the outerwear products, and it was kind of the career I wanted going forth, so I started working with Quiksilver as an intern in the product management side, then left for another job, and then came back. I’ve been with the company for more than 10 years now and I’m still very passionate about what I do.

Whether it’s a trend or a change in priorities, consumers are becoming more conscious about their purchasing choices, and sustainability is becoming a driving factor for many when choosing the next snowboard jacket.

“This, however, has resulted in something called ‘greenwashing’, a phenomenon that can be seen everywhere”

With the increasing changes in what the modern-day consumer demands, brands need to adapt by supplying more eco-friendly products. This, however, has resulted in something called ‘greenwashing’, a phenomenon that can be seen everywhere.

Greenwashing is a form of marketing that companies use to convey a false impression or provide misleading information about their products/policies in order to make the consumer believe they are more environmentally friendly then they in fact are.

T: You have to be cautious with what you claim to be, and make sure that what you claim is correct and not greenwashing, which we are seeing more and more of.

“You have to be cautious with what you claim to be, and make sure that what you claim is correct and not greenwashing, which we are seeing more and more of”

Sustainability is everywhere now, and many brands claim to be eco-friendly and sustainable, so it is important for a brand like us to be as transparent as possible in order to show that what we claim is real.

M: Quiksilver has been thinking about promoting its sustainability for quite a while already, but they didn’t want to claim this because as a brand they didn’t feel like they’ve done enough yet.

M: People might think this is something that’s only been going on for a few years, when in fact, this is something that’s been going on for many years and we’ve only tried to come closer to ‘perfection’ before publicly talking about it. Although, it is hard to reach perfection in an industry like this. We’re all consumers so we use resources anyway just by living.

T: We also need to be humble. The goal isn’t to claim scores, it is about claiming what you are and what your objectives are, and what you are going to do to achieve them. You need to be transparent, and we have achieved to have a large number of recycled components in our range compared to other brands. We cannot say we are leading this, because obviously, Patagonia is a step ahead, but we are not far behind.

You mentioned transparency is very important for Quiksilver. How are you being transparent?
T: We are at a very early stage in this process, and we know this is going to be the battle of the next few years. People are going to ask what we do.

“People are going to ask what we do”

There’s going to be a lot of impact on the old supply chain, so yes, a lot of work that has been put in a process already using the Higg Index [a suite of tools that enables brands, retailers, and facilities of all sizes to accurately measure and score a company or product’s sustainability performance]. And once that’s done, we can really target and map where to put effort.

M: The Quiksilver group has started a sustainability committee with different representatives of every corner of the brand, and I represent the athletes. We’re doing loads of different stuff on social, with sourcing, with shipping, and I’m in charge of talking with the athletes to see if they’ve got any ideas or projects that would fit into telling a story. Our job as riders is to challenge the product developers, to help build projects and help to tell the story about the products.

For this season, Quiksilver’s got a handful of interesting products in-store that stand out in terms of sustainability.

T: This season, we have the Gore Range, which is quite interesting because this is all Gore-Tex products that are made out of 100% recycled polyester, which is new within our range. Travis’s line as well is made out of recycled polyester, and then we’ve also got the Snow SpinDye jacket.

“This season, we have the Gore Range, which is quite interesting because this is all Gore-Tex products that are made out of 100% recycled polyester”

Quiksilver’s sustainable Gore-Tex range includes the Forever 2L Gore-Tex Jacket, the Black Alder 2L Gore-tex Jacket and the Altostratus 2L Gore-Tex Bib Pants.

The Travis Rice collection includes the Travis Rice Stretch Jacket and the Travis Rice Stretch pants, which have been co-designed with the man himself. These are made out of Repreve recycled fabric, which is the leading, most trusted, branded performance fibre made from recycled materials – including plastic boggles.

As for the SpinDye jacket, which is also made out of Repreve recycled fabric, the story here is the clean and non-polluting colouring method that’s been used. The colour of the jacket is created without using water, reducing the use of water in the entire textile production chain by 75%.

Head over to Quiksilver site to find out more about the products.

What’s next for ‘Recycled for Radness’, what do you want to achieve with this ‘campaign’?
T: To us, the objectives are pretty clear: recycled fabric from the shell to the insulation and all the way to the lining – the three main components of the products. And then, working on being transparent in the way we are building our products. It’s a long project to work on sustainable products, and there’s a lot of constraints, so it takes time.

“To us, the objectives are pretty clear: recycled fabric from the shell to the insulation and all the way to the lining”

Thinking forward, how do you think, or wish, Quiksilver’s actions can help to push for a more sustainable outerwear industry in general?
M: Right now, I think there are quite a few small brands that do cool stuff because they have the liberty to do so as a small brand. And the challenge for the bigger brands is to reach the same goals, but being a big brand means that you don’t have the same leverage which makes it more difficult. But if we reach our goals, as a leading brand in the industry, I hope it will inspire the rest of the market to do the same.

M: It’s definitely a challenge, but also a duty of Quiksilver to accept this challenge, to inspire the rest of the market. And if you think about it globally, it’s not about doing better than other brands, we’re all in this together, and if one of the biggest brands in the industry does something cool, it’s hopefully going to inspire others.

“It’s definitely a challenge, but also a duty of Quiksilver to accept this challenge, to inspire the rest of the market”

T: It’s a heavy project to be sustainable and it’s not going to happen overnight.

M: We know there’s a bit of a rush, but the process has been good. And as a rider, I am proud to represent a brand that isn’t just listening to what you’ve got to say but also taking it in. We can always do more but then again 2020 was a tough year for everybody, so hopefully, it won’t negatively affect the steps forward – hopefully, it will have the opposite effect and push people forward.

T: I think it will accelerate more people and brands towards being more efficient, to be more precise in product offering, to avoid waste, to simplify a little bit of the process, which is also part of sustainability, and avoid overconsumption. One example is range size, we reduced the range size by 30% for next year, which made the range smaller and more efficient so that we can plan better.

Quality over quantity.
T: That’s also a sustainable point, durability. It’s also super important. A durable product is a sustainable product.