ATTIDUDE
As a manufacturer we have the option: Do we want to produce our products in a third world country, where we don´t know anything about the working conditions? We do not know, if the workers there get paid fairly and have a safe work environment. Neither can we be sure if the used materials are produced sustainably.
Everybody knows about the stories and pictures of dyeing factories in third world countries, which produce jeans for several trade chains.
Prices for those products are cheap. Even with transport and customs some products can be less expensive than products from Europe. It’s the same with kiteboards.
Woodboard chooses not to get a single product from Asia. This decision comes from our attitude: An appreciation for all people involved in the whole process of manufacturing as well as for society and nature.
The ecological footprint of producing a kiteboard is a big factor for us as well.
EUROPEAN PRODUCTION
In general, it is useful to buy products that don´t need to be shipped from far away. If possible, not even the components should travel a far distance. Everything a manufacturer needs for a kiteboard is available in Europe. It is easily possible to build a kiteboard in Europe, solely using products from Europe.
Woodboard strictly chooses to produce kiteboards with components manufactured within a 150 km radius from its operating location.
The core material (wood) as well as the inox parts are coming from Slovenia. The glass fibre web and the top sheet are produced in Austria by the word market leader for components in the ski and board industry. Pads, straps and fins are produced in Slovakia. The board itself gets manufactured and pressed in Czech Republic, close to the Austrian border. Every step in this process is located within a 150 km radius of our home spot, Lake Neusiedl in Austria.
Engineering, construction, design and marketing happens in our office close to the lake.
With strict governmental rules in Europe regarding environmental and industrial safety, it can get challenging to produce in EU. Therefore, it also represents a quality standard, keeping a fine balance between workers, environment and profit.
WOOD
The wooden cores we use in our whole board range strictly come from FSC certified production which guarantees sustainable cultivation in the forest.
PACKAGING
Back in 2011, when we started producing and selling kiteboards, it was state of the art to wrap the boards several times with PVC sheeting and protect the sidewalls with foamed rubber material.
Nowadays we are using edge guards made from recycled paper. Once the sidewalls are placed, the whole board gets covered with Flexi-Hex packaging, which is specialised to protect boards with paper material. If necessary, we put another sheet of Polyethylene to protect all the paper material. PE is quite easy to recycle and can be collected in the plastic waste.
