{"id":166655,"date":"2021-02-03T20:16:30","date_gmt":"2021-02-04T04:16:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/?p=166655"},"modified":"2021-03-16T16:02:07","modified_gmt":"2021-03-16T23:02:07","slug":"good-gear-arbor-collective","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/snowsports\/good-gear-arbor-collective","title":{"rendered":"Good Gear: Arbor Collective Celebrates 25 Years of Sustainability"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Today, outdoor brands that fail to address sustainability are a dying breed. But in the \u201990s, such mission-focused work was largely uncharted territory. A few companies, most notably Patagonia<\/a>, were exploring responsible manufacturing processes, but in the world of surf, skate and snow, environmentalism was all but an afterthought. It wasn\u2019t until two young Venice, California-based surfers-turned-snowboarders founded Arbor<\/a> in 1995 that the status quo began to shift.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Arbor
Chris Jensen (left) and friends removing downed koa in Maui in 1995<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Hawaiian Heritage<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In 1992, Chris Jensen was dating the daughter of a man who owned a large parcel of land on the outskirts of Haleakala National Park on the island of Maui. The landowner dreamt of restoring the forest on his property: He hoped to fence off the acacia koa trees and other local flora that were susceptible to invasive plants and feral pigs, plant new trees and eventually donate the area to the national park. To fund the effort, he asked Jensen for help selling prized koa hardwood on the mainland. Sensing a business opportunity, Jensen jumped at the chance, and he and fellow snowboarder Bob Carlson began removing fallen trees by helicopter, shipping them to California and selling them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The business\u2014which the duo called \u201cKoalition\u201d\u2014as well-intentioned as it was, failed. \u201cYou would think everybody would want sustainably sourced woods, but not in the early \u201990s\u2014and people certainly weren\u2019t going to pay more for it,\u201d Carlson says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The aspiring arborists learned from the failure\u2014not just about koa wood, which would eventually grace their snowboards\u2019 iconic topsheets, but about the economics of sustainability, too. \u201cWe learned that if you want to get people to participate in a sustainable product, you\u2019ve got to really come in at the same price,\u201d Carlson says. \u201cIt\u2019s a tiebreaker. If the quality of the product is equal and the price is equal, people will buy the sustainable product all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But lest you think Koalition\u2019s founders were exclusively nerding out on wood and their form of environmentalism, Carlson is quick to point out their extracurricular activities. \u201cIn our free time, we were snowboarding,\u201d he says, which meant long commutes between the waves in Venice and the slopes of California\u2019s Mammoth Mountain. On those pow-chasing pilgrimages, the seeds for Arbor were planted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Arbor
One of the original Arbor snowboards in 1995<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Environmentalists, Outsiders and Innovators<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Snowboarding, in the early- to mid-\u201990s, was seen as a goldmine for gear makers. It was a boom time, a feeding frenzy. In 1995, for instance, Transworld Snowboardin<\/em>g\u2019s Gear Guide famously included boards from more than 200 companies. Nonetheless, it dawned on Jensen and Carlson that most of these brands were following the same script.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo much of the industry was focused on teenagers\u201414-year-olds, 15-year-olds,\u201d Carlson says. \u201cAnd the presentation of the boards and the graphics was all about that young crossover customer [from skateboarding]. We recognized that there really wasn\u2019t anybody doing anything for people in their late teens, 20s and 30s, 40s and 50s.\u201d Also notably: Many of these brands were ignoring the environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so in 1995, Arbor was born with what Carlson describes as an aim to be the \u201cfirst brand in traditional action sports focused on sustainability with an eye toward craftsmanship and quality.\u201d After all, a board built to last stays out of the landfill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jensen and Carlson experimented with sustainable materials and techniques. They built Arbor\u2019s snowboards and skateboards from wood sourced from farms (with the intention of avoiding deforestation); they adopted bamboo (a rapidly renewable material); they reduced the brand\u2019s reliance on plastics with bioplastics and bioresins; and they used recycled steel edges. Finally, they covered their boards with Maui-sourced koa topsheets instead of plastic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If any of these innovations don\u2019t sound particularly remarkable, it\u2019s because they\u2019re par for the course in board construction these days. But\u2014like the wood industry\u2014the snowboard industry wasn\u2019t ready for the conversation about sustainability at the time. \u201cWe were out there talking about wood topsheets and sustainability while the cool-guy brands were talking about graphics and team riders and fashion,\u201d Carlson says. Snowboarding\u2019s core wrote Arbor off as a \u201chippy\u201d brand, he says, which Carlson emphatically disagrees with (\u201cArbor is an environmentalist brand,\u201d he counters). \u201cWe saw the planet as our shared playground that needed to be protected so that we could continue to surf and skate and snowboard,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was around then, Carlson notes, that Arbor linked up with the co-op. \u201cREI, at that time, in \u201995, \u201996, was already focused on the environment. It\u2019s a place where our story about sustainability really resonated.\u201d The partnership helped Arbor survive as the snowboard industry imploded: Hundreds of clamoring brands consolidated down to 25 or 30 as popularity for the sport waned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through ups and downs, Jensen and Carlson lead the collective from the front, always staying true to a vision of sustainability that doesn\u2019t seem far-fetched today. \u201cAll of those things that we created back in the mid-\u201990s are now utilized in our competitors\u2019 products, and I\u2019m happy about it,\u201d Carlson says. \u201cOne brand can\u2019t do it alone. If the whole industry embraces sustainability, better alternative materials, better processes, that\u2019s the only way we make a significant impact.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Arbor
An Arbor rider with a grab in 1996<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Giving Back and Growing Tall<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

From the jump, Arbor funneled a portion of sales to reforestation efforts back where it all started: Hawaii. (According to Carlson, Arbor was one of the first action sports brands to create an environmental give-back program.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dubbed \u201cReturning Roots<\/a>,\u201d Arbor\u2019s give-back program focuses on planting koa trees in Hawaii. Carlson will go deep on the environmental reasons for reforesting in specifically tropical areas, but it\u2019s the program\u2019s cultural implications that seem to eclipse the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c<\/em>The first time a human ever slid sideways was on a surfboard in Hawaii a thousand years ago,\u201d says Carlson, who also notes that early surfboards were carved from koa. \u201cAnd if you surf sidewalk, if you surf swell, if you surf snow, there\u2019s a real debt of gratitude owed to the Hawaiians. So this program gives back to those roots by putting money into the restoration of critical habitat that lies at the genesis of board sports.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While that Maui landowner eventually fulfilled his dream of donating his parcel to Haleakala National Park, Arbor has since planted more than 300,000 koa trees, mostly in partnership with the Hawaiian Legacy Reforestation Initiative. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Arbor
The Arbor pro models Iguchi Pro<\/a> ($599.95) and Veda<\/a> ($499.95) are available at REI.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Pursuing Perfection<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Sustainability alone doesn\u2019t sell snowboards\u2014they need to rip, too. To ensure Arbor boards perform on snow, Carlson taps ambassadors like snowboard legends Bryan \u201cGuch\u201d Iguchi and Marie-France Roy<\/a> to offer product feedback. Both Guch and Roy have Arbor pro models (the Iguchi Pro<\/a> and recently released Veda<\/a>, respectively), and while they\u2019re stoked on the caliber of their crafts, it\u2019s clear that Arbor\u2019s history of sustainability factored into their decisions to align with the brand. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cArbor\u2019s commitment to hold sustainability as an essential part of its business from day one of the operation 25 years ago is definitely something that I continue to admire,\u201d Roy says. Just like sustainability can be a tiebreaker for the consumer picking between products, it can be the same for pro athletes seeking a home. And athletes who care about both product performance and sustainability, Carlson explains, are invaluable to Arbor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guch, who also has a pro model splitboard<\/a>, has spent more and more time on the skin track in his Wyoming backyard over the last few years. Human-powered backcountry travel, he says, \u201chas shown me a path to sustainability. The physical efforts on the skin track give me a chance to slow down, find focus and reflect on my values. It lifts my spirit and at the end of the day, I feel a deeper connection to our natural world and inspiration to take care of the land I find sacred.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, Arbor is in much better shape than it was during those rocky years in the 1990s\u2014partially because athletes and ambassadors like Guch and Roy, among many others, have lent their voices to Carlson\u2019s cause. Not to mention, sustainability is simply more important to consumers these days. Regardless, Arbor isn\u2019t just surviving anymore, it\u2019s thriving, and it\u2019s no longer seen as an industry outsider, either. It\u2019s been a long journey to get here, and 25 years in, a celebration feels in order. \u201cSome of the final pieces are starting to fall into place,\u201d Carlson says proudly. \u201cOur factory today is 100 percent solar powered.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That said, Carlson is the first to admit that the quest for sustainability is a never-ending one. \u201cThere are no perfectly environmentally friendly snowboards,\u201d he acknowledges\u2014at least not yet. \u201cThere is still a heavy reliance on the running surface being plastic. We still ship stuff from a single source globally around the world. You have to be OK with progress, not perfection. But you have to keep your eye on perfection.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPerfection, to me, one day, is a snowboard that gives you 10 years of life. You can pass it on to somebody who is learning the sport and create participation by having it move through a few owners. But when it\u2019s finally done, it can be cut up and buried locally, in natural conditions, and it will biodegrade and go back to the earth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A return, if you will, to its roots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Arbor
Chris Jensen (left) and Bob Carlson pose in the 1990s, a time in which we, in fact, did have full-color photography.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

How Arbor survived the hard times and evolved into a collective of like-minded board riders that\u2019s thriving today is the subject of the brand\u2019s new film, <\/em>Crossing the Grain. Catch the premiere here<\/a> on February 4, 2021, at 6pm PST.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In conjunction with the film, Arbor is releasing limited-edition, 25-year anniversary skateboards and snowboards. Each one-of-a-kind deck is graced with a veneer from the last two koa trees sourced by co-founder Chris Jensen, who tragically passed away in 2018.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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For more stories of brands doing good work, visit our <\/em>Good Gear<\/em><\/a> landing page.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today, outdoor brands that fail to address sustainability are a dying breed. But in the \u201990s, such mission-focused work was largely uncharted territory. A few companies, most notably Patagonia, were exploring responsible manufacturing processes, but in the world of surf, skate and snow, environmentalism was all but an afterthought. It wasn\u2019t until two young Venice, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12183,"featured_media":166669,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[2130,724,1944,472],"internal-tag":[],"class_list":["post-166655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-snowsports","tag-arbor","tag-gear","tag-good-gear","tag-snowboarding"],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/rei.com\/blog\/snowsports\/good-gear-arbor-collective","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Good Gear: Arbor Collective Celebrates 25 Years of Sustainability","url":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/snowsports\/good-gear-arbor-collective","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/snowsports\/good-gear-arbor-collective"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/02\/00-hero1.jpg?resize=150%2C150","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/02\/00-hero1.jpg?fit=2000%2C1000"},"articleSection":"Snowsports","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maren Horjus"}],"creator":["Maren Horjus"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Uncommon Path \u2013 An REI Co-op Publication","logo":""},"keywords":["arbor","gear","good gear","snowboarding"],"dateCreated":"2021-02-04T04:16:30Z","datePublished":"2021-02-04T04:16:30Z","dateModified":"2021-03-16T23:02:07Z"},"rendered":"