Our goal is to make the highest quality travel towels, with the least possible impact on our planet. Here's what we're doing to get there:
Our Design Approach
Our commitment to sustainability starts with the very approach we take to designing our products. From the start, we knew we wanted to create a different kind of towel – a towel that you wouldn’t just like, but love. From our beautiful & simple graphics, to the functional aspects of the towel pouch, we put thought into every design feature. Why? Because we believe that when you love something, you take care of it and it lasts. We paired this with a commitment to creating the highest quality product – using the best materials, testing, and quality assurance practices available – to ensure the towel you love will withstand a lifetime of adventures.
It is our hope that by designing a beautiful, unique, and durable product, your towel won’t end up in a landfill in a few months, exacerbating the already huge fabric waste issue we are facing globally.
Plastic to Fabric
1) Used plastics are diverted from oceans & landfills
2) The plastics are shredded into flakes and washed
3) The flakes are extruded into pellets and then yarn
4) The yarn is woven into fabric to make your towel
Since launching our business in 2018, our goal has been to create our towels from fully recycled plastics. Recycled plastics provide the same technical performance as virgin (new) plastics, but with a significantly smaller carbon footprint. By using recycled plastics (mainly discarded plastic bottles and fishing nets) to create our fabric, we divert waste from our oceans and landfills, and greatly reduce our dependency on petroleum as a raw material.
After years of product development and searching for the perfect manufacturing partner, we have finally been able to make the switch. Starting 2021, all the new towels we produce are made from 100% post-consumer recycled materials. Our material is GRS certified, meaning an independent organization has verified the recycled content in the fabric, as well as the responsible social, environmental and chemical practices used in production.
Packaging Matters
Our dedication to sustainability doesn’t stop after we’ve made your towel. Product packaging is a huge environmental problem. There is no perfect solution, but we try to do our best.
As a first step, we cut out anything that wasn't necessary.
We've foregone all marketing/customer service packaging inserts and are instead printing right on our boxes to avoid waste.
We've also ditched our plastic packaging and will be sending all new towels (marked *Recycled*) in recyclable boxes. This decision was made after careful consideration of the various packaging options available to us. Although boxes add more bulk to our products when shipping, we believe that this outweighs the downside of plastic/ biodegradable/ compostable bags.
Giving Back
A big part of our sustainability mandate involves advancing initiatives that promote a better planet for future generations, particularly as it pertains to the travel industry. We do this by contributing 5% of our profits to organizations that tackle the various aspects of sustainable travel, and by getting involved in environmental efforts in our community.
In 2024 we have chosen Sustainable Travel International (STI) as our charity partner. STI is a non-profit organization that uses travel and tourism to create environmental and social impact in some of the most vulnerable destinations around the world. They do this through their commitment to safeguard nature, combat climate change, empower communities, and tackle waste & pollution. Learn more about what they do.
We are also excited to be partnering with The Wasteland Plan Foundation to impact change in our community. TWP Foundation is a non-profit organization that works to build waste-conscious, conservation-centric communities through their Earth Events (waste cleanup events), Eco-Exploration Adventures, and growing partnerships with Environmental Innovators. They encourage communities to deepen their commitment to respect, restore, and explore our natural world.
Looking Forward
We’ll be the first to admit that we have a long way to go in becoming a more sustainable business. No individual or business’s journey to sustainability is perfect, but every day we come to work trying to do better. Here are some of the key opportunities we’re hoping to make progress on in the coming year:
- Closing the loop on our product lifecycle so that our towels don't end up in landfills
- Working with our third party fulfilment center to further reduce packaging waste
- Playing a more active role in educating and equipping our customers to deal with microplastics
- Quantifying our carbon footprint so that we can identify opportunities to reduce our impact and offset what we cannot reduce
Better Together
You inspire us and encourage us to strive for better. We truly couldn't do this without your support. So let us know what's important to you. Are there any other areas you’d like to see us prioritize? Do you know of any organizations aligned with our mission that you think we should partner with? We’d love to hear how you think we can improve.