Key Takeaways

• Surfing has a real environmental cost, especially through surfboards, wetsuits, accessories, travel, and surf fashion.
• Most conventional surfboards and wetsuits still rely on high-impact materials with limited recycling or upcycling options.
• Surf travel, frequent driving, flying, and fuel-powered support craft add heavily to surfing’s carbon footprint.
• Better options already exist, including Yulex wetsuits, Ecoboards, longer-lasting clothing, second-hand gear, and brands with stronger sustainability standards.
• Progress depends on both personal responsibility and stronger action from surf brands, especially as pressure builds to cut carbon emissions.

Surfings Toxic Footprint

Why is it important to see an improved focus on sustainability in the surf industry? Why is it essential for new surf brands to enter the scene with a redefined focus ?

Surfing is often seen as a close-to-nature sport, but it still has a real environmental cost. Boards, wetsuits, travel, and surf fashion all leave a footprint, and many legacy brands have not kept pace with the values of the people who buy from them. Surfers care deeply about the ocean, but the way we surf does not always match that mindset.

Surfboards

The overwhelming majority of our surfboards are made from petrochemical-based materials, with minimal recycling opportunities. I believe that environmentally friendly boards make up around 10% of global sales.

The CO2 footprint of a typical surfboard, through its manufacture, use, and disposal, is more than 270kg. This is comparable to many of the consumer electronics that are rebuked for their environmental impact.

Wetsuits

Wetsuits have historically been made from oil-based, and more recently, limestone-based neoprene. Both of which have a significant environmental and health impact and limited recycling/upcycling options.

Accessories

Most surf wax is a bar of chemical sludge. Accessories including traction pads, leashes, and board bags are historically no better.

Travel

Surfers burn vast quantities of oil-based fuel. We drive to surf spot after surf spot goose chasing for waves. Flying around the world, often numerous times a year, in the pursuit of waves is common. Fume spewing jet skis adorn lineups, offering safety or wave catching assistance.

I feel like Jock Sorong made a fascinating and pertinent point in his Guardian article entitled “Are we trashing the places we love? The toxic truths at the heart of surfing“:

“Surfers burn vast amounts of petroleum in search of waves, in pursuit of an experience which, ironically, requires no propulsive fuel.”

Jock Sorong – The Guardian

Surf Fashion

Surfing is fashionable. Surfers (and non surfers) like to identify as surfers. As such, surfwear is mass-produced and shipped globally. Over the years, even identifying as a surfer via the clothes you wear has contributed to the environmental calamity we now face.

In 2018, the fashion industry, which surfwear is a part of, was more impactful on global energy consumption than aviation and shipping combined.

Sustainable Surf puts all the above firmly into perspective:

“The global scientific consensus is clear – we have until 2030 to reduce our collective carbon footprint to avoid passing a catastrophic climate tipping point.”

Surfings Sustainable Future

Let’s take a second to consider the aforementioned. We are closing in on the midpoint of 2023; according to the scientific consensus, we only have six and a half years to make a significant change.

Wave riding, in its purest form, is not only in touch with nature. It is literally enveloped by nature. In essence, surfing is not a toxic sport. Still, mass participation, surf travel, progression of performance, global competition, fashion, and “the business of surfing” has resulted in impactful, inexcusable levels of harm.

Personal Responsibility

Surfers must take responsibility for their own personal practices. Every surfer can make moves towards reducing their individual impact. It is fantastic to see surfers advocating and partaking in beach cleans, second-hand surfboard up-cycling, and awareness-raising events.

Surfers can also make the decision to purchase long lasting sustainable outdoor clothing rather than throw away fast fashion items.

Surf Brands

Surf brands must be held to task regarding the processes of equipment manufacture and shipping.

I’m not saying that surf brands currently do nothing to reduce the level of harm. I will, however, say that I personally don’t believe the majority are doing enough, or everything they can, to make the changes required by 2030.

Some initiatives point brands in the right direction. Many research hours have gone into sustainable alternatives, which can replace the impactful materials and processes. The development of plant based Yulex neoprene is changing up the production of wetsuits. Ecoboards are high performance surfboards with reduced toxicity. Organisations are also offering verification standards for fabrics and cloth production processes.

But is enough being done by the established surf brands?

I realise the statement I just made might not sit too well. You guys, I’m sure, lean towards eco-friendly brands and practice sustainability as best you can. I am sure you, as surfers and earth-dwellers, appreciate the efforts being made across the surf industry.

Good On You Ratings

Let me build some context using the fantastic website Good On You. They have created a platform that rates clothing brands based on their environmental impact, scoring out of five the effects a brand has on People, Planet, and Animals.

The “big four,” most established surf brands currently score “Not Doing Enough” or “We Avoid.”

The difficulty is that many of the brands established for years are essentially trying to mitigate their impactful historical practices. This is an expensive turnaround and challenging to communicate to a board of directors whose primary concern is the bottom line. Such companies have pursued the cheapest possible manufacturing processes, thus creating a market expectation regarding recommended retail prices. Announcing that the same logo on a pair of boardshorts with eco credentials is twice the price often goes down like a lead balloon.

The international surf brands that we as surfers consider the most ethical, sustainable, and environmentally aware reach a score of “It’s a Start” or “Good.” This is positive to see, and Outerknown & Patagonia are leading the charge of sustainability for international surf brands.

The New Wave of Sustainability

While Outerknown and Patagonia are setting new industry standards, a new batch of start-ups is coming on the scene with their sights firmly established on maximising sustainability. Influenced by the turnaround that Yvon Chouinard’s 50 year old brand, and Kelly Slater’s flagship company have influenced, these brands are focused on using processes throughout their range that the “not good enough” international brands use for a tiny percentage of their overall production.

While Yvon and Kelly lead the way, the future of our sport/planet relies on the next generation of brands coming through in their wake and redefining the surf industry.

The purpose of Our Souls of the Sea is to introduce you to the new wave of forward thinking brands, blazing their own trails in terms of sustainability, and reinstalling the intrinsic knowledge of what is good and what is bad, that the juggernaut legacy brands have squashed out of surfing.

Frequently Asked Questions About Sustainability in Surfing

Why is surfing seen as environmentally harmful?

Surfing looks close to nature, but much of the industry still depends on petrochemical materials, global shipping, and high-emission travel. In practice, the biggest impacts come from surfboard production, wetsuits, accessories, surfwear, and the fuel burned getting to waves.

What parts of surfing create the biggest environmental footprint?

The article points to five main areas: surfboards, wetsuits, accessories, travel, and surf fashion. Travel stands out because regular driving, flights, and jet ski use can quickly outweigh the low-impact image many surfers attach to the sport.

Are there more sustainable alternatives to standard surf gear?

There are better options on the market, even if they are still not the norm. The article highlights plant-based Yulex as a wetsuit alternative, Ecoboards as a lower-toxicity board option, and second-hand or upcycled gear as a practical way to cut waste.

Which surf brands are doing better on sustainability?

According to the article, Good On You ratings show that many major surf brands still score poorly. Outerknown and Patagonia are presented as stronger examples, while newer start-ups are pushing harder to build sustainability into their full product range from day one.

What can individual surfers do to reduce their impact?

Personal choices matter more than many surfers like to admit, myself included on that front. Buying longer-lasting gear, choosing second-hand boards, avoiding throwaway fashion, supporting better brands, and cutting unnecessary travel are all clear steps that line up with the article’s message.