Breaking down the old and making it new. WNDR Alpineās SpiralMade recycled materials program brings life to the scraps of ski construction. Looking to its own by-products, the Utah-based brand is finding new ways to limit the side-effects of gear manufacturing by taking the excess material, grinding it up into a pulp, pressing it into molds and repurposing it in the construction of new skis and splitboards as a binding-retention plate coined SpiralPlate.
So, how does it work? WNDR Alpineās SpiralMade materials are derived from their own facilityās reclaimed production waste. Instead of going straight to the landfill, SpiralPlate binding inserts are incorporated into WNDR Alpineās all-new Intention 108 to give the ski better binding retention strength. For 2023, SpiralMade joins WNDR Alpineās stability enhancing, algae-derived materials across the brandās lineup and continues to prove the brand as a leader in developing creative means of reducing the impact the ski world has on the environment.
āItās incredibly valuable to make oneās own materials and products more easily recyclable,ā said Daniel Malmrose, WNDR Alpineās VP of Product Innovation. āItās a separate challenge to put oneās own recycled outputs directly into a product in a way that improves the product. Using recycled materials to reach a tangible performance benefit is imperative if weāre to make recycling more viable in the snowsports industry.ā
āWe embraced the concept of āspiral fabricationā as a play on circularity, acknowledging that while not every material can be re-created in an infinite cycle, we have a very real ability to reconstitute waste material into a new form thatās still valuable,ā said Pep Fujas, professional skier and WNDR Alpineās VP of Marketing and Product Development. āNow that the concept has been proven, weāre excited to bring SpiralMade to backcountry athletes this season.ā
Tread light, charge hard!
Click here to check out WNDR Alpineās full collection of ski gear and to learn more about its bio-based technologies.