Skateboards and other products made from end-of-life snowboards

Project details

  • Main leader : NoK Factory
  • Type of initiative : Individual initiative (company, etc.)
  • Périmètre : Isère / nationale
  • Localisation : 23 rue Le Brix, 38000 Grenoble
  • Date de début : décembre 2017

Economy circular topics

  • Extending useful service life
  • Responsible consumption
  • Industrial and regional ecology
  • Recycling
  • Eco-design
  • Functional service economy
  • Sustainable procurement
Description

A sports industry whose products end up inevitably thrown away, burned or lost at the back of garages because no-one knows what to do with them, increasingly binding EPL (Extended Product Liability) laws, an awareness and a willingness to consume responsibly are all observations that are driving debates today and that call for an in-depth reconsideration of our ways of life.

From this observation the founders of the NoK Factory decided to take action and create a circular economy company whose objective is to reduce the ecological footprint of the sports industry. NoK Boards is their first brand resulting from upcycling snowboards.

NoK is simply the contraction of “NOT OK”, a term commonly used in the industry to downgrade non-compliant products. NoK Boards have made these end-of-life products into a raw material.

Qualitative benefits

NoK values:

Eco-friendly: to reduce sports waste and preserve natural resources

Qualitative: Because the recovery of end-of-life objects can give products of equivalent and sometimes superior quality to the so-called “classic” products on the market

Appearance: Art and design are part of the brand's DNA and can be found in all the products it designs

Lasting: Using products for as long as possible is one of the best ways to reduce the impact on the environment

Environmentally-friendly transportation

NoK Boards are a great, environmentally-friendly way to get around town, the seaside and the countryside. It has never been so easy to get around on a snowboard, even in town!

Support for associations and strong partners

(See “implementation” tab)

The NoK Family: committed ambassadors

The NoK Family includes high-level snowboard athletes who are sensitive to environmental issues and who want to take their sport towards a more responsible future. 

NoK Boards recovers their broken or unused boards at the end of the season to give them a second life as unique skateboards that tell their story. 

30% of the profits are donated to partner associations to support projects to protect the mountains and fight against global warming.

Competitive awards

The brand has already distinguished itself with several awards such as the kilowatton trophy during the sustainable mobility days in Grenoble, and first prize in the Contest GEM start-up (Grenoble Business School)

Areas of activity

  • Recycling
  • Trade

Resources

  • Materials
  • Waste
  • Wood
Implementation

Technical resources

Eco-friendly skateboards

All the skateboards are made from defective snowboards. This reduces the amount of waste generated by the snowboard industry and helps to preserves natural resources. Each skateboard saves the equivalent of 20kg of CO2, or the carbon footprint of 100kg of potatoes.

Upcycling: a source of creativity

Snowboards with a variety of shapes and colours promote creativity. They are the ones who say what can be done with them. The NoK team collects and analyses their flexibility, materials and dimensions, and so defines the most suitable skateboard model.

Financers

  • Un financement participatif pour lancer la marque:

Funding

NoK Boards chose the Ulule platform to showcase its initiative and launch the first production of eco-friendly skateboards.
Documents

Web link(s)

 https://www.nokboards.com/fr/
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Author of the page

ADRIEN REGUIS

co-fondateur de NoK Factory

Moderator

Vincent Jay

Chef de projets