Shredding Sustainably

Most snowboards are made, in part, from a plastic called polyethylene, which comes from petroleum. So to demonstrate that they could be made more sustainably, Wndr designed the first snowboard made from microalgae—an oil produced through fermentation. On top of being eco-friendly, the microalgae was engineered to improve the Alpine Shepherd’s “damping,” meaning its ability to reduce vibrations. The larger unlock is that if biomaterials can be used in extreme outdoors—where safety is critical—then it could be scaled across other industries. “What’s really cool about winter sports is that it’s an amazing proof-point for materials innovation,” says Xan Marshland, co-founder of Wndr Alpine. “In the mountains, materials matter.

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