Gravity Skateboards – Thinking green from day one
By Mike Davidson
Encinitas, CA
Since Gravity Skateboards’ inception in 1994, CEO Michael Bream has embraced practices friendly to the environment. During our recent conversation, Michael recalled that long before it was common to do so his parents insisted upon recycling natural resources. He remembers how awkward it felt carrying old newspapers to the recycle bin – few of his peers were doing this at the time.
Fast forward 30 years and it is evident that Michael’s environmental awareness has influenced the culture at Gravity. A walk through their offices in San Marcos, California reveals the efforts they are making in every part of their business:
- In the office they print invoice copies on the reverse side of documents that would normally be discarded.
- At every station in shipping and receiving you will find a box of soft packaging scraps waiting to be reused.
- The skateboard storage rack that Gravity markets is designed with resource management at its core, using trimmings from board manufacturing wherever possible and shipped in its most compact form.
- Suppliers are continually being pressured to provide them with more environmentally-sustainable packaging materials.
- All printing and screening is done with water-based inks, protecting the health of the employees.
- The t-shirt line is transitioning to organic cotton.
Then there are the boards. The Happy Green Feet line includes skateboards made in part from recycled birch, laminates that include Jute or hemp, resins that are free from hazardous airborne particles and decks that get their grip from crushed recycled glass.
Michael says, "Not everything we do is about the money." Some of the practices they put in place produce immediate financial gain. Others may take a little longer, or find value in the enhanced quality of life for his employees and customers.