Spinnova enters composite markets with premium alpine skis
Sustainable material company Spinnova makes its debut in composites in partnership with ski manufacturer PUSU. In PUSU x SPINNOVA® alpine skis, carbon and glass fibres are replaced with SPINNOVA® as reinforcement material. The first skis strengthened with SPINNOVA® material are available for pre-sales now.
Composites is a new application area for Spinnova, as the SPINNOVA® fibre has until now been demonstrated in apparel and interior design applications. Spinnova and Finnish ski maker PUSU today announce their partnership and pre-sales of skis strengthened with SPINNOVA® materials. Consumers can sign up for pre-sales at PUSU’s webshop, and deliveries of the first skis are expected to take place in early 2022.
The products’ key features are high performance, sustainability and functional design. The sustainable SPINNOVA® material is laminated to the PUSU ski woodcore to replace carbon and glass fibres. Based on vigorous testing, initial results show that SPINNOVA® reinforced skis improves skiing experience and provides long-lasting performance and durability. Moreover, SPINNOVA® materials are safer to process than conventional composite materials.
– It’s been clear to us since the beginning that our fibre can be used in multiple ways. This is a great example of how SPINNOVA® fibres can be used in composites, and there are plenty of other exciting opportunities in the composites area in the future. We’re happy that PUSU saw the potential in SPINNOVA® fibre as well. We expect to create sustainable skis without compromising excellent performance, says Spinnova’s CTO and co-founder Juha Salmela.
PUSU has been making skis and snowboards from sustainably sourced wood since 2016, and their philosophy is to maximize the use of natural materials. Ski manufacturing has traditionally relied on non-renewable materials like plastic, glass fibre, carbon fibre and costly metal blends. Winter-loving alpine skiers are now, however, more and more keen on alternatives that contribute to climate change as little as possible.
– We strongly believe that focusing on quality and natural materials creates the best and the most sustainable products for the environment and the user. Working with the SPINNOVA® fibre seems to prove we’re right – we have received outstanding feedback from professional test skiers using PUSU x SPINNOVA® skis, says PUSU founder and CEO Jani Ahvenainen.
There are some 135 million alpine skiers in the world, served by a 1.3 billion USD equipment market that has not seen much in the way of sustainable innovation yet.
Spinnova’s breakthrough technology makes textile fibre out of wood pulp or waste mechanically, with no harmful chemicals, minimal water usage and CO2 emissions. The 100% circular SPINNOVA® fibre does not shed any microplastics to the environment. The first commercial factory producing SPINNOVA® fibre is expected to begin production by the end of 2022.
The ski collaboration is not expected to have a significant impact on Spinnova’s financial performance in 2021-2022.
