There are several snowboard companies that are making efforts for more environmentally sustainable manufacturing processes.
For those companies doing so those efforts should be applauded – but Capita in particular should be given particular praise for their effort.
They have taken environmentally sound snowboard building to another level!
They haven’t just brought in ad hoc measures or a few things here and there to make their production clean and sustainable, they have built an entire factory devoted to clean snowboard production.
Introducing the Mothership!
The best way to describe this monumental beast of a factory is to watch the video below.
Cool yeah?!
Capita’s Snowboards
Ok so what does this mean for Capita’s boards?
They’re going to be more expensive than other boards right?
Actually, it’s the opposite. Capita’s boards are on average cheaper than most other boards of the same quality.
But the board’s performance will suffer though yeah?
No way! Of all the boards that I demoed over the winter/spring, Capita’s decks were consistently some of the nicest to ride.
And this makes sense, the factory is environmentally awesome, but this doesn’t in anyway compromise on the production and performance of their boards. They still have all the machinery, R & D, board builder expertise and everything else necessary to build top of the line boards – the fact that their factory is environmentally friendly has no impact on that.
Take Capita’s DOA for example. This board tops my list of the best Aggressive All Mountain Freestyle Snowboards – and it retails for only $419 (USD). The average price for a board in that category is $555 (out of the 23 aggressive-all-mountain-freestyle snowboards I looked at). So it’s way under the average price and the cheapest of the 5 on that list.
Niche Snowboards
Credit should also go to Niche Snowboards who also use the Mothership to produce their boards.
Niche has been focused on environmentally sustainable practices from the outset of their company and having Production in the Mothership is a big part of how they achieve this.
And, like Capita, they are able to produce some of the highest quality snowboards going around. I had the pleasure of trying 3 of Niche’s line up last season and they are also sweet decks to ride.
You can see how highly I rate the Niche Story in my top 10 all-mountain snowboards list. These lists don’t take production practices into account.
Final Thoughts
Capita and Niche produce some of the best snowboards I’ve ever ridden – and they do it all without damaging the very environment that gives us the opportunity to enjoy this seriously epic sport.
So, whilst any efforts to improve snowboard manufacturing processes should be applauded, the efforts of Capita and Niche deserve more focus and hopefully others will follow in the example set and that this is a preview into the way that all snowboards will be made in the future.
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