Happy New Year! A message from our Co-founder and CEO
To our loyal customers and supporters, I’d like to begin my message by wishing you and your loved ones a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year on behalf of myself and our team here at Level Six. As winter settles in and our watersports market segment takes a short rest, I like to take the time to reflect. These moments of reflection give me perspective on what I hold important and what comes next.
This year I can’t help but think about all the changes we’ve seen. Changes have been abundant at Level Six, however none more important and worrying than the changes to our climate. With that, over the last 24-months Level Six has taken steps to improve and mitigate our impact on our environment.
Most notable in 2021 was a change in our productions in which we managed to eliminate over 50,000 single-use plastic polybags in our first year and over 100,000 since changes were implemented. We also continue our 1% for watersheds program in which we take 1% of our direct sales and donate to watershed conservation.
The New Year will bring some further developments to our sustainability initiatives. We’re most excited about introducing recycled fabrics to our product collection. 2022 will see our entire adult activewear collection use REPREVE, a fabric made from recycled plastic water bottles. To date, the REPREVE program has recycled over 30 BILLION water bottles. It’s a program we’re thrilled and proud to be a part of.
Furthermore, we are introducing recycled nylon to some pieces of technical paddling gear which drops Fall 2022. This recycled fabric will eventually be phased in across the entire collection and is the first step towards sustainable technical paddling gear
Finally, in 2022 we are undertaking a carbon footprint assessment, another first step towards our eventual goal of becoming a climate-neutral company. Changes are a part of life and have been abundant for all of us over the last 21 months. Despite all of that, our team has made a point to embrace these changes and drive some changes ourselves. One thing that hasn't changed is our commitment to growing our watersports community and sharing the joy of life on the water with new people.
This year we partnered with Project Canoe to help send kids who otherwise don't get these experiences on their first canoe trip in Algonquin Park. We also continue our Youth Paddling Scholarship. Each year we partner with paddling schools across North America to give kids their first paddling experience at no cost to them. It is a program I strongly believe in and look forward to developing further as the world reopens.
I’ll wrap my message up by expressing my sincere gratitude to all our customers and supporters. Without you, Level Six wouldn’t be here today. You fuel our passion for creating great gear and sharing life on the water. On behalf of myself and the entire team at Level Six, have a safe and happy holiday season.
See you on the water,
Stig Larsson