Endura joins ranks of bike firms pledging tree planting

Endura has made a pledge to plant 1 million trees per year, warning that “if we don’t stop climate change, we won’t have a world to clean up.”

The global textiles industry’s impact on the earth is increasingly in the spotlight, with public awareness at an all time high when it comes to the micro plastic pollution and water usage associated with clothing manufacture.

As a result and acknowledging its role within the bigger picture, the Livingston cycle clothing and accessories manufacturer has begun working alongside the Pentland Centre for Sustainability in Business at Lancaster University, whose research demonstrates that reforestation is one of the more progressive things a business can contribute to, should they wish to offset a footprint. Endura was acquired by Pentland in March of 2018.

Endura’s trees will initially be planted in the Maputo Bay region of Mozambique, at the same time providing employment for local people and restoring habitat for wildlife. Furthermore, Endura also plans to plant native tree species in Scotland.

Endura Co-founder Pamela Barclay said of the scheme: “It’s one world, so we’ll plant trees wherever we can do it quickly, cheaply, and wherever they’ll be protected.

“We continue to work hard to drive authentic sustainability across the whole product offering and the business, but our brand has a long way to go.

“The reality of our brand’s environmental impact lies in three main areas: the dying of fabrics, the energy required to run factories, and product end of life.”

The business has made efforts to work only with ethical dying mills, now boasts that 98% of its packaging can be recycled and has added that it will soon be developing alternatives to the poly bag and clothing hanger for stores.

Reid Bikes of Australia earlier this month made a similar pledge, with the twist of planting one tree for every bike sold globally. The widely reported Australian wild fires have already unlocked two-thirds of Australia’s annual ‘carbon budget’ in lost forest alone.

As an aside to the reforestation ambition, Endura has already removed all PFC/PTFE content from its clothing as of 2018 and introduced a repair service for damaged goods. 1% of its net profits are donated to good causes. PTFE is known to take an incredibly long time to break down in the natural environment.

Endura has manufactured in the UK for over 25 years.

Related: We highly recommend reading textiles industry veteran Charles Ross’ article on the subject of how giving old gear a second life can generate close ties with customers.