While consumers start bashing other industries such as fashion and food for their lack of transparency, cyclists seem awfully quiet about that matter. When was the last time you asked who produced that fine jersey of yours? Or where your shiny new parts come from? Sure, most items have a label somewhere saying "Made in Taiwan" or "Made in Indonesia". Is that all we can do, though?
Transparency is a meaningful value for us. We feel responsible for our planet and the stuff we consume. But making good choices is difficult as long as we don't know what's in the product and under what conditions it has been produced. We want to take a step ahead and provide all the necessary information you need to make an informed choice–whether in favor or against our products.
We start our quest for transparency today by sharing all we know about The Gripper's supply chain. It looks as follows:
- Lenzig AG an Austrian company, makes our primary raw material TENCEL™ Modal from Beechwood. They source the wood from certified local forests within Austria.
- Tearfil Textile Yarns in Portugal spins and dyes the yarn for us with OEKO-TEX® certified colors and processes.
- Last but not least, our local partner Smålandsband is weaving the cloth tape about 40km from our HQ in Jönköping, Sweden.
- Herrmans Bike Components Ltd supplies our bar-end plugs. It is a Finnish company with a long legacy in the bike industry. Herrmans produces 95% of their products in Ostrobothnia, Finland - including our bar-end plugs.
There are some parts of the supply chain we currently lack information about:
- The source of our natural rubber threads, which Smålandsband supplies from their partners. It's next on the list to find out where the rubber comes from and how it ends up in Sweden.
- The source of the plastic pellets used for making the bar-end plugs. It's a tricky one, but we're on it!
- The source of our packaging. We presently buy generic packaging from www.packoplock.se because individualized packaging is pricy. However, Packoplock is soon launching a Climate Neutral series, which we will consider switching to.
Our aim is to support and promote a transparency movement in the cycling industry. We therefore decided that all future products we introduce will include similar transparency statements.
Get in touch if you have further questions. If you share our vision of full transparency, feel free to give our tape a chance.
It's a bar tape that lasts.
Cheers, Jan & Thomas