Blog teaser photo by: Kieran Connor - @_kieranconnor
Come see us in your local store to drop off your damaged deck for 100 One Reward points or £5 credit towards a new deck. We collect boards in all kinds of conditions, from a bit of razor tail to delaminated beyond recognition. From here, they're sent to our good friends at re:ply Skateboards in Glasgow where they are repurposed into new boards, ready to roll again. It doesn't end there - grip tape waste is reclaimed as sandpaper and any of the pressed off-cuts are donated to No-Comply Design, where they become jewellery and homeware.
Come see us in your local store to drop off your damaged deck for 100 One Reward points or £5 credit towards a new deck. We collect boards in all kinds of conditions, from a bit of razor tail to delaminated beyond recognition. From here, they're sent to our good friends at re:ply Skateboards in Glasgow where they are repurposed into new boards, ready to roll again. It doesn't end there - grip tape waste is reclaimed as sandpaper and any of the pressed off-cuts are donated to No-Comply Design, where they become jewellery and homeware.
Filmed & edited by: Paul McConnach
re:ply started from a garage in Glasgow. At the time, Danny was a music student, studying the DIY ethic in the punk scene and decided to incorporate that into his other passion, skateboarding. After a reluctance to say goodbye to one particularly sentimental board, Danny decided to reshape it and give it a new lease of life. After cruising it around Glasgow, the board with a second-lease-of-life gained some traction, and fellow skaters were offering Danny their old boards. A few T-shirts later and re:ply had snowballed into a brand, totally by accident. Shortly after, the conversation around climate change, wastage and sustainability became significantly more important, and re:ply become a big deal. The brand has been able to remain sustainable by only utilizing recycled or sustainably-produced boards, not using plastic, and ensuring every 'waste' product is given another lease for life.
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Danny shared the stages of upcycling board's at Route One:
- 1. Receive the boards in varying conditions
- 2. Evaluate what can be done with each deck based on its condition
- 3. Remove the grip and any residue on top
- 4. Apply and cut template shape on a bandsaw, sand it down with a belt sander, measuring the sides to ensure it's equal
- 5. Roughly sand and shape on a belt sander
- 6. Fine sand the shape and remove old graphic
- 7. Screen print the new graphic
- 8. Varnish it with water-soluble varnish (this is less wasteful and better for the environment)
- 9. Then, the boards that are unrecyclable are cut up and repressed into the colourful veneers seen across the recycled skateboards range.
- 10. Finally, any decks that are slightly cracked and unable to be skated again, the graphic is sanded down and used as blank canvases for artists and designers to apply their work.
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Amongst their daily business of upcycling boards, the guys at re:ply have been involved a number of significant projects that support both the global skateboarding community and mother nature. In 2019, they join the charity, SkatePal, in Palestine, to support their thriving skate scene. Despite the skateparks and bustling street skating culture, they struggle to receive skate products. Danny wanted to support the cause by going out there to teach them how to recycle the limited skateboards them have and document the positive impacts on skateboarding on the community. In order to raise funds for the trip and the charity, re:ply sent it's boards to 50 artists to work on them, and then auctioned them off. After reaching artists in over 16 countries, £10,000 was raised towards the trip and a new skatepark in Palestine.
Filmed & edited by: Peter Lilly - @codewordzebra
Find out about re:ply's most recent environmental project: For Cop's Sake
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We're proud to continue to support such an impactful business, we hope you can get involved too.