We are thrilled to announce the launch of our second collection of organic t-shirts.
The new designs are available in our online shop. We have a new page titled “id” http://www.inkydeep.com/id/, here you can find details of the artists and the artwork which appears on our new t-shirts.
Get your hands on one of our new fab t-shirts at – http://www.inkydeep.com/
As a small start up surf clothing company we do not have money to throw around so all we spend on inkydeep is carefully considered. We pay particular attention to our environmental impact and the ethics of how we operate.
A current dilemma we face and have not yet cracked is the packaging we use to dispatch our t-shirts. We need to ensure our customers receive their t-shirts in perfect condition. Currently we use strong polythene stock bags that are recyclable but this is dependent on whether the local council provides this collection/recycling option; not many do. We place the products into a biodegradable re-usable mailing bag (degrades upon exposure to sunlight and heat) for delivery via the mail.
Mindful that we could potentially be adding to the huge amount of plastic waste in the world, we are looking for alternatives to the polythene bags; a cost effective environmentally friendly stock bag solution to store our t-shirts in and use for protecting them inside the mailing bag.
And here is the dilemma, there is a huge volume of research information available over the Internet listing the pros and cons of both paper and plastic bags which makes it hard to make an informed decision.
We need to look beyond the “made from recycled paper/plastic” or “this product can be recycled” labels and consider the lifecycle of that product… what was the environmental impact of making that paper or plastic bag and can it be recycled or preferably re-used?
We suspect the best option is a reusable solution but the cost is likely to prove prohibitive.
So if you have any suggestions for re-usable stock bags or how we could package our t-shirts so that they safely arrive at our customers we would love to hear from you. You can drop us a line at contact@inkydeep.com.
Andy.
Amongst the thousands of surfing related videos posted on line at sites such as YouTube and Vimeo there are some real gems to watch and marvel at. Surf videos that evoke the surf stoke or the excitement of surf travel, achieved through good quality photography, shooting from a different perspectives and use music that sets the mood surely stand out above all others?
Here are a few of our favourite online surf vids;
Dogs Run Free – A short clip from the super-8 film Dogs Run Free. The film was shot in the early 1970’s at Kirra, Burleigh Heads and Snapper Rocks.
Music – Cruising Downwind from the album Pictures of the Coast by Peter Howe and Tim Gaze.
Mavericks surf session. Bart Willems surfing 15ft waves at Mavericks on 10 January 2010. The three hour surf session was documented on a GoPro HD camera and the highlights are featured in this video. A fascinating glimpse at the Mavericks surf experience. Music – Jamie Shelly – Cherrybubblegumcity.
Matt Meola FINAL by ACL Productions. Music – David Guetta – Open Your Eyes.
Old Surf Movies: Bali and Hawaii (1978-1980). From DrAbalone — “Home surfing movies I made with my brother, Craig Tissot, during a trip to Bali in 1978 and Hawaii in 1979-80. Bali: Kuta Beach, Nusa Dua, Uluwatu. Hawaii: Honolua Bay, Haleiwa, Ala Moana. You had to hike to Ulu back in those days. Shot with Sony 8mm camera with Ikleite housing. All footage by Brian & Craig Tissot.”
Music – Tony Kaltenberg – High Tide at Ten Mile. From the album Spiral Waves.
JOB First Look. Jamie O’Brien at Pipe by Vincent Laforet. February 2009. Music – Beck – Heaven Hammer.
Here at inkydeep we try our best to make as little impact on the environment as we can. We do all the usual stuff as a matter of course – no biggie – its part of who we are. That’s why we were really interested to recently come across the ‘repair manifesto’.
Platform21’s Repair Manifesto challenges our throw away culture and proposes repairing as the new recycling. As ocean users much of our equipment and accessories lends itself to be repaired; boards and wetsuits being obvious candidates.
The benefits of repairing are many: a sense of satisfaction and achievement; less use of the Earth’s limited resources; showing off to your mates ’look what I fixed’ and of course spending less money (putting more towards that trip to Hawaii you always promised yourself)!
So before you throwaway stuff that has served you well but perhaps met with an unfortunate accident or got a bit worn why not have a stab at repairing it?
Andy.
And talking of repairing – from the KORDUROY.tv series Surf Sufficient- Repair Your Wettie (part I).
Music – Colin Giles – Lady from the album Lady
Out in the Pacific Ocean midway between Hawaii and San Francisco, plastic waste accumulates into a vast area known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. This collection of rubbish is not so much a solid mass but more a marine soup with plastic being the main ingredient. The size of this garbage patch is reported to be twice the size of the US state of Texas.
The Pacific is not alone as the Atlantic Ocean also has its own garbage patch. National Geographic reports “… the newly described garbage patch [the Atlantic Ocean] sits hundreds of miles off the North American coast. Although its east-west span is unknown, the patch covers a region between 22 and 38 degrees north latitude—roughly the distance from Cuba to Virginia”.
Much of the plastic that makes its way into the ocean is likely to have been thoughtlessly discarded by people on land. As beach and ocean users we all have a part to play by carefully considering reducing our own use of plastics (for example, our use of plastic shopping bags or the purchase of products wrapped in plastic) and by getting involved in campaigns, beach cleaning events or just simply picking up rubbish while we are on the beach.
Surfrider Foundation’s “Rise Above Plastics” program;
http://riseaboveplastics.org/
Surfrider Foundation’s “Not on our beaches” petition;
Not on our beaches! Sign the petition.
Surfers Against Sewage Marine Litter campaign;
http://www.sas.org.uk/campaign/marine_litter/index.php
What is the garbage patch?
http://students.umf.maine.edu/learykp/public.www/
Andy.
Surfing today at Fistral beach had all the essential ingredients that make the winter surf experience what it is – a gray overcast sky, rain, a strong cold cross to off shore wind, cold water and regular sets of about 4 foot with the odd bigger 6 foot set coming through. All very much part of the wonderful UK winter surf experience.
Andy.
As TV license payers whose music tastes are primarily served by BBC 6 Music we believe passionately that this radio station should not be axed as proposed by the BBC Strategy Review and we support the campaign to save 6 Music.
A campaign to save 6 Music has been started by Jon and Tracey Morter (they who promoted sales of Rage Against the Machine’s song “Killing in the Name” last Christmas) and as in that campaign a facebook group has been created to save 6 Music.
To help keep this “alternative” radio station on the air you can make your voice heard here.
Andy
Whilst surfing at Fistral Beach recently I looked out at the line up and saw a surfer using an Alaia board, which for me was a first. Thomas Campbell’s film ‘The Present’ and articles in surf magazines such as The Surfer’s Journal have featured the shapers and surfers of Alaia and other ancient boards like the Olo.
There is a resurgence in surfing the ancient Hawaiian Alaia surfboards and it will be interesting to see whether finless boards become a regular sight at our local breaks.
Alaia surfing is ably demonstrated in two excellent surf videos currently available on mycornwall.tv. Both videos feature Tom Wegener, James Parry and friends surfing Alaia and Tom’s tuna boards in Bundoran on the north west coast of Ireland. Tom Wegener is in the vanguard of shaping and surfing finless wooden surfboards such as the Alaia and Olo.
I hope you enjoy watching this interesting and current interpretation of surfing’s past as much as I did.
Thanks to mycornwall.tv for supplying us with the modified player for these videos.
Andy.
Innovation in Ireland – Part 1Innovation in Ireland – Part 2
You may well consider surf forecast websites either a godsend or a curse and many of us regularly make use of those sites. But I was recently reminded of the rewards of not just looking at online reports or web cams but travelling down to the local break and checking out the conditions first hand.
First there is the anticipation of setting off for the beach not knowing what you are going to find and as you near the coast looking for early indicators of possible surf. For many of us in Newquay the “eye ball” surf check is carried out from South Fistral beach.
On the drive to your favoured viewpoint there is anticipation of seeing signs that there is swell. As you crest the hill and before the road drops down onto the Pentire headland, the ocean comes into view and sure signs of swell are the slicks of foam on the ocean surface and white water around the rocks of the headland. As you draw nearer (and if the surf gods are blessing you) there will be sets rolling into view and it is then possible to make out the state of the ocean surface and the local wind conditions. Each encouraging sign increases the expectation and excitement at what we are likely to find on arrival.
On one recent surf check from the moment the ocean came into view the signs were good and on getting to the beach there was the treat of a clean head high swell with light offshore winds. The old fashioned surf check still has its rewards.
The Life of Ply is a short surf film from 2008 which features Dorothy and Peter Long. From YouTube; “Awarded ‘Most inspirational film’ at Cornwall film festival’s Board Shorts event by Mark Kermode. A short tale of enduring stoke catalysed by prone surfing on a ply board” Features the music of ‘The Loose Salute’, amongst others.”
Feel the surf stoke, the Life of Ply is a gem and inspirational surf film.
Andy.
