Immutable Law of Great Product
People and Planet Before Profit
Now is a very exciting time to be a designer. The best time ever. We have an appreciation of the consequences of our actions like no other generation. Design is circular. Technologies and production methods are evolving at an incredible pace.
A landmark moment is to join the B Corp movement. We are independently assessed against the highest standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability. Our score is class leading against both an all-business average and our peer group which is a huge achievement for our first assessment.
In 2021 we will:
B Corp is the real deal. We’re the only bike brand in Europe to be a Certified B Corp and only the second bike brand in the world. We are amongst a handful of technical outdoor brands – the most well known being Patagonia - and we are delighted to join their ranks.
• Restart our School Of Adventure events program for a more accessible and inclusive outdoors with a range of open courses to build outdoor skills and confidence.
The immutable law of great product is unchanged.
Function The gear you love the most, the gear you use year-in year-out is ultimately the best for the planet. That’s our design philosophy. Make durable gear that will last, that you’ll take out and make treasurable moments. Gear you’ll love for longer.
World Class Makers We work with the world’s best factories and use the latest production methods and techniques. We are highly selective and partner with factories that share our ethos and standards. We visit them personally and look out for each other. When the pandemic hit we worked through issues together and cancelled no orders.
Performance materials
Function + Performance materials + Intelligent design + World class makers = Great gear you’ll love for longer
Great products are made from great materials. We excel at finding lower impact fabrics and materials that are the right tool for the job from valley floor to mountain top. Our design team works directly with the world’s best mills and component brands. So we can bring you innovative fabrics quicker than any other brand.
Leave No Trace is our mantra in the outdoors. And be gentle is our belief as a business with our global footprint. This year we have shown how we put people and planet before profit. We:
Intelligent Design Our designers work directly with our customers, our stores, organisations such as Mountain Rescue and outdoor education providers. We’re enthusiasts. Product is in our DNA.
• Pivoted Alpkit Foundation to directly support food projects in lockdown. Alpkit Foundation has now awarded £300,000 to 900 projects involving over 15,000 people. • Increased our pay rates for all, in the midst of lockdown, and become formally recognised as a living wage foundation employer. • Reduced our carbon intensity and offset Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gases to be carbon neutral.
Because we are so fast to market and buy in small batches, we innovate fast. Make it better is our mantra.
• Catch up, when we can travel again, on our program of personal environmental reviews at our mills and factories including deeper life cycle analysis.
• Relaunch our team adventure training and face-to-face training programs to develop our careers We don’t have all the answers, we know we’re not perfect. And we know we only exist because you choose to buy from us. Great businesses combine innovative products, fair prices, exceptional service with responsibility. We have faith that our small steps and fundamental belief in nature will help us build a truly sustainable business.
David Hanney Chief Exec
Gear You’ll Love For Longer All our gear has a clear purpose, a technical benefit and as much cross-over use as possible. That way you need fewer products in your wardrobe. Our range is smaller, our lead times are faster and as we only sell direct, our price-tags are friendlier. Our gear works harder and costs less.
People and Planet Before Profit
Karen’s Journey to Finance Director I joined Alpkit 4 years ago as financial controller and became the finance director last summer and what an exciting 4 years it has been. In this time period we’ve more than doubled our top line orders, opened 4 stores, implemented new IT systems, grown our international sales and expanded our finance and HR teams. It’s been a busy few years! I’ve had the opportunity to build and develop the finance and HR functions as the business has grown and work closely with the other departments within the company. The range of what we do from online retailing, our physical stores, to our UK manufacturing base, annual Big Shakeout Festival, and our Alpkit Foundation charity mean there are a huge range of finance skills required for my role. One of the challenges is the ability to work at a high level of granularity, whilst also being able to step back and see the bigger picture, in order to contribute effectively to strategic decision making. As well as the on-the-job experience, which has included being involved in raising finance to fund our growth and being part of our hugely successful Crowdcube
investment fundraise, I’ve also benefitted from our leadership development programme and worked closely with the directors, founders and leadership team, all of whom I have learnt a lot from over the years. Also as the mother of two young children, the flexibility and support I have been given has allowed me to progress in my career whilst ensuring I have a work life balance that is sustainable. Being part of the Alpkit family over the last 4 years has been truly special to me. We’re building a company that we can be extremely proud of, which stays true to it’s founding principles, and has our sustainability values embedded in everything that we do day to day.
Beth Pearce, Alpkit HR Manager: “The passion, determination and resilience of our team has been put to the test during recent months, but for us a company is more than a legal entity. It’s the people we hang out with, the people we interact with and the culture we have created.”
Sustainability Principles
2021 Sustainability Report Reduce Reuse Repair Recycle
Work with people we believe in
Respect our environment
Build a better business
Treat Animals Humanely
Give Back
alpkit.com