Sustainability
We want to continuously challenge ourselves to improve our sustainability credentials at YOKU. Below is the current status of our ambitions to be as sustainable as possible
Product - the product is designed to be highly durable. The materials (steel and full grain leather) quite literally last a lifetime but the design of the belt also reduces wear and tear that a normal belt would sustain. We have belts already that are going on 3 years with minimal degradation. I estimate someone would get 15+. years out of a leather strap. The underlying metal unless you put it into a metal press will last decades.
Packaging - the product ships with a recycled cardboard box, printed with compostable ink, compostable labels and nothing else.
Self Maintain - We include a hole punch with our belt so that any changes to holes if you get fatter or thinner can be done without shipping miles
Guarantee - We offer a 10 year guarantee on materials and workmanship
Manufacturing - They are made in Australia, by me personally currently, in the Blue Mountains NSW. I intend to keep manufacturing local and have a pathway to producing millions of belts without the need to go offshore in terms of manufacturing approach. I have personally worked through all the manufacturing challenges first hand, not just getting someone else to do it.
Sourcing - The 3 main inputs to the belt are the steel, leather and magnets. We get the steel made in a specialised factory in China, I have requested their environmental & ethical standards & certifications. The leather is sourced from Leffler, the leading leather importer in Australia who source all their leather via the Leather Working Group network, which provides a commitment to environmental and ethical sourcing. It sourced from Italy using vegetable tanned leather which we believe is a better approach environmentally than chromium which is the dominant form for locally sourced leather. The magnets are sourced from an Australian importer currently, but they will be getting them from China. We acknowledge that magnets, which are made from rare earth minerals, constitute the largest single unknown in our supply chain and are looking to improve this.
Certifications - We don't currently have any certifications, other than our patents, trademarks and design protections. I had intended to get Made in Australia certification, unsure on others
General commentary
The overarching principle here is that the biggest issue is that today around 200 - 400 million belts are made and sold every year (hard to get exact numbers) and the majority of these are very poorly made and likely to last a couple of year at best. Our biggest opportunity is to reduce this number by creating a highly durable belt at a price point that is the same or even better than a 'cheap belt' - you can read more about this at my manifesto here
