Sustainability

Apart from providing the CF community with products that will make you jump higher, lift heavier, row faster, look better and smile A LOT more - we also want to provide products and a spirit that contribute to a better world, both from an environmental and social perspective. Small tasks - big muscles or maybe the other way around? Anyway, the important thing is that if we can make a difference - let’s do it! 

By looking at the nature of our business and where we can have the biggest impact, we have identified the following four areas where we could act to make a change for a better future. 

 

 1. A Circular approach 

We want to move away from the traditional make-use-dispose approach of products, to a more circular thinking where we instead design, plan and produce products that are re-used or re-cycled. By doing this we are reducing the pressure on the limited natural resources of our planet and the amount of waste going to landfill. We have taken action in different projects as follows;

 

-      Increase the use of recycled materials in our operations. We have exchanged the plastic bags that we ship your WOD gear in - for 100% recycled paper bags.  

-      Some of our products that we’re providing are made of recycled fabrics. Look for the recycled stamp in our shop to identify them. We will continue to increase the recycled materials in our products, while of course never compromising on the quality. 

-      Sometimes shit happens when you’re lifting heavy stuff! We work with the company  ”I’m Fashion” that re-makes our used and broken backpacks. We then give them away to friends and partners of Northern Spirit  in need of backpacks - so they don’t have to buy new ones.

 

-      We’ve started a project where we’re engaging the CF community in recycling their worn out products through garment collcetion boxes. We’re still on a startup level – more information will show up about the end users. 

 

 2. Our climate impacts 

We are committed to reduce the climate impact of our operations to fight against global warming and its devastating effects on our planet. The different action we have taken is;

 

-       We’ve mentioned it before – but worth doing it again! We’ve changed from plastic bags to 100% recyclable paper bags when we ship your products. We’ve also increased the recycled materials in our products to reduce the climate impacts of our operations. 

 

 

-      Did you know that we print most of the products at Northern Spirit HQ? 

We use Swedish-made prints that are produced without phthalates and with water-based colors. The print has a bluesign® certificate, which means that they meet the requirements of environmental sustainability to reduce climate impacts. 

 

-      Some of our suppliers that we work with are using solar cells to run the production of our products. In our search of new suppliers we value those who’re running their production with those kind of sustainable options and we’re gonna continue to put pressure on those who don’t. 

 

 3. Good workplaces

Equally important as it should be for you to protect your back when doing a heavy squat - it is for us to promote a fair, safe and healthy workplace for both our own employees and for the people being involved in the production of our products. 

We therefore do business with those who respect human rights, including issues such as discrimination & harassment, freedom of association, working hours, fair wages, child labour and chemical use. It’s also important that they follow local regulations about labour law and workplace health and safety. At Northern Spirit HQ we respect & follow everything mentioned above and also a lot more to make it a good work place;

 

-       We have 1,5-hour lunch break every day where we all have a lunch session in our own CF box. For us, training together is very important for a fun, strong & healthy workplace. 
Everyone is more than welcome to join, customers, suppliers, partners and so on. 

 

-       We’re recycling all garbage coming in to our office such as water bottles, plastic boxes, paper and aluminium packaging – back to where it belongs and where it will be recycled. 

 

-       Once in a while we go on social activities together. Usually those days include physical activities such as training but sometimes we just chill at a SPA. 

 

-       The location of our office is close to bus and train stations, to inspire the employees to take the public transports as often as possible. 

 

 4. An inspiring role model in society

We want to engage more with the society - to promote a healthy lifestyle where everyone has equal value. We believe that by taking part of various initiatives, both on local and global levels we can make a difference in the society by the following actions we do below; 

 

-       Instead of throwing away damaged products – we let organisations that works with integration re-make them. The company we’re working with let immigrants that are interested in fashion and textile re-make the products and at the same time they learn Swedish. Why throw away – when we can create something good working togheter?

-       As mentioned already, we want to give immigrants the possibilities to learn Swedish and integrate to the society. We are therefore a part of local programs where we receive interns to help us out with a bit of everything at Northern Spirit. They learn Swedish and how it works around here – and we get to experience different cultures! 

 

-       We also do internships with people that want to gain experience in e-commerce and business, both from Sweden and abroad. We believe that by sharing knowledge with each other will make good things happen. Did you know that our Social Media Manager is French and did her internship here?    

 

-       We have a lot of products that has our Northern Spirit logo and our Skull, covered by the pride colours. We want to show our support for equal human rights and that everyone is included in the Northern Spirit Community – regardless sexuality. 

 

-       By the way – we hate injustice. Who doesn’t? Unfortunately, the world tends to be constructed that way. We can do small things about it though. 
Every autumn we donate money for Research Against Cancer, collected from the sales of products having the yearly “Crush Cancer” print. We also support different initiatives during the year, such as cleaning the ocean from plastic, support endangered animals through WWF and so on. Follow us @northernspiritcf on Instagram to take part of our different projects!