UPTITUDE: GLASSES MADE OUT OF SNOWBOARDS?
Today we want to introduce you to the amazing world of Upcycling a product. Yes, you’ve read it right, UPcycling. And what does this mean? According to Filippo and his brand Uptitude, this means using useless broken snowboards to improve them, turning them into something totally different: glasses and sunglasses. Does it sound appealing to you? Then keep reading!
We met Filippo Irdi, an Italian guy from Rome, in one of our last trips to Innsbruck and we could go and see with our own eyes what he does. He showed and explained us his project and the goals he tries to accomplish. We are living in a world that’s full of trash, pollution and global warming, and as snowboarders, we live and see that on a regular basis when we are on the mountains. As a passionate snowboarder and exshaper, Filippo felt the necessity of trying to do something to make this world slightly better: Uptitude was then born!
HOW EVERYTHING STARTED…
The idea came from a colleague of him, Ermanno. Both guys had a huge compilation of old snowboards stashed in their houses, only getting dustier and dustier. So soon enough they figured out they needed to make use of this by reusing the boards turning them into something different.
In 2014, Ermanno came up with the idea. In Zillertal they met with the legends Steve (Steve Grüber) and Wolle (Wolfgang Nyvelt) who could explain everything about the process of building a snowboard. In Filippo’s words «we wanted to blow life into old used boards«, and after the first failed attempt, they managed to make some serious improvements. By sharing a working space with the guys from AESMO snowboards, they started working with proper machines and developing high-quality prototypes.
After 2 years of prototyping and spreading the idea they could finally meet the quality standards that they were looking for. They reached out to Italian craftsmen who have been making glasses for over 50 years. «They’re experienced in making glasses combined with the techniques we developed to recycle broken snowboards» (Filippo), and that gave them the final touch!
THE TEAM:
Fabian Fraidl is making super sick edits and has been representing them for a long time now;
Mike Mckernan, also a sick rider who is an excolleague and a good friend of Filippo;
Emanuele Canal who is one of the most promising freestyle skiers in Italy;
Lucas Uitendaal from the Netherlands. He’s a 15 and a dome beast, so remember that name cause we are expecting to see a lot of good this happening in the future;
Stuart Innes a.k.a. the red-haired rasta guy who doesn’t smoke. «Stu is doing tricks no one could ever think of. Give him a trick and he’ll call it. He’s one of the most dedicated shredders I’ve ever seen.» (Filippo);
Benno Bauer, another serious skilled rider;
Max Zebe, a very well-known Burton rider for his spotless style and bag of tricks.
MORE DIFFERENT PRODUCTS:
So now, not only do they craft any kind of glasses but also they are starting to develop a new product: PHONE CASES. They are made out of leftover top sheet material from the snowboard production. «We’ve just launched our first Uptitude phone case campaign containing 12 different patterns from different snowboards. Because, who doesn’t like to match their phone case with one of the most precious things on earth, their snowboard?» (Filippo)
Their idea is to continue developing the brand, that’s why we asked Filippo what we can expect from the brand in the future and he said that the next project will have probably something to do with collecting trash on the mountain. So still, his priority is working with the enviroment, making of this world a better and less polluted place.
But for the rest, we’ll have to wait to see it in the future!
WHERE TO FIND THE PRODUCTS:
For anybody that’s interested in their products, you can get them at their website www.getuptitude.com. «By selling directly to the customer we avoid unnecessary costs. By working this way, we think we can provide a better quality product for a fair price. Plus we work with some local shops that have been supporting us from the beginning. Like the Burton Store in Innsbruck and in Zurich.» (Filippo)
For any further information you can reach them by email (info@uptitu.de) or on Instagram (@Uptitude or @Getuptitude).
NOTE: don’t try to reach them out on POWDER days!!
