Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly
We’ve just been listening to the back catalogue of an old friend of McConks. Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly.
Not a friend as in someone we know personally, but a friend in the sense of someone who we’ve known for a very long time, whose advice we admire, and who makes us smile whenever we experience them. Sam Duckworth, the brains behind Get Cape now goes by the name Recreations, and the music is just as great. But we’ve been following and listening to Sam for many, many years, and some of the early stuff really brings back memories.
And really makes us think. One song that really chimes with us is the eponymous song Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. And this lyric sums it up:
Consumerism can be the enemy of the environment, of social justice, of equality. Especially if companies are driving change for change sake – changing fashions, changing colours and pushing consumers to buy a new product every year. When this year’s product is exactly the same as last years, just a slightly different colour or style. Or when products are made to fail at the end of their warranty period. Or with cheap products that companies know are not good enough quality, and most people will only use for a short period of time before buying a product that actually works.
All of these things are rife in the world of SUP. And that’s what different about McConks.
Our boards and paddles are designed with the very best of every component, and made to last for year after year.
We only make products where we offer something different. So we know that no other company makes packages and paddles of the same quality as us, at the same price point, and with the same ethics. It’s why we don’t for example make branded t-shirts. We couldn’t do anything that’s different in price, ethics or quality to what’s already on the market. And it’s why we don’t, for example, put free car stickers in our products. Only a small number of them would ever be used, some of them would become litter or be fly posted, and most would go to landfill.
Ethical products
We only use suppliers who have demonstrated their environmental and worker welfare credentials to us.
But we’d like your thoughts on changing colours and designs. For 2017 we have kept our great board shape, but have improved our components and manufacturing process as technology improves. And in doing so we took advantage to change our colours and cosmetics as we weren’t happy with the design of our 2016 lineup.
Were already looking forward to 2018 and what our 2018 lineup will look like, and we’re thinking we should keep our styling, colours etc the same. That will help break the constant upgrade cycle that other brands rely on, and will reduce our impact on the environment. We will be bringing new products into the lineup, but this will be about sizes and types, and innovation, not just colours and cosmetics.
But what you think? Is it important to change colours and style to keep things fresh? Or are our instincts to keep styles the same correct?
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