Every year, 2.12 billion tons of waste – the equivalent weight of the UK’s tallest building 169,600 times over – is dumped in landfill or in our water. Shockingly 99% of the stuff we buy is thrown away within six months.
Plastic, the type used in disposable pens and cheap wallets, is a big culprit, with 8 million tons of it dumped in our oceans every year.
That’s why it has always been our mission to create exceptional everyday items – like pens and wallets – that will be cherished for decades, not months.
It's also why, since 2022, we have committed to donate 1% of all sales to support environmental causes.
We want to grow Wingback into a 100-year-old company, a household name and celebration of quality materials and quality manufacturing.
We want our designs to be inherited by your grandkids in as good a condition as the day they were made.
And in this era of disposable culture and fast fashion, we want to challenge both small and large businesses to be more sustainable, responsible and transparent.
We know that starts with the actions we take as individuals and as a business.
Here’s what we’re doing to meet that commitment.
Since 2014, we've strived to minimise our impact on the environment at every stage and to create sustainable, durable tools that only get better with age. We don’t follow seasons, we design for longevity. We want our products to be handed down to future generations, picking up character with every passing year.
Our environmentally-certified Tuscan leather is a byproduct of the meat industry and extra measures are taken to ensure wastage is minimised. Our Oeko-Tex cotton pouches are designed to be reused – most of our team use theirs to store laptop cables – and our inserts are made from recycled card.
Since May 2020 we’ve been contributing to initiatives like the Jari Pará Forest Conservation Project in the Amazon to offset 100% of all carbon emissions generated from our deliveries. As of April 2021 these contributions have supported the protection of an estimated 36,637m² of rainforest and 4,841 tree seedlings, saving the equivalent energy it would require to charge 493,861 smartphones.
In October 2022 we signed up to 1% for the Planet, a global movement co-founded by Yvon Chouinard, the founder of Patagonia. This is our commitment to give 1% of all sales to support environmental causes. In 2022 that cause is Fauna & Flora International, the world’s oldest international wildlife conservation organisation.
In July 2023 Wingback became a Climate Neutral certified company. A major milestone for the business, this means we can now measure and offset our cradle-to-consumer emissions, from manufacture to delivery, while supporting green technology initiatives around the globe, from the Amazon to India, Republic of Congo to South Carolina.
We're at the very start of our journey and this is our line in the sand.
We aim to reduce our carbon emissions a further 50% by 2030 in our bid to become a fully carbon negative business – and we won't stop until we get there.