“... disposable boards just aren't going to cut it anymore. Nor are toxic boards made from the same old poisonous soup that has been used since the early ‘60s. By hand-shaping local wood into beautiful high performance surfboards, our goal is to change the very paradigm of choosing a surfboard. Instead of choosing the quick and easy, the cheap and sleazy, the pop-out molded spray-painted cookie cutter foam toy, we want you to think a little. Think about the long-term cost. The environmental cost. The aesthetic cost. The social cost. And then go with the choice that is simply better by nature.” So says Lars Bergström, founder of 42 Surfboards and holder of a PhD in Environmental Science.

42 Surfboards use sustainably harvested wood and abalone (it’s used for the set-in logo, see pic above), with the waste sawdust composted at a local nursery. Their offices use wind power and they are members of both 1% for the Planet" and The Surfrider Foundation.

But they aren’t the only guys making wooden surfboards. We’ve mentioned a few before, like Grain, OloSurfer, as well as Empress and Tom Wegener Surfboards.

And, of course, there are others we haven’t got around to profiling, such as Hess, Pranchas de Surf de Madeira, Valla, RaySkin, (middle pic) Paul Jensen (right pic), Vintage Wooden Surfboards, to name but a few.

Is this a trend developing here, or what? If it is you’ll be sure to be first out of the line-up by reading the blog Phoresia, which keeps tabs on all that is green and fair in the surf world.

For background on the where wooden surfboards came from in the first place, paddle over to the Surf History Preservation Collection.

Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:

Haworth's New York Showroom: Green and Gorgeous

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