Pep, circa 2019. At this stage, we had plenty of flashings, but no Spiral Plate. Photo: Carson Meyer (@carsonmeyerphoto)

When we produce a ski or board, an inevitable amount of waste appears around its perimeter when it comes out of the press. Traditionally, it's trimmed off with a bandsaw and sent straight to the landfill.

Searching for a better solution, we began granulating this waste into small particles.

Granulated waste. Salt Lake City, UT. Photo: Pep Fujas (@pepfujas)

We then combined these particles with a biobased resin, and cured them under heat and pressure to create our first forged composite recycled binding insert.

The biggest benefit of this material was the combination of its high pullout strength (excellent for binding screw retention) and its forgiving flex, which meant that we didn't have to engineer our cores around the inevitable interruption in a ski's flex profile caused by an overly stiff insert. The result? A more consistent, easily engineered flex profile and better binding screw retention - brought to you via reclaimed waste.

For 2025, we've made big strides. Thanks to Origen's composites expertise, our new Spiral Plate delivers 47% better binding retention strength than a traditional maple insert, despite being the thinnest we've produced to date.

Pullout strength conducted via Instron. Results derived from internal testing at WNDR Alpine's Design Lab in Salt Lake City, UT.

*This infographic was last updated in July 2024. We are constantly experimenting with new materials, evaluating supply chains, and optimizing waste streams to improve the performance of our products while reducing our environmental impact.