The Finisterre ambassadors are having a good run lately.

Carlos was on the front of Surfer Magazine for surfing a huge wave at Ghost Trees (have a look at the earlier posts). Just got a call from our another Finisterre ambassador - top lensman Al Mackinnon - many of the shots on our site are Al’s. One of his photos has just made it onto the front of the Surfer’s Journal - known for its top quality imagery - awesome work Al. It is a truly beautiful shot taken of a pretty heavy left hander somewhere off the west Scottish Coast - a spot that only Al would know about and be able to get to when it is on. We have not got a close up of the shot as yet, but you can have a bit of a look here…

(both ambassadors are also XXL big wave award winners…!).

Hoping this weekend will be the final wintry blast this year - really is looking like a cold one with not much on in terms of waves. Hang in there - summer is on the way…

Sometimes things take all week. Literally all week.

Last Friday we had a call from Alain in Normandy stating that our much awaited £25 Merino Eddy base layers were being held up by French customs. The reason - an ‘expert’ had decided that our logo was the same as Oakley’s meaning that the base layers must be counterfeit - a 20k euro fine would solve the problem. Alright then…

So it has been a week of calls to the French, digging out our EU trademark and generally running around getting every single company document to show that the logos in question were not even similar.

We have just heard that the base layers have been released, are now free and will be winging their way to the Shire early next week.

Sorry for the delay for those of you who have been waiting, but they are well worth it….

Go home Eddys, your bags are packed, go home….

have a look HERE

Alex and Jimmy are adventure racers, men of Everest, founders and epicures of some of the finest 100% all natural energy bars in the UK. Mule Bars are like a compact hit of energy and all natural goodness and have been going down a treat on this end.

Bars of choice amongst the boys:

Tommy Kay – Hunza Nut

TP – all of them

Mart – Pina Colada

Happy – Mango Tango (picture below)

Stoked with the work the boys are doing over at Mule Bar, they’ve got us hooked.

So how bad was Monday’s storm? The place took a pounding and was as rough as any of us have seen it - the waves at Aggie were breaking way, way out - easily 15ft+ faces. At dead low tide, there were breaking waves five miles out to sea and when the tide came in, the cafe down at Aggie took the brunt of sea’s force. The place will probably need a bit of TLC before we are in there again this summer. The two shots below were taken about 3 minutes from where we work. It was hard enough to open the office door and we had real trouble dodging the debris (mostly sticks, gravel and the odd small child) on the way down.

This shot is of Bawden Rock, two miles offshore and about 100m high.

The current issue of one of our favourite magazines features an in-depth interview with our Ambassador Carlos Burle this month, you can see a sneak peak here but we urge you to go out and grab a copy for yourself..

http://www.driftsurfmagazine.co.uk/currentissue.htm

The Fabric and Manufacturing game - how it works - a brand comes up with a product, decides on a fabric and heads out to source the fabric. They’ll then find a manufacturing facility to get the product constructed and delivered. All cost driven.

From there, these brands go and sell it for anywhere between 5 – 6 times the actual cost of getting the product manufactured. These brands will then sometimes find unethical factories and poorer quality fabrics so the product is much cheaper to make (prices to the consumer stay the same). They may also impose unfair price demands on these factories to squeeze the margins even more, whatever the cost (these guys know who they are) - we have already seen this with the supermarkets…

Here at Finisterre, we find the best fabrics and facilities and then sell the product for 2 – 3 times the cost. Some of this money goes to continue building this place, spreading the sustainability word and investing in the long term – it is how we believe things should be run.

At the start of March we will be launching, what we consider to be the fairest price Merino Base Layer available. Everyone should have access to this unbelievable fabric – hot when you are cold and cold when you are hot. The Finisterre Eddy base Layer is made from top grade Merino made in ISO accredited factories.

Below is a picture of the Eddy in the two colours – blue and off white – men’s and women’s cut.

The price? £25 pounds – that’s it, just to prove the point that as businesses, if we want to get more sustainable, then we have to be more realistic about the way we grow and the prices we charge. It is about the long term.

Please email Steve to place your order – steve@finisterreuk.com, or give me a call on 01872 554 481.

The time has come round again for the Observer Newspapers ethical awards. This is your chance to vote for who you think deserves notification for their attention to environmental aspects. Categories include Ethical business of the year, best campaigner and so on. Please have a look and if you think we deserve a nomination, please go ahead and vote..

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/ethicalawards/story/0,,2238592,00.html