Equestrian shop puts sustainability at its heart
Ride-away, which offers a huge range of country and equestrian clothing from leading brands, is taking huge strides to move towards a more environmentally friendly model through its parent company, the Internet Fusion Group.
The company, which also owns Europe’s largest action sports retailer, Surfdome, recently unveiled its new state-of-the-art warehouse which includes a large roof-mounted array of solar panels to generate electricity and solar thermal panels to generate heat, as well as grey water systems to make use of rainwater.
The warehouse is a zero-to landfill site, meaning nothing is sent to landfill, and 124 acres of rainforest in Peru were safeguarded to offset the carbon emissions from its construction.
“In the age of awareness and readily available information, along with the cries from the general public for transparency, there is no excuse for a modern business not to be making positive moves towards more sustainable models,” says head of sustainability Adam Hall.
“The research has been out for a long time and it’s as clear as it can be that there is a desperate need for immediate action on a wide range of environmental issues. There are also numerous business cases that outline the cost savings and broad benefits to businesses who act in a more responsible manner.”
A passion to protect the environment and the customer’s love of the outdoors are at the heart of its strategy, and the group’s leaders plan to work closer with each of its brands to make their processes more eco-friendly and provide more sustainable options for their customers.
The group has been eliminating plastic from its own packaging and boasted impressively 95% plastic free packaging in 2018 – by reverting to biodegradable and recyclable natural materials. This has led to the company becoming a case study for the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and being ranked as one of the top 14 companies tackling ocean waste.
And the group’s leaders have no intention of stopping there: they have in place a 100 per cent renewable energy electricity contract, only buying electricity from wind, sun and hydro power, as well as a completely biogas tariff that only buys gas from the breakdown of organic matter in almost all their buildings, which offsets 405 tonnes of carbon annually (the equivalent of burning 200 tonnes of coal).
“We’ve been proud of our plastic reduction strategy and our warehouse being run on an entirely renewable electricity tariff, but the oceans, beaches and mountains that our audience love won’t benefit from us standing back and patting ourselves on the back,” adds Adam.
“We need to push forward with the momentum that we have: the plans we are laying out are hugely exciting and the broader impact of working with our brands could be far-reaching.”
Established in 1980, Ride-away is at the heart of the equestrian community, offering a one-stop shop for all your horse riding needs, from jodhpurs and long riding boots to tweed jackets and riding shirts. For more information, visit www.rideawaystore.com
To read more about Internet Fusion’s sustainability efforts, click here.