DPS is rooted in the mystery encountered during a slide across snow. Snowsports is what we do, and it’s who we are. We recognize that as a brand, manufacturer, and employer, we have a responsibility to treat the mountains and our environment with respect, so we can pass on our love of skiing and the outdoors to future generations.
Our Aims
Science Based:
To keep global warming well below 2 °C, and ideally to 1.5 °C.
Skiing Based:
To protect our mountain homes and preserve the art of sliding on snow for future generations.
We consider three essential pillars in the way that we construct all of our products:
Durability + Performance + Sustainability
Durability
The durability of our skis is optimized through the use of carbon fiber and high end bases and sidewalls, giving a lifetime that exceeds industry standards. This significantly reduces overall waste.
Our 2+ year warranty program stands behind our skis and other products as proof of our belief in their quality and longevity. The “+” means that no matter how old our skis are, we’ll always do our best to work with a customer to get skis repaired, or to find a creative solution that keeps the customer and their DPS skis on snow.
We actively seek to repair as many warranty claims as possible.
We believe that keeping products in circulation is one of the most effective ways to manage our environmental impact. With aluminum tail bars, improved top sheet bonding, stronger cores, and delamination resistance, our skis are designed to last for multiple seasons and reduce the need to buy new skis each year.
Performance
A sustainable product is functional, it takes the user to amazing places and facilitates fun. If it doesn’t do these things, then why build it?
We pride ourselves on building products that offer unique performance characteristics when compared to other brands, with a focus on the following categories.
Energy: We use carbon fiber to create a more energetic ski, giving the skier more excitement out of every turn.
Powder: We’re happy to dedicate time and energy to crafting high-end tools for the pursuit of truly deep powder. Big powder skis may be niche, but they’re an important piece of art to the core skiers we try to serve.
Weight: Backcountry skiing is more fun when you’ve got life in your legs for the downhill. Lighter skis make touring uphill easier, and we aim to balance this with great downhill performance, too.
Confidence: For you to enjoy skiing as much as possible, you need to trust your equipment. We aim to make gear that is reliable and confidence inspiring in every way, so it’s one thing you don’t need to worry about.
We think creating skis that are different than most and bring joy to skiers is a worthwhile endeavor. By adhering to our high performance standards, we ensure that our products serve a purpose in the world.
Sustainability
Sustainability is a core contributor in our decision making process. Material selection for our products is made with environmental repercussions in mind. We use both material emissions factors and supply chain information, such as travel distance and factory data, as a guide.
Climate action begins with getting more people, and more diversity, into the mountains. We’ve partnered with the Women’s Leadership Institute and their ElevateHer Challenge to push for more gender diversity in skiing and business.
Since 2020, we’ve measured our overall company carbon footprint each year. We’ve found that the embodied emissions in the raw materials and finished goods that we purchase has by far the biggest impact. Transportation, both to us and from us, has the second largest impact. These are the areas that we’re focusing a majority of our carbon reduction efforts on. Building skis in Salt Lake City is something we’re proud of. By manufacturing standards, our factory uses little energy or water. Being close to the mountains and an industry hub, our travel requirements are minimized.
Through collaboration we can foster sustainability at scale. Since mid 2021, we’ve been working with Checkerspot and their sister company WNDR Alpine to develop their Algal Wall 63 % bio-content sidewall so that it’s specifically formulated for DPS’s manufacturing process and performance needs. This collaboration has resulted in an improved product that can have greater impact across a range of industries.
We aim to rethink manufacturing. Additive manufacturing is the process of starting with a desired footprint, and iteratively adding only the material needed to gradually move towards a finished product. With our Pagoda cores and poured sidewalls, we’re closer to achieving this.
We continue improving our carbon footprint by reducing manufacturing waste, and recycling whenever possible. In the last two years through process and equipment improvements, we’ve seen significant waste reductions in ski base material, top sheets, and wood for our cores.
We’ve moved to using 45% bio-based Cortec® EcoShrink™, a shrink wrap used to wrap our skis that is industrially compostable. It’s not a perfect solution, but it’s a step forward while we continue our improvements. In combination, we’ve shifted to 100% recyclable paper apparel mailers to replace poly bags, as we work to fully eliminate them from our soft goods.
In the summer of 2021, we joined SIA’s Climate United Pact. This is an accountability pledge that SIA created to unite like-minded winter outdoor industry companies around meaningful climate action. We’re honored to be a part of this pact and to be aligned with other organizations that share our environmental vision.
We partner with additional like-minded organizations for positive community outcomes; such as Protect Our Winters and HEAL Utah.
