What have we
done so far?
Guaranteed
quality
We design our equipment so that it will accompany you for years. That's why from now on all Cumulus® products are covered by an indefinite warranty: Lifetime Experience! We do everything to extend their lifespan and yet we know that outdoor trips are often full of surprises. You can count on us even in situations that are not covered by the warranty. For a reasonable price, our experts are able to repair any of our products so that they are ready for action again!
indefinite warranty →
Sustainable production
made in Poland
Responsible production has always been our priority! All Cumulus® products are made in Poland. Our carbon footprint is smaller from the start thanks to the fact that we can fully control every step of all processes. Sustainable development also means fair working conditions! Our production team has been with us for years and they are the secret of the highest quality of our products.
Zero waste
where possible
We do not offer collections that get changed every season, nor do we run enticing discounts just to increase sales. We have optimized the process of creating our products to minimize the amount of waste. Short production series allow us to manufacture the right amount of products, and those that are not sold are given a chance for a second outdoor life, we’re selling them during such campaigns as: Garage Sale or donating to the Outdoor Gear For Good organization.
Good
energy
From 2022, all energy used at our headquarters in Gdynia comes only from renewable energy sources. Our supplier is a company that was the first in Poland to offer its customers only green energy. To ensure that, it cooperates with a group of over 609 sustainable electricity producers in Poland.
1% for
the Planet
In 2019, we have joined 1% for the Planet organization and we donate 1% of our sales to support organizations working to protect the environment. We regularly support the European Outdoor Conservation Association, which oversees projects that protect biodiversity and wild areas! During last year's SAVE THE SWAMPS campaign, we collected over 43,000 EUR for the Wetland Conservation Center for the protection of swamps, as well as for the purchase and rewetting of drained areas that used to be wetlands
Our next
steps!
The first carbon offset
project in Poland
We support the creation of a reliable carbon offset project aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This is the first such initiative in Poland based on stopping the drainage of wetlands, which will additionally be fully credible and built on a scientific basis. It will also meet the principle of additionality, which is particularly important to us. To qualify as real carbon offsets, wetland emission reductions must be achieved through activities that have been funded by carbon credits and would not have happened otherwise. According to research published by the European Commission, 85% of all examined offset projects would be implemented even despite the purchase of the offset itself. We will reveal more details next year!
Business for
nature
Investing in environmental protection and saving wild lands is the minimum we can do. That's why we support the Business for Nature coalition and have joined their Make it Mandatory initiative, which calls for mandatory assessment and disclosure of companies' environmental impact. It's time for everyone to be able to make purchasing decisions knowing their full impact on our Planet.
Keeping eyes on
the road
Our road to reducing emissions had to start with transport, as it is the main contributor to Cumulus®'s carbon footprint. We have already changed our shipment methods to road and sea where possible. By the end of next year, we will reduce emissions related to the supply of raw materials and products to customers by another 35%.
Proven
materials
We have been cooperating with world-renowned manufacturers for over 30 years. All Pertex® fabrics used in our products are Bluesign® certified, which is one of the most stringent production standards in the field of environmental protection and occupational safety. Already, over 60% of the fabrics we use are recycled and comply with the GRS-Yarn (Global Recycled Standard), which means that they are developed and produced with recycled yarn. Thanks to this, the demand for raw materials, energy, and water needed for production is reduced, while minimizing the amount of waste going to landfills. In the near future, our goal is to ensure that all the fabrics we use come from recycling.
Interested in knowing why this website was designed like that?
We have followed several rules, that made it more sustainable. Thanks to them, each page view consumes over 50% less energy than the average analysed page (0.17g of CO2/view compared to 0.5g of CO2/view).
Whether it's a lot or a little, it's always a step in the right direction!
→
Dark Mode & Colour Values
"A theme using darker colours can reduce battery usage by up to 63% on AMOLED displays, even if the screen is at maximum brightness. The colours you decide to use can also affect the power draw on a user's device. This is because certain colours require more light to display, with white and blue being particularly power hungry! While lighter themes may often be the default, 'dark mode' is kinder to your battery, the environment, and also your eyes!"
Green Hosting
"Looking for a host that uses 100% renewable electricity, rather than one that just offsets their carbon emissions, is a great way to reduce the carbon footprint of a website."
For this website we used Krystal but there are many choices available.
Compensates the CO2 emissions
We used the Tree notion service to cover the co2 emissions that our website generated
Contrasted Colours
"Using high contrast colours means that the information displayed on a website is more defined, so viewers won't need to increase the brightness of their device, and drain their batteries. Some phones can half their energy consumption by reducing the screen brightness by 20%. It's best to aim for an AAA contrast ratio score. Check your score and find colours on Colorable."
Photography
"Full screen images are often used to make a website feel slick and smart. However, photographs can be very (very) heavy if not compressed properly. When using images with a large file size, a lot of data needs to be transferred from the data centre, increasing the energy consumption. In fact images, on average , make up 21% of a web page's overall weight.
It's possible to compress images and reduce their file sizes without compromising quality. Online tools such as ShortPixel allow you to do so. Using web format files for your images such as WebP instead of JPG will also help.
But of course, the best thing to do is ask yourself 'do we really need this image?'"
Illustration Format
"Image formats such as JPEGs and PNGs build their images by using square pixels. Therefore, the larger the dimensions of the image the more pixels there'll be, resulting int a heavier the file size. You may also need to upload several sizes of the same image to work across different display sizes (dekstop and mobile, for example).
SVGs (Scalable Vector Graphics) are a vector-based format, similar to Adobe Illustrator files, which means they are built using data points and code, rather than pixels. This means that they are generally much lighter thant JPEGs or PNGs, and can scale to different screen resolutions easily without losing quality."
Video
"When designing with a low energy mindset, it's worth conisdering that video instantly makes a websites a lot heavier. But if you do need to use it for your project, removing autoplay and using a third-party provider that uses sustainable energy (such as YouTube) will help."
Animation
"It's possible to create simple but charming animations using SVGs and CSS. As SVGs are created using data points, coding techniques can be used to bring them to life. Images can be scaled, rotated and repeated to add movement and pattern."
Static Websites
"On many websites each page is generated by a Content Management System (CMS) every time a visitor loads a page. That means that the web server is constantly using energy to send the right information each time a new page is loaded.
A static web page displays the same content for all users, rather than providing personalised content tailored to each user. By building static wepages in CSS, HTML and JavaScript the full page is then available without any need to load more information, which save energy."
Optimising Fonts
"If you choose to use a custom font a web font file format such as WOFF is a good option. This format offers smaller file sizes and better performance in comparasion to clasic OFT or TTF files."
Clean Code
"Keeping code as clean and simple as possible will help reduce the size of the files you upload to the server, as each character adds weight to the final file. It might not seem like much, but imagine the savings over millions of site visits."
Data Center Location
"If possible, try and select a host that use data centres based as close as possible to your core audience. This will mean the data doesn't have to travel as far, and thus will use less energy to transfer."
Source: Thanks In Advance: Learnings and Resources
