Incoming: Wyve 3D-Printed Surfboards Glide on Bioplastics, Not Foam

Surfboard shapers have cut boards from foam blanks for over half a century. Now, many in the industry are seeking methods for building boards that reduce environmental pollution.

A recent trend in 3D-printed surfboards has opened the door for new ideas. Wyve, a French company based in a Basque beach community, looks to have set the new benchmark for sustainable surfboard designs.

Wyve’s range of boards uses an internal hexagonal structure that traps air inside instead of using a traditional foam blank. Unlike with other 3D-printed boards, the process bypasses polystyrene or EPS foam entirely.

Instead, it prints its hexagonal cores from PLA, a bio-based recyclable plastic made from fermented corn starch. Not only that, it commits to a locally based manufacturing and distribution model.

The method speaks to the company’s strongly stated position on environmental ethics in surfing. According to early internal testing and research, the construction also strengthens its boards’ performance in some key areas. And despite what the 3D-printing process might imply, custom-shaped boards come at no extra cost to the customer.

“We are trying to rethink the way we manufacture surfboards,” Léo Kerhir, head of sales and international development at Wyve, said. “We want to make them more high-performance and more sustainable. Using bio-based materials and the technology we’ve developed internally, we’re able to do that.”

Wyve 3D-Printed Surfboards Sustainability: A Brief Audit

“By buying traditional surfboards, the surfing community inadvertently supports a process which uses petrochemical materials and generates toxic waste,” Wyve states. “Whether in the local small shaper’s warehouse or in the famous Californian factories, for the last 60 years polyurethane and polyester have been polluting our air and oceans.”

To limit its emissions profile, the company pledges to gather materials and manufacture boards on a local basis. It calls the facilities that anchor the method “micro-factories.”

Kerhir said the company’s growth model revolves around establishing micro-factories and distribution networks along each coast it plans to expand to. For now, the company delivers boards to Europe exclusively.

Locally sourced materials will remain a priority. One PLA manufacturer, Total Corbion PLA, has factories in the Netherlands and Spain, and a sales office in France. And while Wyve does epoxy-coat its fiberglass boards for durability, it uses a bio-based epoxy resin manufactured in France.