Environmental and Social Impact Report 2023

We’re measuring more than just our financial performance……

Hooked On Granite Ltd is the parent company of Joe Brown Shops and The Climbers Shop. As an independent, British owned business, we have a long history of providing the best equipment and advice to hillwalkers, trail/ultra runners, rock climbers, mountaineers and expeditions. We are committed to be a ‘good’ business by considering the impact of our activities on people (social impact) and the planet (environmental impact); not just on profit.

Our business helps people discover and enjoy the outdoor environment and we fully recognize the connection between encouraging people to get outside more and environmental impact. We are proud to support three National Park charities: The Snowdonia Society and The Lake District Foundation and Fix The Fells, helping to protect our stunning natural environment for generations to come.

In addition, we support our fantastic staff team as well as local and international charities committed to promoting the advancement of health, the relief of poverty, improving young people’s life chances and strengthening indigenous, community-based culture. We do this via the El Rio Foundation (formerly The Frank Davies Trust), The Brathay Trust and Community Action Nepal.

You can read our previous reports here

As of September 2020, we started an annual process to assess the full environmental impact of our business. We are very proud to maintain our Green Small Business Certification.

Environmental Impact:

As part of this process, we continue to monitor our sustainable energy providers with all our electricity this year purchased from renewable resources.

Our warehouse has already switched to using paper-based packaging where plastics, e.g: bubble wrap, that are already in the system cannot be re-used. All boxes we purchase have a certified FSC blend. We use a mix of paper and plastic tape, depending on which best suits the packaging as some items are packaged in DPD specific plastic packaging. These bags are made from 80% reclaimed material and are 100% recyclable. Where we use new, clear garment bags - we use carbon neutral bags made from a renewable resource: sugarcane.

Our positive impact on energy consumption took another step forward in Wales this year when we replaced aged lighting with new LED strip lights in our warehouse. In Ambleside, our basement lighting is now movement sensitive, significantly reducing daily electricity use. A wide variety of old shop fittings and displays have turned into car windscreen covers for staff or passed onto Circo Arts in Llanberis, a local creative centre for kids and young people.

Working with our suppliers, we discourage single use marketing in our window displays across the company.

We continue to offer the Bike To Work Scheme and in Wales, we recycle all of our electrical goods via an organisation that re-purposes working items and donates them to charities for continued use. Our continued commitment to offer brown paper bags instead of bio-degradable plastic bags at checkout is complemented by many customers not requiring a bag at all.

For 5 years we have only stocked re-chargeable batteries where available.

This year we are very proud to have published our online comprehensive repairs and servicing guide. This compliments our digital and sustainably printed brochures helping customers maintain their waterproofs and insulated clothing so their garments last longer. Our 24 digital Buyers Guides are free to access and along with a series of podcasts; Outdoor Gear Chat help customers make great choices when buying their new kit, learn how to use it and maintain it to reduce the number of returned items.

Through a land share scheme, the back garden of our Llanberis shop is home to many local alpine plants threatened by extinction from climate change. Working with local plant specialists and climbers, we also give away free copies of a local winter climbing guide to help climbers understand how they can reduce their impact on plant species under threat.

Our shops in Wales are a drop off point for Snowdonia Gear Repairs specialising in technical clothing and equipment repairs, complementing our already large spares range and repair tape collection.

Social Impact:

Through our longstanding charitable commitments, we continue to make a significant positive social impact on both a local and global level.

We raised monies for The Lake District Foundation via Subscription & sales of Ali’s Round Maps. For  The Snowdonia Society we pay a monthly Corporate Subscription.

We also continued to pay a substantial amount to Community Action Nepal via Rental payments for our Ambleside shop & the selling of Doug Scott signed photographic prints, Nepali artifacts and a fantastic summer prize raffle.

Throughout the year, we supported a local youth group in Wales with their healthy eating programe.

Donations were also made to The Brathay Trust, The Martin Moran Foundation, The Armitt Museum, The Beacon Lead Climbing Aggregate, Tuesday Night Fell Running Series (Llanberis), Circo Arts at Y Ffestri to support the magnificent Llanberis Christmas lantern parade, Ambleside Christmas Lights, The El Rio Foundation, Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team and Langdale and Ambleside Mountain Rescue Teams.

We have continued both the Joe Browns and Climbers Shop legacies of supporting small expeditions with one customer successfully reaching the South Pole after towing a Rocking Horse there! We also supported the High Level Route Global Plastics expedition measuring micro plastics in the high alpine environment.

Our Joe Brown Outdoor Academy website continues to grow and is packed full of outdoor equipment knowledge, outdoor skills and a great resource for customers to find fully qualified instructors to help them enjoy the hills safely – all for free. The website also hosts our Outdoor Gear Chat podcasts which this year also covered topics about disability in the outdoors and using the hills to improve mental health.

Finally, we are very proud to continue our commitment as a Real Living Wage Employer.

None of the above would be possible without you, our valued customers. We would like to take this opportunity to say a massive THANK YOU! for choosing Joe Browns and The Climbers Shop when you buy outdoor gear to enjoy your adventures. It’s astonishing at how your money can work so hard, not just supporting our staff team and the local businesses we buy from but also literally thousands of strangers across the globe.