POC was founded in 2004 and is a Swedish contemporary and design-driven manufacturer of protection with the mission to save lives and reduce the consequences of accidents. POC will never compromise on safety, but whilst safety on the road or mountain is at our core, we are humble in knowing that everything produced will use resources from the environment and society around us. Through Project Blueprint we are working hard on reducing our impact.

Project Blueprint started from the UN Sustainable Development Goals, a global roadmap for peace and prosperity for people and planet and is a screening of the entire company. We are examining every single process, product and supplier and whenever we can choose a material or design that lowers the environmental impact of a product, we will do so. That is our promise to the next generation of athletes.

As a company putting products to market, a big part of our impact and possibilities lies in how and where we produce our products. One of the key tasks for our Research and Development team at the moment is trying to find better solutions for the environment whilst not compromising the core of safety. This is in no way a process with a finish line to cross, we will have to keep learning and questioning old truths going forward as new materials and innovations become available.

Our Swedish values are central to what we do and lays the foundation for our design. POC has a clear vision to develop products of unquestionable quality and all design, we do for a reason. Every material; every trim; every color; every last detail is chosen with that specific objective. Products are tested on mountains, trails or roads to make sure they are durable. We have a diverse testing crew of both the obsessed staff, the elite athletes and those active inspired to be one. When designing a product there are many aspects to take into consideration for the resources needed to be used responsibly. We adopt a resource efficient bio- circular perspective, meaning in short that we are mindful of what resources are needed to fill the desired function of the product, choosing preferred materials, but also trying to maximize the durability, lifetime and recyclability of a product to keep it from becoming waste as long as possible. 

A precautionary approach in managing the use of chemicals is not only needed to minimize the impact on human health and the environment. To limit the need for virgin resources circulating materials is needed and for this to be possible the use of chemicals also needs to be responsible. The outdoor industry has for a long time used PFAS-treatments for their functional properties of repelling water and dirt and Biocidal substances for their anti-odor properties. These do however pose a risk to the environment and POC has therefore previously decided to phase them out. 

The long-chained PFAS-treatments are already phased out and for the majority of our products we are already there with biocidal substances as well. But there is still a small number of high-performance products where we have switched the long-chained PFAS-treatment to a less harmful short-chained version but are still searching for replacements that can fill the functionality needed in extreme conditions while being completely PFAS-free. 

The phase out has been made possible with new technologies and by reviewing what functionality is really needed and what is not. Maybe it is not reasonable to have the mud splashed on your pants while riding dirty trails to simply run off if a PFAS treatment is needed to achieve that, but if a cycling jacket that is intended on protecting you from the rain on your commute does not, we don´t think that is a good use of the resources that go in to making the jacket. But we continuously explore and engage with new ideas to find better solutions going forward. 

POC products are made in partnership with valued suppliers and we are currently working with finished goods suppliers and material suppliers from several regions around the globe. Standards and legislations can vary in different regions, but we have our POC minimum standards when it comes to social, environment and chemical management aspects in our Code of Conduct and Restricted Substance List. These are revised yearly according to best practice making sure our suppliers are aligned, but also put emphasis on positive improvements in our collective impact going forward. 

The packaging of our products is important to ensure the quality and safety from production to end consumer, but the packaging needs to be optimized to not ship air, to also be designed for the current infrastructure and techniques available for recycling packaging and to be using recycled or responsibly sourced bio-based materials. Improvements in packaging may not always be the most obvious priority butin being most commonly a single use item and for some of our highest performance products actually weighing less than the packaging, it is a clear priority for our efforts.

As a part of Project Blueprint we are currently updating our entire line of packaging to make sure our demands on optimizing, responsible use of materials and recyclability are met for all of them.