About Us
The Driftloop Makers
Driftloop started when two mates who spend a lot of time in the water realised most adventure gear was pretty wasteful. Between surf sessions, sailing mishaps and swim races, they decided to try and come up with an alternative. The plan? Make gear that can handle a bit of chaos, looks good covered in salt and sand, and doesn’t wreck the planet in the process. Driftloop was born — part passion project, part excuse to keep playing outside.
Hand sewn and custom made in North Devon.
Unique & hardwearing bags, hardware and protection for your stuff. And more.
At Driftloop, we want to make a change.
We know that a fairly small amount of industrial and household plastics are processed and turned into new materials and products.
But once we realised that many common sheet plastics—found everywhere in daily life—can’t be handled by standard recycling systems, it pushed us to act. These materials typically end up in landfill.
There are also many product manufacturers who end up with left over materials; deadstock or endstock, which also sadly invariably heads to landfill.
Which is all, well.… pretty grim.
On top of that, converting plastic waste into “new” material can in itself be a highly wasteful operation. It’s often energy-intensive, chemically heavily polluting, and usually happens thousands of miles away from the communities producing the waste.
So at Driftloop, our ethos has started simply: collect as much usable material as we can, keep the process low-impact, and re-purpose it into durable, functional, genuinely cool gear for people who care about what they use and how it affects their planet.
Have a look around, tell us what you think, and feel free to collaborate with us…
Steve
I look after production, product development and business development at Driftloop, as well as doing sail repairs and other bits n pieces. I’ve spent most of my life around the ocean, whether as a surfer, swimmer, sailor or diver, and that practical experience & time spent in nature feeds directly into how our products are designed, made and repaired.
In a previous life, I was a chef & in management in high end hospitality, then a restaurant and pub owner — experience that still shapes my approach to craft, quality and running a sustainable business. These days I’ve swapped pans, cocktail shakers and fine wines for a workshop and sewing machine, specialising in use of reclaimed sails and other large span textiles & materials, all of which currently end up in landfill. Understanding how these materials behave in real conditions is helping us to craft products which are solidly built, robust, made to last, and are also preventing at least some of the waste from getting buried in the ground.
Alongside Driftloop, I’m an active volunteer marine mammal medic with the BDMLR, a group responding to marine wildlife emergencies around the UK coast, as well as a few other marine conservation projects. When I’m not in the workshop, you’ll usually find me on or in the water, following wind, swell and tide.
Jez
I look after the eCommerce and marketing side of Driftloop. I’ve been working in digital and archiving for over 20 years and been lucky to have some great clients — UNICEF, National Geographic and The Beatles among them — but I’ve also spent time as an underwater photographer and filmmaker with the Royal Geographical Society on expeditions in the Indian Ocean and Jordan.
Way back, I worked as a divemaster on the Great Barrier Reef, which pretty much sealed my love of the ocean. These days, I’m a trustee of Pilgrim of Brixham, a heritage sailing charity, and have set up citizen science projects for The Goes Foundation, tracking plastic and plankton in our local waters.
At Driftloop, I’m keen for us to collaborate with nonprofits and other businesses that share our goal of building more sustainable, circular ways of working. When I’m not on the laptop, you’ll probably find me sailing, surfing, swimming, or doing my best to avoid screens altogether.