Ucon Acrobatics

This brand is B‑Corp certified, earning an overall score of 93.7 (minimum 80 out of a possible 200), which assures us of ethical business practices. 

Ucon Acrobatics conducts all of it’s production in China, and most of it’s sourcing locally as well, whenever possible. Their main manufacturing facility is in Quanzhou in the Fujian province, a region specialized in production of bags and backpacks. Along with their other factories in Guangzhou and Sehnzen, they have fewer than 200 employees, and these factories are located in regions where living wages are generally met and are required in order to have people want to work for them. Since 2018, they have a dedicated production group working on Ucon Acrobatics products exclusively, which gives the factory a lot more planning stability.

The founder visits these factories regularly, and they also have external quality controllers visit them. The factories are regularly audited by Amfori BSCI, ensuring ethical and sustainable working conditions in all the factories. Acting ethically and responsibly is their ambition, which is why they have drawn up a general code of conduct for themselves and their business partners to comply with, as well as a specific code of conduct for all their suppliers, which they use to screen their suppliers regularly. They ensure that the workers have lower than standard working hours, and at least double the minimum living wage, going up to even 7 times for some very skilled workers. It is important for them to build trust and show that good and fair working conditions are important to them.

Ucon Acrobatics started their business with cotton material bags and backpacks, however conventional cotton became objectionable to them over time due to it’s agricultural practices. So they shifted to synthetic products, most of which being recycled. They use mostly recycled polyester (rPET from recycled water bottles) in their products from the company ​“Repreve”, which is certified Oeko Tex standard 100 and GRS (Global Recycle Standard). They also use upcycled Neopren, however, they do not list certifications or certification numbers, and are not to be found on the Repreve website, making the recycled content unverifiable. This brand also makes their own custom fabrics using rPET and microscopic glass beads. They also use conventional polyester, polyurethane, wood fiber and iron in their products. For their water bottles, the brand uses stainless steel with a silicone protection sleeve. Considering their high usage of synthetic materials, the brand does not say anything regarding microplastic release and their effect on the environment at the end of use.

Initially, most of this brand’s products were made in Europe, but they reached their limits quickly and in order to avoid material importation and high transportation emissions they moved their sourcing and production to China. They also have a dedicated group of workers working exclusively on their products, which lets them produce in smaller quantities if needed, and avoid overproduction. The brand only releases 2 main collections throughout the year, and have implemented a ​‘never out of stock’ programme to keep their products from becoming pre-consumer waste. Their environmental B‑Corp rating is at a high of 54.9 (higher than the average 50), proving their dedication to environmental sustainability.

Ucon Acrobatics is a partner of Bluesign, which is a certification system that covers the entire production chain from raw materials to finished products, ensuring responsible use of water, chemicals and energy. This certification can be verified on the Bluesign partners list. They are also REACH compatible, and have eliminated all environmental toxins, allergens, and carcinogens. All their fabrics are tested and certified by an external inspection board.

For transport, they state the use of trucks and ships to reach 500 retailers around the world, however they limit their ecommerce to only within Europe. For this they use the rail route from China to Germany to move products directly from the factory to sales partners. Air traffic is only used for most urgent cases. On their product description pages, they state the use of climate neutral shipping, however the details of which are not provided and hence unverifiable.

Ucon Acrobatics has eliminated plastic from their transport packaging, limiting it to recycled paper and cardboard packaging which is later recycled. They are looking for sustainable alternatives for their ecommerce product packaging, however have already made progress using recycled paper bags for their smaller products, and grass paper boxes for their larger products. The grass paper consumes reduced water and causes 75% less CO2 emissions than wood. However, it is unclear whether they have completely eliminated plastic packaging from their entire supply chain, including their product ecommerce packaging.

Ucon Acrobatics also takes part in other environmental sustainability activities such as supporting climate projects with their partner Ecologi, and plant trees for every order. Over 31,195 trees have been funded so far (2023), with different species in different locations. They also partner with Plastic Fischer, which helps them remove 1kg of plastic from rivers in Indonesia for every order placed on their website. 

Ucon Acrobatics produces a lot of monomaterial products, ensuring recyclability which keeps the materials in use for a long time. However, as most of their products are rPET, these are difficult to recycle. They also have initiated a repair shop, where customers can get their products repaired and keep them in use for longer, or return them to be recycled in other designs or second hand sales, or recycled/​disposed of sustainably, in exchange for a voucher granting them 20% off their next purchase. 

All Ucon Acrobatics products are manufactured in China, in 3 small plants located in vicinity to each other and the suppliers in order to avoid unnecessary transport routes. They sell their products to retailers all over the world, however keep their ecommerce within Europe, and ship in an environmentally friendly way whenever possible. 

Ucon Acrobatics does not use any animal derived ingredients, and is so certified by PETA, and this can be verified on the ​‘PETA certified vegan’ website.

This brand makes contemporary products and claims to offer the best price-performance ratio among their competitors. Their designs are minimalistic and innovative for a whole new generation of creative consumers, and put an emphasis on experimentation and collaboration with artists. Their fabrics are durable and supposedly last (almost) a lifetime, in addition to being water-repellent. They provide a 90 day guarantee on all their products. Their repair shop also makes sure the products stay in use for as long as possible by repairing products and taking them back for resale or recycling, whichever fits the condition of the product. Return of products after use is encouraged and incentivized.

Ucon Acrobatics provides a lot of transparency, specifically on the product description page which states their money-back guarantee. Also regarding their contribution to the environment through donations with every purchase, and minute details of each product including the size and weight. They also state detailed materiality, and that the product is free of toxic materials. All their sustainable partners are also listed.

They also have a sustainability report, however this hasn’t been updated since 2019 so their progress regarding sustainability and social conditions cannot be followed. In their sustainability pages, they state the name of their chemical inspection company as well as the company they source their rPET from. These details are hence verifiable, however they don’t state details of other suppliers, so their products aren’t fully traceable.

A big issue regarding their transparency is that their repair service is not readily advertised. Hence customers don’t know that this service is available to them unless they go out of their way to google it themselves. They also casually mention ​‘second hand sales’ however this is nowhere else to be found on the website. They could also do better regarding their transparency about water/​chemical usage and CO2 emissions, however overall this brand is doing very well on their sustainability and transparency activities.