Words by Hannah Tapping
As Cornish dive brand fourth element launches the new Pelagic dive watch, we discuss the importance of taking a hands-on approach to environmental stewardship.
Fourth Element’s desire for a sustainable future, embodied by its OceanPositive initiative, has not only reshaped the way its products are made but has influenced a broader conversation on corporate and environmental responsibility. For the directors of fourth element, Paul Strike and Jim Standing, the narrative has always centred around the environment and in particular, as one would expect as a dive brand, the ocean. As fourth element celebrates the launch of its first dive watch, the Pelagic, the conversation on sustainability and how it permeates the brand’s ethos remains as pertinent now as it was at the company’s inception.
Setting up fourth element in reaction to a lack of effective technical dive gear on the market, Paul and Jim initially explored the use of recycled materials for their products in the early 2000s. As is often the case with those at the forefront of innovation, technological limitations prevented them from fully integrating these materials at the time, and it wasn’t until 2014 that the tide turned, as Paul explains:. “We became aware that there were groups of divers around the world voluntarily clearing nylon fishing net – basically what we know as ghost gear – from wrecks and reefs, in an effort to improve the safety of the area for both divers and marine life.”
“It was a moment of revelation,” continues Jim, “here were all of these guys pulling ghost gear out of the ocean to prevent reefs from being scoured or wildlife being trapped. While the simple act of this removal is totally laudable in itself, when you tack on the fact that there’s an organisation behind this, taking some of that netting, recycling it and turning it into usable yarn called Econyl®, then the story becomes even more exciting. We knew we had to try to use this yarn and be a part of this whole idea.”
Pertinently, this was all happening at a time when fourth element were developing a new swimwear range. “We found that the yarn being produced from this rescued ghost gear was of a high enough grade to use in our swimwear collection. With 70% of the fabric being recycled, this was the answer we had been looking for,” says Paul, and so fourth element’s OceanPositive range was born from a truly circular story: waste net removed by divers to be recycled into yarn, to be worn by those very men and women who had brought it up from the wrecks and reefs. As early adopters of this material, fourth element became part of a young charitable organisation, the Global Ghost Gear Initiative (GGGI). “The amount of ghost gear stuck on the bottom of the ocean is colossal,” explains Paul. “There’s always a focus on single-use plastic, however by weight, lost fishing gear contains ten times the amount of plastic of a bottle due to its density. These ghost nets trap marine life from crustaceans right the way through to marine mammals, and pretty much everything in between.”
Attending the second AGM for GGGI in London, Paul found there was great energy and excitement with an ambition aimed not just to remove this plastic from the oceans, but to prevent it from going in in the first place. “The GGI wasn’t a fund as such, it was a group of people asking how do we tackle this problem? How do we support people with an ambition to remove these nets? And then also, it was doing much more at a higher level, by trying to lobby governments to sign up to some sort of restrictions or legislation that would control fisheries and make them accountable for losing nets. As a direct result of the work done by GGGI, gear marking was introduced, a process where the boat registration is woven into the filaments of the net, making fishermen ultimately accountable.”
As a result of being involved at an early stage with these initiatives, fourth element found itself at the forefront of a significant raise in the level of awareness. They named the new swimwear range they had been developing ‘OceanPositive’ and found themselves as leaders within the diving industry on the subject. “As a result,” explains Paul, “other global dive organisations including PADI, followed our lead. Without wanting to blow our trumpet too much, we were pretty instrumental in widening awareness of the issue, including encouraging major fabric producing mills to integrate Econyl® yarn, not only into our own fabrics, but for the broader industry as well.”
“Since the swimwear, which really started it all,” adds Paul, “our mission has become to think about how we can make each and every product with recycled or more sustainable materials. This mission isn’t only for our new products, we also look retrospectively at items that we have already made, questioning whether we can innovate around the environmental aspect as well as performance? Nearly all of our thermal gear now contains recycled polyester nylon; one of our wetsuits has recycled nylon in there and this is extending as far as our hardware, with the introduction of our Rec Fins whose blades are made from recycled post-consumer plastic waste. They still give great diving performance, but with much lower impact on the environment.”
Fourth Element’s story goes far beyond diving gear. As sole directors, Paul and Jim shoulder their corporate responsibility and environmental stewardship with pride and have clearly used the power of business to effect real change. An example of which was Mission 2020, the company’s goal to eliminate single-use plastic packaging from fourth element by 2020. “While we didn’t fully meet the deadline,” says Jim, “the progress we did make was significant. I don’t feel that we failed. We might not have got there by the end of 2020, but we were very close.” The lessons learned from this challenge reveal a fundamental truth: setting ambitious goals, even if not fully met, teaches valuable lessons about what’s possible and what’s difficult. In this case, changing product packaging wasn’t just a question of will – it was a battle against deeply ingrained production processes. “We had to deal with manufacturing processes that were so automated that you couldn’t just switch out a plastic bag for a new sustainable material,” Paul explains.
By early 2021, the company had reached around 90% of its target, a feat they view as a massive achievement. Again, efforts spurred broader industry adoption, with many of their manufacturing partners now using more sustainable materials as a direct result. “If we hadn’t mentioned it, they may well have just carried on using plastic bags,” reflects Jim. “Mission 2020 inspired 125 other companies to commit to sustainability goals. From dive shops providing reusable water bottles to global competitors pledging to reduce plastic use, the movement gained significant traction. The little decisions we made have had big ripples. In many ways, the success of Mission 2020 was less about the company’s individual achievements and more about changing the industry’s attitude toward sustainability.”
From waterproof materials that avoid harmful chemicals to reducing air miles for transportation, the company now scrutinises every step in their supply chain to find ways to minimise environmental impact. They’ve also reduced air freight in favour of shipping by sea, acknowledging that while air freight may be faster, it’s significantly more damaging to the planet. The new Pelagic dive watch is a case in point. Packaged using only recycled materials (recycled PET) and FSC certified paper and card, this watch aligns with the company’s OceanPositive mission to use recycled and recyclable materials wherever possible and to build products to last. Named after the vast reaches of the open ocean, the Pelagic combines exceptional craftsmanship with high-specification engineering and is water resistant to 500m. Designed in the UK and hand-built in Switzerland the Pelagic ensures exacting timekeeping with an automatic mechanism, powered by a Swiss-made precision self-winding movement. It’s a watch suitable for the most extreme environments on Planet Earth, and was designed for durability and longevity, reducing the need for frequent replacements and so helping to minimise waste. The Pelagic is a watch to be passed down as an heirloom piece, further extending its lifespan and so reducing consumption, an element of sustainability that is often overlooked.
This environmental focus has also played a large role in maintaining customer loyalty. Paul and Jim conclude. “There’s a small but growing cohort of people who make the decision to buy our products, not just because of their technical excellence, but also due to our environmental standpoint. In the end, fourth element’s journey toward sustainability isn’t about perfection – it’s about progress. Nothing we do is going to make a big difference to the world alone, but it makes a big difference to us.”
To find out more about the new British-designed Swiss-made Pelagic dive watch and to order one of these limited edition timepieces visit driftjournal.co.uk/the-pelagic