Bureo Skateboards

What Bureo Skateboards does

Bureo Skateboards (legal entity Bureo, Inc.) is a Certified B Corporation founded in 2013 by David Stover, Ben Kneppers, and Kevin Ahearn that operates a B2B recycled-materials business centered on its NetPlus feedstock. The company sources post-consumer discarded fishing nets from 21 fishing communities across 6 countries (Chile, Peru, Argentina, Ecuador, Mexico, and Japan) and converts them through depolymerization into Nylon 6 pellets and HDPE pellets, which are then extruded into yarns for performance fabrics or processed into hat brims and injection-molded hard goods. NetPlus is documented to reduce carbon emissions by 20%, water use by 70%, fossil fuels by 67%, and energy by 68% versus virgin nylon production, with full traceability from net source through finished product.

Bureo monetizes NetPlus primarily through B2B material sales and licensing to brand partners, with no direct-to-consumer channel; 70+ brands have adopted the material, including Patagonia, Nike, Costa Sunglasses, Vuori, Outerknown, Peak Performance, OYUKI, Jenga, Futures Fins, and Carver Skateboards. The company's core product portfolio has three pillars — NetPlus Fabric (high-performance recycled nylon for apparel and outerwear), NetPlus Hat Brims (recycled HDPE), and NetPlus Hard Goods (injection-molded sunglasses, surf fins, skateboards, and board games) — supplemented by NetPlus Nylon 6 and HDPE pellets sold as raw materials. The Minnow skateboard, the world's first deck made from recycled fishing nets, was the founding product in 2013 but is now a heritage line alongside the commercial B2B licensing business.

The company operates dual headquarters in Oxnard, California (North America) and Talcahuano, Chile (South America), runs collection hubs in six countries, and employs 50-59 salaried staff. Bureo is privately held, has raised a Series B led by Toyota Tsusho in December 2023 with participation from Mirova, Ocean 14 Capital, Conservation International Ventures, and Susquehanna Foundation, and holds B Corp certification (90.2 score) and 1% for the Planet membership.

Name

Bureo Skateboards

Legal name

Bureo, Inc.

Website

https://bureo.co

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Bureo Skateboards is a Certified B Corporation that produces NetPlus, a fully traceable recycled-nylon and HDPE material made from post-consumer fishing nets, and licenses it to 70+ enterprise brands in apparel, eyewear, surf, and consumer goods.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Recycled Materials

NAICS

All Other Plastics Product Manufacturing (326199), Plastics and Rubber Products Manufacturing (326)

SIC

Miscellaneous Plastics Products (3080), Apparel & Other Finishd Prods Of Fabrics & Similar Matl (2300)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYIMAOALAD

Elastic, Tapes & Webbing Manufacturing (Elastic Bands/Binding/Strapping/Webbing)

Industrials, Manufacturing & Construction/Textiles, Apparel & Leather Manufacturing/Textile & Apparel Trims Manufacturing (Zippers/Buttons/Labels/Elastic)

Keywords

• Recycled fishing nets
• Recycled nylon material
• Sustainable textiles
• Recycled HDPE pellets
• Ocean plastic recycling

Headquarters

HQ city

Santiago

HQ country

Chile

HQ region

Latin America

Offices8 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Supply Chain, Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. NetPlus Material Sales: B2B licensing and sales of NetPlus recycled fishing net material to brand partners across fabric, hat brims, and hard goods categories. Brands incorporate NetPlus into their products and pay for the material supply.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Bureo designs, produces, and licenses NetPlus Material, a recycled nylon 6 and HDPE material derived from post-consumer discarded fishing nets. The material is supplied in three primary formats — fabric for performance apparel, hat brims, and hard goods (sunglasses frames, surf fins, skateboards, board games) — and is sold or licensed to 70+ brand partners who incorporate it into their finished consumer products.

Product overview

Bureo Skateboards operates as a B Corp sustainability company that manufactures and licenses NetPlus Material, a recycled nylon and HDPE material made from post-consumer discarded fishing nets. The core product portfolio includes NetPlus Fabric (high-performance recycled nylon for apparel and outerwear), NetPlus Hat Brims (recycled plastic brims), and NetPlus Hard Goods (injection-molded products like sunglasses, surf fins, frisbees, and board games). The company also produced the Minnow Skateboard (the world's first skateboard deck from recycled fishing nets) as its founding product in 2013. Bureo licenses its NetPlus material technology to 70+ brand partners including Nike, Patagonia, Costa, Vuori, Outerknown, Peak Performance, and OYUKI, enabling them to incorporate the recycled material into their products. The company operates a global net collection program spanning 6 countries and 21 fishing communities.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• NetPlus Material Bureo's signature recycled material made from post-consumer discarded fishing nets, supplied to brand partners for use across performance apparel, headwear, and injection-molded hard goods.
• NetPlus Fabric High-performance recycled nylon fabrics woven from NetPlus yarn for lifestyle and swimwear, waterproof multilayer outerwear, and downproof/windproof garments. Sold to apparel brand partners.
• NetPlus Hat Brims Recycled hat brims made from 100% post-consumer recycled HDPE fishing nets, with over 23 grams of recycled fishing net per brim, serving as a virgin-plastic alternative for hat brands.
• NetPlus Hard Goods Injection-molded products including sunglasses frames, surf fins, frisbees, and board games made from recycled fishing net material with material properties that rival virgin plastics. Sold to brand partners across hard goods categories.
• NetPlus Nylon 6 Pellets Recycled nylon 6 pellets produced through depolymerization of discarded fishing nets, extruded into high-quality yarns for fabric production. Intermediate raw material sold to fabric mills.
• NetPlus HDPE Pellets Recycled HDPE (High-Density Polyethylene) pellets derived from discarded fishing nets, used for injection molding applications like hat brims and hard goods.
• Minnow Skateboard The world's first skateboard deck made from recycled fishing nets — Bureo's founding consumer product launched in 2013, shipped from the company's garage studio in Redondo Beach, California.

Quantifiable outcome

• Reduces carbon emissions by 20% compared to virgin nylon production
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• Costa SunglassescoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024Untangled Collection - Costa repurposes discarded fishing nets into eyewear through the NetPlus program, diverting 3.6 tons of nets from the ocean since 2018
• PatagoniacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMajor brand partner using NetPlus recycled nylon in outerwear and hat brims
• NikecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNike Trail Storm-FIT ADV jacket made with NetPlus post-consumer recycled nylon
• VuorimajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerVuori Snow collection featuring 100% recycled waterproof NetPlus 4-layer fabric
• OuterknownmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerKelly Slater's brand - APEX Evolution Trunks crafted with NetPlus recycled fishing nets
• Peak PerformancemajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerConcept project Helium Loop Anorak using NetPlus nylon with Pertex and ALLIED Feather + Down
• OYUKIminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerWinter range outerwear and insulators made from NetPlus material
• JengamajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerJenga Ocean - first board game made from recycled fishing nets
• FuturesminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAlpha surf fins made with recycled fishing nets
• CarverminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Ahi skateboard featuring NetPlus deck and Carver's surfskate technology

Scale indicators11 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Plastic Bank: Social enterprise that collects ocean-bound plastic and converts it into Social Plastic feedstock sold to brands. Operates a parallel collection-to-brand supply chain model, focused on preventing ocean plastic leakage rather than fishing net recycling specifically.
• Parley for the Oceans: Ocean plastic interception organization that partners with brands (most notably Adidas) to convert recycled marine plastic into products. Operates a similar B2B model of supplying ocean-derived recycled material to consumer brands.
• Aquafil S.p.A. (ECONYL): Italian chemical company producing ECONYL, a recycled nylon 6 made from fishing nets, fabric scraps, and other waste. Closest direct competitor to Bureo, with longer market history, larger scale, and established textile industry relationships.

Emerging players

• ECOALF: Spanish sustainable fashion brand that uses recycled materials including fishing nets in its apparel and footwear. Combines material sourcing with direct-to-consumer brand building, partially overlapping with Bureo's recycled fishing net material sourcing.
• Tide Ocean Material: Swiss company producing recycled ocean-bound plastic pellets and yarns used in apparel and consumer goods. Direct competitor in the recycled ocean plastic feedstock market, though smaller in scale and focused on broader ocean plastic rather than fishing nets.
• Plastic Fischer: German company developing technology to recover plastic from rivers in developing countries. Operates an adjacent collection-to-feedstock model focused on riverine plastic rather than fishing nets.
• Sea2See: Spanish eyewear company that produces sunglasses from recycled marine plastic including fishing nets. Direct overlap with Bureo's hard goods line (also serving sunglasses brands like Costa), with a vertically integrated brand model.

Others

• Patagonia: Major outdoor apparel brand and a Bureo customer using NetPlus in jackets and hat brims. Has its own significant recycled materials initiatives and is both a customer and a competing sustainability thought leader.

Broad incumbents

• Adidas (Parley partnership): Global apparel incumbent that uses recycled ocean plastic through its long-standing Parley partnership. Represents the kind of large brand customer Bureo targets, and a major demand source for recycled ocean-derived materials.
• Unifi, Inc. (Repreve): US-based manufacturer of Repreve recycled fibers (primarily recycled polyester, with some nylon). Larger incumbent offering broader recycled material portfolio, serving apparel and textile brands at scale.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks1 record

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/BureoSkateboard
• Facebookfacebook.com/BureoSkateboards
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/bureo-skateboards

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds5 records

Investors8 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Bureo Skateboards