Finisterre to turn Black Friday blue with Finisterre Foundation launch

Sustainable outdoor brand Finisterre is shunning the biggest sales event of the year, Black Friday, to support equal access to the ocean for everyone with the launch of its Finisterre Foundation Community Interest Company.

By turning Black Friday blue, Finisterre states that it will be able to make a “real difference” to help fund schemes such as ‘The Wetsuit Project’ by donating 2.50 pounds from every order over Black Friday Weekend, from November 26 - 29, instead of offering discounts.

‘The Wetsuit Project’ is one of the Finisterre Foundation’s inaugural projects and provides alterations on wetsuits to improve accessibility to the ocean.

The move to launch a charitable foundation is aligned to the company’s founding principles to champion access for everyone to enjoy coastal playgrounds to help more people recognise the role our ocean plays as the blue heart of our planet.

The newly founded Finisterre Foundation will work to remove the barriers to access so everyone can benefit from the transformative power of the ocean by encouraging, empowering, and enabling people to connect with the sea to improve their physical and mental wellbeing. It will also provide grants to support small scale charitable projects, primarily in the UK, alongside the time, skills, and equipment to support the foundation’s mission.

To highlight what connecting to the ocean can offer, Finisterre worked with disabled Andrew Birkett to share his story in a short film titled ‘The Freedom it Gives Me’ and the barriers that disabled people have to overcome to get into the water.

Tom Kay, director of Finisterre Foundation CIC, said in a statement: “Making Andrew’s film it really dawned on me how, for so many people, wetsuits are a barrier to getting in the sea. So, I’m incredibly proud to be doing something about this by supporting the Finisterre Foundation Wetsuit Project this Blue Friday.

“Funding the adaption of any wetsuit in the hope of making a big and immediate difference to people’s ability to get in the sea. I cannot wait to see how it goes, and who knows, maybe the industry will take notice and do something too.”

The Foundation’s Wetsuit Project will be through an application process that will be accessed on an individual basis, with Finisterre adding that its ambition is to never say no to a genuine application to have a wetsuit adapted. The initiative will continue beyond Blue Friday, as an evergreen initiative to support the brand’s diverse community of ocean lovers.