Mud Rat started as a research project in my dorm room. I’ve been surfing since highschool and it was through that, that I started paying attention and noticing what was going on in the environment around me. I’ve been interested in nature from a young age, anyone who’s into surfing has some stake in the health of our oceans. It was frustrating that surfers weren’t doing more to protect and advocate against marine debris and plastic pollution. I took to it and decided I was going to do my own research and come up with a solution. 

 

Through trial, error, and shaping surfboards, I had the hard realization that I couldn’t fix a problem I was contributing to. I had been shaping surfboards in my garage when I noticed my skin was itchy and I had a cough. The styrofoam blanks that surfboards are made out of contain only 2 chemicals, both of which are deadly. Surfboards cannot be recycled. So not only are surfboard shapers constantly putting themselves at risk, surfboards and the process to make them are a part of a much larger issue, the one that is killing our planet. 

 

I landed on mycelium kinda by accident. Determined to find a solution to the styrofoam blanks, mushroom mycelium was the only material I could afford as a college student. It worked decent enough to the point I knew what I wanted to do was possible. Through the years of working to make a better surfboard blank, I also learned what a massive gap there is for sustainable alternatives to high performance plastics in marine and action sports applications. That’s an area we are looking forward to diving into in the future. 

 

Mud Rat is more than a biomaterials company. We are a community built on the determination to figure out the solutions we should’ve had this whole time. Running this company is my passion and I am the luckiest person on the planet to be surrounded not only by our incredible team who are also dedicated to Mud Rat’s mission, but also by everyone in the surf community who continues to support us and help us along the way!