An interesting phenomenon in action sports are the brands that evolve you typically wouldn’t expect: the action sports sunscreen, or the action sports cell phone--the action sports bra and panties...headphones. My favorite: “action freight” … a freight company specializing in the needs of the action sports industry - whatever that means.

It’s hard not too feel that some of these brands are jumping on the bandwagon. All those nasty terms like profiteering, exploiting youth culture, etc. come to mind. Kinda lacks authenticity, don’t you think? Well, now that’s a cynical way to look at it. Perhaps a better way is to view these companies as opportunity creators: for the employees they hire, for the athletes and events they sponsor and for the consumer to which they deliver a relevant and usable accessory for their leisure identity. Furthermore, if the brand is doing something positive for the people of the world, then, well, gosh darn it, it’s certifiably cool.

The latest brand to join these certifiably cool ranks is my new water bottle maker, Mizu. Created by pro snowboarder Jussi Oksanen and snowboarding filmmaker Brad Kremer, Mizu makes water bottles from stainless steel in an aesthetically pleasing mold, with a core brand positioning backed by some of your favorite pros.

This ain’t no hippy Nalgene bottle complete with carabineer. This is a badass water bottle for your kick butt lifestyle. Digging a bit deeper, I hit up Jussi to get the hard facts on this hard as steel product.


Mizulife Collection


BNQT - Why start a bottle company?
Jussi - There are many products out there that are common use, that seem to throw an action sports theme to them and suddenly they're an "action sports" brand, i.e., Skullcandy (action sports headphones). We truly came up with the idea because we were using re-usable bottles and we weren't really happy with the product and the branding out there. So we just thought - why not make our own bottles? We figured that if we can't find what we want, there must be a bunch more people like us.

Was it just a open category you saw as an opportunity or was there truly an environmental motive? Or both?
I think it's both: for sure we saw that there was potential for something like this in our market, but at the same time we be believe that we can let people now why this makes sense, and it's important to build a brand that you believe in. It's simple really - the amount of plastic water bottles we go through every day is just disgusting. So just changing your habits you can reduce the amount of trash you create as well as saving a bunch of money by not buying some water bottled for over 10$ gallon which, moreover,  is 60% most likely to be tap water anyway!

BNQT - What plans do you have to market and distribute the brand and product?
We have got a lot of help from the companies and people in our industry. It's very cool - it seems like everybody wants to help and support what we are doing. We are marketing our brand in the surf, skate and snow lifestyles. Right now we are working on collaborations with some major action sports companies that will help us get in to the retail. We are working on our distribution channels, but we need to take our time to get everything right before we can go all out.

You've got both Dane Reynolds and Todd Richards featured on your website. Are they officially Mizu athletes or just helping a brotha out?
We just want to get people involved who really understand the idea and the concept and want to be part of the mizulife. Dane, for example, has always insisted on reusing his water bottles, so he is a natural match for what we are doing. We are not trying to get the best athletic "team" as such, but more just creating a group of people who genuinely back the ideas we are driving for.

Dane Reynolds


Where can someone purchase a bottle? How much will they cost?
We will sell the bottles on our website  www.mizulife.com and we will have limited retail stores carrying our product starting this fall. The prices are all on our website, and vary depending on the size of the bottle.

It's known that the bottles are made in China b/c you can't get high enough grade stainless steel in the States. Is there any other product material suitable for what you're doing?
Stainless steel is the best material we can use, it's very strong, durable and most importantly it is inert - so it doesn't react with the liquids inside it, and so is the safest material you can use. Manufacturing the bottles here in the US is pretty much impossible, but we are looking into manufacturing the bottles in Mexico at the moment, which would cut down on the amount of transportation needed. 



Todd Richards


Will there be any alternative models (shapes or sizes) in the future?
We have an industrial designer working on a new mold for us right now as well as some other accessories that we are really excited about, and we are very motivated to get these into production as soon as possible.

Lastly, I've noticed that you're teamed up with P.O.W. - any other organizations you plan to work with?
We have teamed up with P.O.W - the charity Protect Our Winters - as it is a perfect match for us with our snowboarding background. We are also looking into working with Surf Aid, so these will be the two major charities we will be working with.


For more visit www.mizulife.com