Planting the cycle
Hotel strikes deal on sustainable bamboo bikes
AUSTRALIA’s only handmade bamboo bicycle business has partnered with a community driven, ecofriendly hotel brand to supply their unique bikes to guests.
Wyld Bikes will supply its bicycles to IHG Hotels’ premium voco brand, which will open its fifth Australian and New Zealand hotel in June at 85-87 North Quay in the Brisbane CBD in the former Mercure Hotel.
Natalie Simmons, cofounder of Barefoot Citizens, the group behind Wyld Bikes, said post-Covid, people were
realising that climate action was everyone’s responsibility.
“Increasingly people are leaning into this movement towards supporting responsible, ethical and sustainable businesses that influence positive change,” she said. “Our range of bamboo bicycles now available at voco hotels will offer Aussie travellers new ways to commute on holidays that honour their values and are easy on the environment, too.”
The IHG initiative is an expansion of its Tread Lightly philosophy across its five Australian voco locations and guests will be able to use the
bamboo bicycles free of charge. Part of the program is a Tread Lightly travel guide created with science communicator, environmentalist and model Laura Wells that shares tips for eco-conscious travellers.
IHG Australasia, Pacific and Japan vice president of commercial Dean Jones said the voco hotel brand had carved out a recognisable niche in the market.
“The aim of the brand is to incorporate our Tread Light philosophy by implementing initiatives that will have a lower impact on the environment and be far more sustainable,”
he said. “Our guests want to be offered more green alternatives and also be more local, and riding a bike around – especially a unique bamboo bike – is about as local as you can get.”
Based in Newstead in Brisbane with a workshop at Jindalee, Wyld Bikes – which stands for What You Love Doing – was launched in October 2021 as a full profit ecommerce business focused on the idea of profit with purpose.
They work with a social enterprise in Ghana that employs at risk women who handcraft the bamboo frames.
For every frame that they produce, 10 bamboo seedlings are planted. The bicycles start at $2000. Earlier this year they closed a crowd-funding expressions of interest phase seeking to raise $500,000.
Ms Simmons said the campaign went well and some larger investors were interested. She said it was decided it would be better to have “four or five partners rather than 250”.
“We’re also seeking other businesses and organisations to partner up with like voco and aim to be producing at least 750 bikes in 2022-23,” she said.