TOM KAY: 20 YEARS OF DANCING THROUGH THE WAVES AT FINISTERRE

Just behind St. Agnes, a stones throw from the coast you’ll find Wheal Kitty, a little arrangement of workshops where once lay a tin mining site. Now home to the likes of Surfers Against Sewage, Canteen and at the heart of the site you find todays focus, Finisterre. Routed at the core of cold water surfing, coastal living and market leaders in the drive for a positive impact future, what better location for the brand to be born and continue to be based 20 years on.

On a classic blustery winters afternoon on the north coast we visited Tom Kay, the founder of Finisterre. Within the first few minutes of meeting Tom he comes across as driven, energetic and extremely passionate about causes close to his and ultimately Finisterre’s heart. Tom’s story started in north Norfolk near Blakeney Point and Morston, the location that started his love affair of the sea spending time in the marshes and creeks sailing and windsurfing as well as generally learning lessons about life on the water. However, his love for surfing was birthed on childhood summer holidays to Cornwall and getting amongst the waves on the Cornish coast. Surfing as a hobby broadens horizons, you discover new places, you’re amongst natures harshest elements and can get your adrenaline pumping by living life a little on the edge. Tom spoke of a memory of catching your first wave, you turn and look down the line with the wave rolling alongside you. He also highlighted the excitement of getting a new board, something most surf enthusiast cherish the buzz from even to this day. Tom’s parents thought it important to give their children a love of the sea and mountains whilst growing up and these are values that Tom has carried forward to this day and now passes onto his own family.

After a childhood by the UK coastlines falling in love with the waters, Tom went on to study Biology at Bristol university with a heavy focus on the marine sector. From there he found himself in London in a chartered surveying role or what some would call the “career job,” but after a year and a half in the role, something was calling to him to uproot and plunge himself back into the elements of coastal life and start to build a brand he had seen a wanting for in the market. This was the need for cold weather clothing for surfers and sea goers alike to quickly warm themselves up in after getting out of the sea. At the time the big surf brands of the moment were all about board shorts and bikini’s, the likes you’d see advertised on the tanned bodies of a Californian lifestyle, pretty redundant to the uk surfers in our winter months amongst the waves.

Right at the start of having the idea Tom had the name Finisterre in mind, growing up he had become accustomed to listening to radio 4’s shipping forecasts in the back of his parents car on family outings. Tom fell in love with it’s romantic nature and the thought of all the different vessels relying on the forecast as one of the main guides for safe voyage in rough seas. Finisterre was one of the areas of sea described in the forecasts sitting between the south of the UK and west of the French coast, just beside the area of Biscay. (The area of Finisterre has now been renamed “Fitzroy” after the man who founded the Met office) The name Finisterre, derives from the Latin finis terrae meaning “end of the earth”, between this and the connection to the shipping forecasts this makes for quite the fitting name to spearhead the story Finisterre as a brand wanted to tell. From the start Tom had 3 core values that still resonate to this day within the business, number 1 is a love of the sea, this represents both the enjoyment that comes from being in or beside the ocean. Number 2 is only creating clothing with a purpose in the areas of interest and only what we need, apparel that will last for years and not living a life of excessive reproduction. Finally number 3 is giving back to charities that make a difference close the sea, starting with early collaborations with the likes of the SAS (Surfers Against Sewage) and the marine conservation society. Since then they’ve worked closely with the RNLI and today the Finisterre foundation set up by Tom’s wife which contributes with the likes of a collaboration for international women’s day with Surf Yonder, with £2 of every sale on the day going towards Yonder Surf Academy CIC to supply support to people that have lost their confidence with the water or to build an initial relationship with the water for those that have been fearful of starting. The Finisterre foundation has also worked with the Queer Surf Club who look to champion inclusivity within the waters and create a movement for a better world within our communities both in and out of the surf. A new project that has come to the creators at Finisterre’s attention is the need for adaptable wetsuits for ease of use for people with disabilities and other ailments, within this the individual can work with the alterations team to add the likes of extra zip openings and functionality of a wetsuit to make them more accessible to as many people as possible. The power of water therapy can be very powerful, so the thought of someone not being able to access this just because they can’t get into a wetsuit didn’t sit right.

©Abbi Hughes - Finisterre

In mid 2003 and having found St. Agnes as his destination in Cornwall to settle, Tom found himself nestled in a flat up above a surf shop. Tom began on his journey in building a brand for the people with always the best intentions for the planet and the environment he had grown to love, the main focus. Whilst working a job in Truro part time, beach lifeguarding and helping at surf school’s to pay the bills and get his dream off the ground, the planning began with some help from his sister as he looked to create his first piece of apparel. Having decided on a fleece, designed to be essentially bulletproof from all weather conditions but also with the goal of using sustainable materials as best he could, Tom went about researching everything he needed to know. Coming from the position of being a complete novice in the apparel industry this took some trial and error, but gradually after a 6-9 month journey including working with a textiles research team in Leeds to help him validate the product, he found the materials and suppliers and got his first small batch of fleeces made. With his small flat now stocked with fleeces then came marketing them, with the fleeces having a slightly higher price point of £95 to start it was important to tell the story that you’d be investing in a long lasting product with a higher price point of materials which should be better for the environment. At this stage it was the early 2000’s, digital marketing was virtually non existent and Facebook was still in the works of getting off the ground. This meant the best routes to attempt were publications, flyer hand outs and being in constant contact with journalists in the hope for positive write ups. This was still the time of dial up internet and Tom had to wait for his flatmates to not be using the phone lines to be able to safely navigate his initial 3 page website before potentially being stopped in his tracks by the dreaded unexpected phone call to cut off his connection. With the creative buzz in his brain just about managing to drown out the scream of the chugging dial up box he came up with an innovative idea for his first flyer and whole page magazine advert. Tom went back to his roots and used a pressure chart for its centre piece, something him and his friends had become very accustomed to reading on many a surf trip. To do this Tom visited the met office in London on a whim to see if he could delve into their archives to find the best looking chart, after gaining the permission and some time searching Tom found the perfect chart for the advert centrepiece, this was the pressure chart for the most perfect surf on the west coast from over the last 20 years. The idea behind making the pressure chart the focus was to catch the eye of people that knew what they were looking at and making them think “wait what is that, I know that”. These were the people Finisterre wanted to get on board early and connect to the most, then once they had infiltrated this group, these patrons would then subconsciously then help blood Finisterre into the community.

Founder Tom in Finisterre’s St.Agnes store

During his time setting up the business Tom applied to the Prince’s Trust scheme, this is a scheme the then prince Charles had set up to help the next generation of entrepreneurs get started in the business world with regular mentorship and a low interest four thousand pound loan to get them started. This came full circle in 2018 when Prince Charles visited Wheal kitty workshops for the ‘ocean plastic solutions conference,’ meeting Tom on his tour of Finisterre and the other ocean activists on site.

After four years of spreading the Finisterre name and what it stood for, gradually improving the fleece and pushing it out into the community through countless trade shows it was time for Tom to relinquish the part time jobs and go full steam ahead with his own brand. By this point he needed some help, Tom was smart enough to know that he wasn’t an expert in every area and needed to look to hire his first staff and also get some brand ambassadors on board. First up were a designer and a marketing expert, to build any business with a cause you need to hire talented individuals but also people that fully buy into your ethos. When telling the story, Tom reminisces of times with his initial small team working hard to push the brand during the day shifts and then living the lifestyle in the evenings playing amongst the waves and catching a chilled beer on the shores post surf as the sun went down, wearing a Finisterre original fleece ofcourse! With any successful business with longevity it’s not always sunshine and roses, there’s tough times when the product isn’t flowing out the door and paying your staff’s wages can be a real juggling act between all the other bills. However, to put it in a Finisterre theme, its the ones who persist in navigating the choppy waters long enough until that perfect wave comes to carry them through the storm that are usually the ones that prevail long term. When experiencing growth many obstacles can come along and as Tom had spent years sourcing and developing the higher quality materials, these weren’t in ample supply. For example when you make 50 fleeces at a time its ok but once demand grows and you’re in need of larger amounts the stumbling blocks of keeping the quality and quantity consistently high can become a challenge. Luckily the persistence was strong with Tom and he managed to jump over many hurdles as the next few years went by. Soon one product became six with the introduction of a range of base layers and a winter jacket, this was to compliment the trusted fleece Finisterre had championed so far for wearing alongside your ocean expeditions. At this stage Tom stated some of his milestone moments from the first few years of the brand, these include the first time they broke even at a trade show, the first time he saw someone he didn’t know wearing his brand and Finisterre winning the observer ethical business award which was a real achievement for a business at this stage of its development. For the following years, business and staff grew steadily and the Finisterre movement continued to spread amongst communities. More people were choosing the brand for their everyday life and wearing the logo like a badge of honour for what it meant to be part of a community for good. As I sit here today in the window of a sleepy Falmouth coffee shop writing this article I can’t help but notice just how many Finisterre jackets of all styles you see passers by wearing, fleeces, puffers and raincoats protecting them from the Scandinavian ice blast we are currently experiencing.

By the mid 2010’s Finisterre’s team was up to around 50 people, they had started to open bricks and mortar stores, the first being within the Wheal kitty workshops, this had started out as just a rail in the office but now a shopfront was stocked full of different garments which offered a real first hand opportunity for the community to come in and see the products, try before you buy and really feel the quality you’re getting. Soon after and in quick succession of each other they opened both London and Bristol sites. This really started to put the word on the street in the cities as passers by wanted a piece of the action in these new look stores with their nature inspired aesthetics. At this point Tom found himself getting spread a little thin, jumping between being the founder and brand ambassador spreading the story, to then being needed in all areas of the office to help with projects and putting out the daily fires that come with running your own business. Tom and his close team made the decision to bring in a CEO, always a big moment in a growing business and a real sign of expansion. Tom states this as a real milestone in the company and a moment to springboard the rapid growth of Finisterre from here on out, this freed him up to get out into communities, hold conferences and demonstrations in their own stores, panel at larger events, guest on podcasts and give back to the charity programmes, also freeing up more time for his now young family and volunteering as helm with the RNLI. Today Finisterre has grown close to 200 employees across their office sectors both at Wheal kitty and remotely as well as staffing their now eleven storefronts, the latest of which in Holt, north Norfolk a stones throw from where Tom grew up opening at the back end of 2023. As recently as a couple of days ago they also announced their new president and general manager for north America, not a bad announcement and sign of intention to start the New Year.

With Finisterre becoming a household name for its ethos as well as gaining consistent growth in day to day business, the opportunity came to get their innovative brains together again and start to tackle even more of the manufacturing challenges when it comes to making a regenerative impact. Over the last decade two projects in particular have really championed the work Finisterre do and how much of an impact they want to make moving forward. First up is their wetsuit to wetsuit programme, this started with the intention of cutting back on the use of highly damaging petroleum based neoprene and introducing circularity in the wetsuit industry. An estimated over eight thousand tonnes of neoprene goes in landfill each year, this needs to change and from Finisterre this was the first step in turning that tide. To start with they collected old wetsuits in drop in bins located in their stores across the country as well as a free post service online, this could be wetsuits of any age and any brand to be taken in and recycled. Once all the suits had been collected they were then reused and turned into a range of neoprene ocean accessories to go back on sale in shops and so creating that cycle of regenerative improvements. During this time they also wanted to look into alternate materials to make Finisterre’s own wetsuit range, working closely with a professor at the University of Exeter who had a wealth of experience in materials reengineering. Not only would the professor help develop, but would also mentor the design/recycling team in house at Finisterre. The brand also invested heavily in research for alternatives to neoprene, today their wetsuit range is made from majority Yulex Pure® which is a natural and renewable source of rubber which produces 80% less carbon dioxide into the environment. Finisterre have been working closely with Circular Flow for a number of years now, a neoprene recycling expert with the aim of creating an 100% closed loop recyclable neoprene partnership. They now recycle every element of the returned products so that no waste is created.

Another project that has now become a Finisterre staple is the Bowmont wool project and the legend of Lesley Prior. To start Finisterre was using wools from New Zealand and Australia for products, however having won the Observer ethical business award they started thinking about ways to bring the supply chain closer to home. They wanted to source a fine fibre like Morino as when you wear fine fibre wool close to the skin its not itchy, ideal for warming up after drying off from a sea escape. To be classed as fine fibre it needs to sit at 18.5 microns in diameter anything under is super fine and after that ultra fine, which sits at anything under 15 microns, this is a very important key criteria as they searched for a collaborative supplier. After a couple of years of extensive research they came across a farmer named Lesley Prior in Devon that had found a fine fibre sheep called the Bowmont and had collected the last remaining 28 left in the country. With 28 not being a huge amount of sheep to make any product with, this was a project to build for the future. Finisterre went about underwriting the project and started to store the sheered wool and accumulate it over a four year spell. At this stage they got to the point where they had collected enough wool to start making products, there are many stages to the wool production process from when it’s sheered, cleaned, scoured, combed, carded, then it’s spun and then finally knitted. This included transporting the fleece to Gledhills in Yorkshire to be spun followed by a visit to Scotland for dying and knitting, from there the dream became a reality with the first products being created in the way of scarves and beanies. A really proud moment for Finisterre in their journey to bring back a 100% British supply chain back into practice and it be exclusively between Lesley’s Bowmont flock and Finisterre.

(To find out more and follow along as the journey continues, please visit www.Finisterre.com and read through all the fantastic projects they have undertaken over they’re 20 years of existence, this is just a couple of highlights from an extensive range of milestones to good to mention in Finisterre’s history).

Finisterre has worked with many like minded brands to release collaborations in recent years, these include the likes of a Timex watch with a unique hand that tracks the movement of the local tide, Blundstone boots made from all vegan materials made to withstand all your adventures on our rugged coastlines and also the RNLI with products like beanies and socks with 10% of every sale going to help support the vital work the organisation do protecting lives around our coastlines. The RNLI is particularly close to Tom’s heart, he’s volunteered on the St.Agnes crew as a helmsman for the last 20 years since his move to Cornwall. With spending so much time in the water over his life’s journey so far, being able to give back on both the lifeboat rescues first hand and now financially through Finisterre collaborations makes for a really important cause to Tom.

As Finisterre moves in to the future it wants to continue the great work it has already begun in making the future a brighter one for all. They ran a crowd funder round which let people quite literally buy into the vision, this turned out to be a huge success and today up to 20% of Finisterre is owned by patrons. Tom and the senior team hold regular online and in person conferences where patrons can ask all the questions they like and founder Tom and CEO Will can put across updates and goals for the next seasons ahead. For Tom to think back when he started the brand and battled to keep it going with one product for the first four years, to now for him to see so many people caring so passionately about the ethos must feel like a real sense of accomplishment. Of course Tom being Tom will always deflect back onto the future and never stray too far from highlighting that our roles to play have only just begun.

Finisterre’s first advert postcard

If you’ve ever heard about or researched Finisterre you’ve probably seen many stories about sustainability and a real focus of protecting our land and oceans. As much as this is true, in a recent interview Tom discussed this point and highlighted a very important angle on how to look at things moving into our future. This point was how sustainability isn’t really enough, its a word that’s become over saturated and easily thrown around to make things look better where sometimes they are not, however the phrase comes from the meaning “to sustain” which means to keep things as they are. Although this is a good starting point, when we look around are things really in a good place currently to just sustain or do we need real change? Moving forward Finisterre is all about championing positive impact and becoming regenerative, using the likes of recycled materials as much as possible and acting first hand with their repair/reworn shop or trade in vouchers, where you trade in an old jacket to be refreshed and get a voucher towards a new item, meanwhile your old jacket can be reused and repurposed or repaired and resold as opposed to being sent to landfill.

This is one of Tom’s favourite diagrams for business life

When Tom started Finisterre 20 years ago, he set out with clear intentions and values to provide a useful product for people with similar interests to him in an area that was needed, but to always have key positive impact values in mind. Now we sit here and can happily say that these non-negotiable values, have never changed, Finisterre has grown and if you are looking to start a business in 2024, please make sure to think about the effect it will have on our environment. Be part of creating a real change for the next generation, what can you and your business do to be better? Finisterre aren’t saying they are perfect, nor are they saying they have all the answers. Sometimes even with the best intentions we all have some negative effects on nature but its about minimising those costs as much as possible and trying to leave the planet better than you found it. Finisterre are really at the coal face and pioneering forefront of constantly evolving change, its a process that takes time but change always has to start somewhere.

Tom said “in business or in life, you never know where things are going to take you. If you go for something and the direction is strong enough, doors open” and we think this is a mantra we can all learn to live by.