Our Mission
Our mission is to encourage climbers to be more socially and environmentally responsible by giving new life to their climbing shoes. We believe that climbing can unleash the inner spirit, bring people and cultures together, and foster stewardship of our planet and its limited resources. We take great care in preserving climbing shoes for the long haul, and strive to promote business and community practices that protect our planet and its people for generations to come.Supporting Our Communities
For our launch, we are so pleased to provide our first donations to the following non-profit organizations that are engaging local communities on the frontlines of social and environmental justice. We encourage you to follow them on social media, learn more about their work, get involved, and give generously when you can.
New York City Climbing Collective
NY3C exists to reshape the narrative of equity in the New York Metro climbing community + beyond. Through community organizing, education, and empowerment, NY3C strives to make the New York Metro area climbing community more accessible and inclusive for people of all ages, races, sexual orientations, gender identities, and abilities.
Website
Instagram
New York City Environmental Justice Alliance
Founded in 1991, the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance is a citywide membership network linking grassroots organizations from low-income neighborhoods and communities of color in their struggle for environmental justice. NYC-EJA empowers its member organizations to advocate for improved environmental conditions and against inequitable environmental burdens by the coordination of campaigns designed to inform City and State policies. Through our efforts, member organizations coalesce around specific common issues that threaten the ability for low-income communities of color to thrive.
Website
Twitter
UPROSE
Founded in 1966, UPROSE promotes sustainability and resiliency in Brooklyn's Sunset Park neighborhood through community organizing, education, indigenous and youth leadership development, and cultural/artistic expression. Central to their work is advocacy to ensure meaningful community engagement, participatory community planning practices, and sustainable development with justice and governmental accountability. As lead advocates of climate justice, UPROSE views the just urban policy—ranging from transportation to open space—as the heart of climate adaptation and community resilience.
Website
Twitter
Social & Environmental Justice is Racial Justice
Climbers can be a part of creating a more just world, where race and class are no longer predictors of whether you live near pollution, have access to the great outdoors, or have the means to go to a climbing gym. When you discard your climbing shoes there is a significant probability it will spend its final decades in a trash dump near a BIPOC or other historically marginalized community - in addition to worsening the climate crisis. Flash Friction seeks to be a vehicle for climbers to help address these issues and support local movements seeking to enact social, racial, and environmental justice.Your Impact
Saving your climbing shoes from the landfill helps communities that are disproportionately impacted by climate and environmental injustice. By being a part of the Flash Friction community, you are helping to achieve the following goals in our first year:- Resole and donate 100 pairs of used climbing shoes to climbing non-profits empowering BIPOC communities and other historically marginalized communities through climbing.
- Donate at least 3% of our profits to grassroots, community-led organizations fighting for environmental justice in NYC. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter where we’ll soon announce our community partners!
Who We Are
Flash Friction is a labor of love. Love of family. Love for our planet as well as its people. And a love for climbing. We are Eddy, Ceasar, and Alex Saingchin - the founders of Flash Friction, NYC’s only climbing shoe resoler. The Saingchin family has over 50 years of shoe repair experience. Of Chinese Cuban and Thai heritage, our parents immigrated to New York City seeking better opportunity, and leveraged their background as shoe cobblers. As the next generation, we are combining that experience with our passion for climbing, the outdoors, and social and environmental justice.Flash Friction is our offering to you – yet we are more than just a climbing shoe resoler. We are a family-run business. We are an aspiring social justice enterprise. We want to help create a new world where truly all communities have access to nature, healthy living environments, and the opportunity and power to fulfill their dreams. We hope you will join us.
Other Resolers Who Deserve Some Love
There aren't many climbing shoe resolers in the United States and they're all doing good by keeping shoes on your feet and out of landfills. Find your local resoler and see what they can do for you.
Special thanks to Mark! You've been incredibly kind and helpful.
