Our Commitment to a More Sustainable Future
At Mantis Sport, our love for the game of tennis goes hand in hand with a deep responsibility to the planet. It’s a core part of who we are—our commitment to environmental sustainability isn’t a side note, but a guiding principle in how we design, produce and operate. We believe that the true spirit of sport includes caring for our world, and our pledge is to put that belief into meaningful action.
Our Partnerships & Purpose
We’re proud to partner with the charity Recyc-a-Ball, who share our vision of reducing tennis’ environmental footprint. Together we’re working on initiatives that keep tennis balls out of landfill, support recycling efforts and ensure that the sport we love doesn’t cost the Earth. This partnership is a tangible way for us to deliver on sustainability—not just through words, but through real, measurable impact.
Our Commitments
To anchor our journey in credible benchmarks and external accountability, Mantis Sport is committing to the following frameworks:
Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) – Aligning our operations with science-based greenhouse gas reduction targets.
SME Climate Hub – Engaging with the Hub’s guidance and carbon-emissions calculator.
Better Business Act – Supporting the movement that calls for businesses to balance profit with people and planet.
By publicly declaring these commitments, we hold ourselves accountable—and invite our community to follow along with our progress.
Better Products. Better Processes.
Sustainability at Mantis isn’t just about what happens to a product at the end of its life. We believe some of the biggest improvements can be made much earlier — by questioning how products are manufactured in the first place.
Our new Mantis Premium Overgrips are a great example.
A More Considered Way to Make a Grip
Most players probably don’t spend much time thinking about how their overgrip is made. We do.
When developing our latest overgrips, we deliberately looked for a manufacturing process that could deliver the soft, tacky feel and dependable performance we wanted, while reducing the environmental impact associated with production.
The result is an overgrip manufactured using a water-based, solvent-free production process, helping to reduce VOC emissions compared with more traditional solvent-based manufacturing.
For us, that matters.
We don’t believe making products more responsibly should mean accepting lower performance. Our aim is to find better ways of producing the equipment players use every day — without compromising how that equipment performs on court.
Designed to Work Harder
We’ve also incorporated a herbal botanical deodorising extract into the material, giving the grip antibacterial properties and helping it stay fresher during regular play.
Independent testing demonstrated a bacterial reduction rate of more than 99.9% against common strains including Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli.
Combined with the soft, tacky surface players expect from a premium overgrip, it means we’ve been able to think about performance, hygiene and environmental impact as part of the same product development process.
Small Product. Bigger Thinking.
An overgrip might be a relatively small piece of tennis or padel equipment, but millions of grips are used by racket sports players around the world.
That’s why we believe seemingly small improvements matter.
We’re not claiming to have solved the environmental challenges facing racket sports. Far from it. But whenever we develop a new Mantis product, we want to ask more questions about the materials being used, the way it is manufactured, how it is packaged and what we can realistically do better.
Our overgrips are one step on that journey.
Sustainable Deliveries
Every stage of our product’s journey matters—including how it gets to you. That’s why, wherever possible, deliveries within London are handled by DPD, one of the UK’s most progressive logistics companies in sustainable transport. DPD’s “green delivery” network includes over 3,000 electric vehicles nationwide, and London became their first all-electric delivery city in 2021. By choosing DPD for last-mile logistics, we’re significantly reducing the carbon footprint of our UK orders—helping ensure that our racquets and accessories reach players’ doors cleanly and quietly.
Our Sustainability Journey
We don’t pretend we’re perfect—but we believe in transparency, honesty and continuous improvement. Our sustainability story includes:
Reducing packaging and exploring recycled materials.
Working closely with suppliers to promote energy-efficient manufacturing.
Publishing our progress towards SBTi and SME Climate Hub goals.
Sharing honest updates on what’s working, what’s challenging, and what’s next.
We’ll also publish blog posts to help you play your part—for example, how to recycle old tennis balls or donate rackets to local clubs—so that sustainability extends beyond our own operations and into the wider tennis community.
Product Lifecycle & Supply Chain
We’re exploring Product Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) and product carbon-footprint labelling, similar to how we share racquet weights. These insights will inform future design and material decisions. We’re also asking manufacturers what they are doing to reduce waste and emissions—and will celebrate their positive stories with our customers.
