REI Co-op Announces New, Sustainable Product Standards

(Credit: REI Co-op)

REI Co-op is engaging its more than 1,000 brand partners to advance more sustainable and inclusive business practices. The REI Product Impact Standards include the co-op's expectations for how brands are addressing carbon reduction, inclusive marketing practices and cultural designs in the products they make and sell to REI.

The standards first launched in 2018 as a way for REI to advance sustainability across the industry and have expanded to include additional areas of impact. The standards also include voluntary product certifications, known as preferred attributes, which includes recognition for products that are certified to Climate Neutral, bluesign, or other leading standards supporting organic ingredients, recycled materials or fair trade. REI is committing that, by 2030, all products on its shelves will have a preferred attribute so that every purchase at REI supports a healthier, cleaner, more equitable planet.

The REI Product Impact Standards (previously Product Sustainability Standards) are designed to evolve over time to ensure the co-op proactively engages partners on the industry's most pressing and meaningful topics. When the standards were first launched in 2018, they were hailed as the first of their kind in the retail industry. Since then, REI has declared climate change as the greatest threat to the future of the outdoors and its business.

To ensure the standards are both feasible and impactful, the new guidelines were shaped by partner brands of various sizes and product categories. REI also consulted more than a dozen inclusion and sustainability partners, including nonprofits, advocates, and ambassadors from across the outdoor industry and community. There are four major updates that address carbon reduction, inclusive marketing practices and cultural designs:

• Carbon footprint measurement and reduction: With plans to more than halve its carbon footprintby 2030, REI is holding itself accountable for each unit of carbon it emits in its own operations and products. REI also aims to engage brand partners to reduce the emissions embedded in their products and expects all brand partners to create an action plan by the end of 2021 for measuring their annual carbon footprint and working to reduce emissions embedded in products.
• Incorporating preferred attributes to products:REI expanded the list of third-party certifications that brands are encouraged to utilize and will actively seek products that incorporate these preferred attributes. The co-op is setting a target that 100% of products on its shelves contain a preferred attribute by 2030 so that every purchase at REI encourages better ways of doing business.
• Inclusive marketing practices: By the end of 2021, REI expects brand partners to establish guidelines for marketing assets, photo casting and photography practices to ensure diverse representation across race, age, gender identity and expression, body size, and disability. Brands must also ensure they are not using language that negatively impact underrepresented groups to describe a product, collection, color or design.
• Cultural or culturally inspired designs:To assure diverse artists, designers and their communities of origin are properly credited and compensated for their work, REI expects brands to implement strategies to prevent plagiarism, theft and inappropriate use of designs, patterns and names that are culturally meaningful to and originated from Native, Indigenous or other communities underrepresented in the outdoor industry.

While much of this work is underway at REI, the co-op will be working and learning alongside its brand partners as it implements the standards to its own REI Co-op brand products.