Based on Equip’s initiative, a growing industry collaboration commits to publish an outdoor industry methodology for sustainability claims.

As an industry, we have reached an unprecedented level of confusion and complication when it comes to sustainability communications. Consumers demand transparency and clarity. But, sustainability doesn’t allow for shortcuts, a simple logo, or a single number or rating.

That’s why Equip Outdoor Technologies, the owners of UK outdoor brands Rab and Lowe Alpine, introduced Material Facts in Autumn 2023. Material Facts is an industry-first and a new and more transparent approach to communicating product sustainability data at component level including:

• Recycled materials by weight
• PFAS content
• Country of manufacture

This fall, the percentage of renewable energy used in the final product manufacturing stage has also be included. The challenges Equip are addressing with the data tables are affecting the whole industry. Equip has invited the industry to work with them to create a sustainability data standard based on the Material Facts methodology.

Together with European Outdoor Group (EOG), Equip hosted an interactive webinar series in Summer 2024, with 28 brands participating. Here, the Material Facts methodology was shared in a transferable format, enabling the industry to take it to the next level.

The Materials Facts Collective brings together industry partners, brands and retailers with different product categories and materials, allowing the original Material Facts methodology to be tested and improved. It aims to publish a formalized and unbranded data methodology in 2025.

The Material Facts Collective provides the bedrock for upcoming data transparency legislation, allowing companies to address the sustainability credentials of their products and enabling honest communications to consumers. This is something the whole industry should be striving towards.

Photo: RAB