REI Co-op: Sustainability Spotlight
Nov 20, 2024
Table of contents
As one of the largest retailers of outdoor gear, REI Co-op holds a great deal of influence over individual brands. It has used this status to push its brand partners to higher sustainability standards, exerting a strong impact on the industry as a whole. In 2018, REI launched a set of sustainability guidelines called the “Product Impact Standards,” which encourage better environmental practices throughout the company’s offerings and specifically target its brand partners. Currently, over 80% of the brands REI retails are involved in sustainability-oriented industry forums or initiatives, and nearly 65% have a sustainability training program in place. More than 100 brands, representing 60% of the company’s annual sales, are measuring greenhouse gas emissions and setting emissions reduction targets. Recently, REI took a strong stance on PFAS by deciding to sell only cookware and textile products that are entirely free from these chemicals.
Furthermore, REI is involved in many climate initiatives, including being a founding member of the Outdoor Industry Association's Climate Action Corps, working with Cascale (a global non-profit that created the Higg Index, previously known as the Sustainable Apparel Coalition) to expand tools to assess a company's environmental and social impacts across global footwear and apparel markets, and partnering with the Textile Exchange to improve consumers ability to trace product materials throughout the supply chain. The company has also established its own platform—the Cooperative Action Network—to pursue projects related to climate action, outdoor equity, and public lands stewardship.
On both the product and brand level, REI is taking meaningful action towards sustainability. Notably, it’s one of only a handful of companies in the outdoor industry that is Climate Neutral Certified, which means it offsets its greenhouse gas emissions by purchasing carbon credits. Additionally, REI is making progress in reaching its Science Based Targets Initiative-verified goal of a 47% decrease in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. In its branded products, REI has prioritized using materials and practices that meet various sustainability metrics, including 49% recycled polyester, 70% Bluesign-approved fabrics, and certifications like Fair Trade Certified and Responsibly-Sourced Materials. Plus, the sustainability filter on REI’s website is a great tool for finding products made with specific certifications or attributes.
Bluesign is the leading certification system for environmental impact and worker safety standards within the textile manufacturing industry. REI is a Bluesign System Partner, which means it has committed to eliminating hazardous chemicals and implementing sustainable practices throughout the supply chain. The company has a Restricted Substances List (RSL) based on Bluesign’s guidelines that meets or exceeds global regulatory standards for harmful substances. In 2023, 70% of the fabrics used in REI Co-op brand products were Bluesign-approved, and the company conducts in-house chemical testing on the materials that aren’t Bluesign-approved to ensure they still meet global regulatory requirements for consumer safety. Additionally, REI has created a Chemical Management Guide to help its suppliers identify which chemicals are of greatest concern so they can be targeted for further testing.
Of the nine REI apparel products reviewed by Better Trail at the time of this writing, 100% include at least one Bluesign-approved material. For example, REI’s 650 Down Jacket, which we review here, uses a Bluesign-approved recycled nylon shell fabric, Bluesign-approved nylon lining, and Bluesign-approved down that is certified to the Responsible Down Standard.
In 2021, REI joined the 2025 Recycled Polyester Challenge, an initiative by Textile Exchange (a global non-profit focused on sustainable textile production), and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change that aims to increase the use of recycled polyester in the clothing industry. REI overshot its goal of using at least 45% recycled polyester by 2025, reaching 49% recycled polyester and 41% recycled nylon in 2023. You can learn more about recycled materials here.
Many of REI’s products are Fair Trade Certified, meaning they are produced according to rigorous social and environmental standards, and the workers who make them earn a Fair Trade premium. For example, REI’s entire Powderbound Collection (minus the socks) is manufactured in Fair Trade Certified factories, and over 75% of the REI products reviewed by the Better Trail team are Fair Trade Certified (second only to Patagonia). REI was also one of the first signatories to the Social & Labour Convergence Program (SLCP), a collaborative effort among brands, manufacturers, and labor rights groups that seeks to elevate labor conditions in the international textile supply chain. As an SLCP member, REI is helping to develop an industry-wide protocol to collect social and labor data to identify opportunities for improvement throughout the production process.
REI uses third-party certifications to vet its material sources. For example, 100% of the virgin down and feathers used in REI products meet the Responsible Down Standard (RDS). For products containing wool, REI sources virgin wool from sheep farms that follow animal welfare standards (REI also prefers using wool certified to the Responsible Wool Standard). When using leather in a product, REI prioritizes suppliers rated by the Leather Working Group, a non-profit focused on creating a sustainable global leather supply chain. In addition to these practices, there are a number of materials REI does not use because of their negative environmental impact or because of animal welfare concerns, including alpaca fiber, angora, rayon made from bamboo, mohair, exotic leathers and fur, and dry-clean only fabric.
REI is in the process of transitioning away from using per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in its branded products but currently does not provide any detail on where it is in that process or how it plans to do so. The company has committed to banning PFAS from cookware and textile products by the fall of 2024 but has yet to respond to questions from Better Trail about its progress toward that goal. REI has given brands that sell expedition-level gear in its stores until 2026 to phase out PFAS. REI has also eliminated polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a plastic that releases toxic chemicals into the environment, from all its products except bicycle parts.
Unlike some of its counterparts in the outdoor industry, such as Patagonia or Arc’teryx, REI does not offer an in-house repair service for its gear. The company provides recommendations on where to get your gear fixed, and its website features numerous articles on caring for and repairing your own gear, but it does not have its own program to do so.
REI has sold used outdoor gear for more than 60 years through its “garage sale” events and now has two dedicated brick-and-mortar Re/Supply stores in addition to its used online sales platform, Re/Supply. The company will accept any gently used gear found in its Used Gear Trade-In Catalog, regardless of whether it was originally purchased at REI. Customers can also trade in used gear in person or via mail-in and receive an REI gift card in return. The company estimates the sale of used gear avoids carbon emissions of 50% or more (compared to manufacturing new gear) by keeping products in circulation for longer.
When packaging its products, REI prioritizes using paper-based packaging that is FSC-certified or made from certified post-consumer waste. Additionally, the company seeks ways to eliminate packaging entirely whenever possible. For instance, its “roll-pack” packaging method—used for most REI Co-op brand apparel—in which products are gently rolled and secured with a twist of FSC-certified paper instead of using disposable plastic bags. The company has also created sustainable packaging guidelines, adopted from the Outdoor Industry Association’s packing guidelines, that set a high standard for sustainable and environmentally friendly packaging for REI-brand products and encourages brand partners to do the same. One encouraging step: REI has asked the brands it retails to avoid shipping products in individual plastic bags and even charges brands a recycling fee to incentivize this shift.
Within the textile industry, there are a number of tools for companies to track their greenhouse gas emissions and reduce their carbon footprint. REI uses the Higg Index Tools, which track a company’s environmental impact by assessing different phases of a product's lifecycle from materials to manufacturing. The Higg Index offers brands and manufacturers a standardized way to understand and manage product sustainability through the use of a series of “modules.” The Brand Retail Module (BRM) allows REI to assess its own sustainability performance, while the Facilities Environmental Module (FEM) gives REI the ability to analyze the environmental impact of its manufacturing facilities and suppliers. Lastly, REI uses the Higg Materials Sustainability Index (MSI) to calculate the environmental impact of the materials used in its REI Co-op brand products.
In 2023, 93% of REI Co-op brand suppliers set a science-aligned emissions reduction target and 100% of those same suppliers had a plan in place to meet their goal. REI has set its own emissions targets using the widely recognized scope categorization system to measure greenhouse gas emissions. The company aims to reduce Scope 1 emissions (those directly produced by the company’s owned or controlled sources) by 47% compared to 2019 levels by 2030. Scope 2 emissions refer to indirect emissions from energy the company purchases, an area in which REI has already been achieving zero emissions for the past 11 years by purchasing 100% renewable energy. The company also aims to cut Scope 3 emissions (emissions that are the result of activities not owned or operated by REI in its supply chain) by 47% compared to 2019 by 2030. These goals have been validated by the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) and will keep the company on track toward achieving its long-term goal of reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
In 2023, REI saw a 6% decrease in greenhouse gas emissions compared to 2019 and a 25% drop in emissions intensity, from 402 to 303 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2eq) per million dollars of revenue. REI has been Climate Neutral Certified since 2021, meaning the company offsets its greenhouse gas emissions by tallying the total emissions associated with all its products—from manufacturing to shipping— implementing a detailed action plan to reduce emissions and investing in high-quality carbon credits. In this regard, REI stands out—of the more than 60 brands reviewed by Better Trail, only six are Climate Neutral Certified.
As one of the largest retailers in the outdoor clothing industry, REI is able to use some of its influence to push other brands towards more sustainable practices. To do that, the company enlisted some of its largest brand partners for workshops that teach companies how to measure carbon emissions and create emissions reduction goals. At the end of 2023, over 62% of REI sales volume came from brands with science-aligned emissions reduction targets (meaning the targets have been verified by the SBTi).
REI’s Product Impact Standards are geared towards making a positive impact on the planet and society. The standards offer detailed expectations regarding environmental, social, and animal welfare impacts, as well as preferred attributes, certifications, and materials that REI has found most effective for advancing its sustainability goals. In 2023, over 400 brands reportedly used REI’s preferred sustainability attributes in the production process. To avoid greenwashing and promote transparent labeling in the sustainability certification space, REI also created the Product Sustainability Spec Guidance for Brand Partners, which instructs REI-affiliated companies on how to correctly label products.
REI produces a lengthy Impact Report each year detailing the social and environmental impact made by the company. Its 2023 Annual Impact Report has five sections: employee, society, planet, how we measure progress, and impact report history. Each of these sections is a detailed report in its own right. The planet section, for instance, covers REI’s efforts on climate, renewable energy, eliminating waste, product sustainability, and more. Compared to most brands in the outdoor industry, the REI Annual Impact Report stands out as an example for both its comprehensiveness and transparency.
One sustainable and budget-friendly option from REI is its gear rental program, which offers members access to camping or hiking gear, kayaks, paddle boards, bikes, and more. This service is fairly unique to REI and not something that many other outdoor brands are doing. Rentals prevent waste by giving consumers the option to use a product once without it ending up in the landfill afterward. In 2023, customers rented over 138,000 items through the REI in-store rental program.
Additionally, the company is on its way to becoming a Zero Waste organization, defined by diverting at least 90% of waste from landfills. In 2023, REI recycled or composted 86% of its operational waste and the company aims to reach Zero Waste by 2025.
REI receives an “Excellent” rating for transparency. The company publishes a comprehensive impact report detailing all of its sustainability programs at the product and brand level. In fact, REI’s impact report is one of the most specific reports we have seen, providing easy-to-understand graphs showing its greenhouse gas tracking and progress on its emissions reduction targets. It clearly separates materials—such as wool, down, recycled materials, cotton, leather, and polyester—and explains how each is sourced along with any future sustainability-related goals. From increasing renewable energy to using lower-carbon materials and recycled packaging, REI meticulously outlines how it is lowering its environmental impact. What’s more, the company outlines how it is influencing other brands in the industry to do the same. On its website, REI clearly labels the material composition of its products and even includes a “sustainability” section in each description. REI’s website is so detailed and easy to navigate that it rarely requires a follow-up via email from Better Trail staff. Overall, REI is a leading example of how brands can execute sustainability initiatives and be transparent about what they are doing along the way.
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