Ethical shopping guide to outdoor gear - Paramo

photograph by Michael Dempsey
OUTDOOR GEAR SPECIAL
Outdoor Gear Special
fleeces, rucksacks, sleeping bags, tents,
walking boots, and waterproof jackets
Before you get kitted out for the great outdoors this summer check out whether
the companies you’re buying from care as much about the environment as you
do. Bryony Moore, Tim Hunt and Simon Birch investigate.
www.ethicalconsumer.org JULY/AUGUST ‘10

Why should hillwalkers care about the environmental
impact of their walking jackets? And how do we get the
outdoor industry to be more sustainable? asks outdoornut
and environmentalist Simon Birch.
As a self-confessed outdoor obsessive, over the past 30 odd years I’ve
been lucky enough to have climbed, mountain biked and trekked over
large swathes of the wilder bits of the UK, Europe and beyond.
Since I spend as much time as possible getting muddy and sweaty
outdoors, it’s always seemed perfectly logical to me to try and help
protect the very thing that I feel so passionate about: namely the
environment.
So it’s been with a growing sense of surprise and disappointment
that in the course of the compiling of this buyers’ guide I’ve discovered
that very few of my fellow outdoor obsessives share my environmental
concerns. A recent reader survey by Trail magazine – one of the UK’s
leading outdoor magazines - revealed that the environment barely
registers on the radar when people buy new outdoor gear.
It’s a sad fact that few if any of the vast numbers of walkers who
regularly head to the hills every weekend and who clearly love the
outdoors make the connection between their walking jackets, boots and
other clobber and the whacking big environmental impact that results
from their production.
In trying to explain this lack of environmental awareness, some
suggest that since the outdoor industry regularly uses the sweeping
backdrop of dramatic mountains to help market and advertise their
gear, the public assumes that the industry is by default environmentally
responsible.
Sadly as this buyers’ guide shows, this is far from the truth. Plus
let’s not forget that it’s outdoor companies who are now increasingly
acting like the fashion industry in being hell bent on flogging us ever
increasing amounts of outdoor gear.
Whilst some in the outdoor industry are at long last starting to talk
about sustainability, few understand the basic contradiction between
aiming to produce more sustainable gear and a profit-driven business
model that relies on selling more and more.
So what’s to be done? Some believe that it’s up to customers to
wise-up and start piling the pressure on the outdoor industry to
clean up its act. Well I don’t buy this as I’m getting increasingly fed up
with the current trend of dumping the responsibility for raising the
environmental bar onto consumers.
From where I’m standing it’s the outdoor industry that needs to start
taking its environmental responsibilities more seriously. If a company
is happy enough to use a mountain in its latest catalogue to help boost
its profits, then it’s about time that the same company started to help
protect it – and the rest of the environment too.
buyers’ guide
What’s in the Outdoor Special
There’s a great irony that those who love the outdoors can have such
a negative environmental impact through the clothes and kit they
buy to enjoy it. And with policies on workers’ rights in the outdoor
market lagging behind other clothing sectors it’s people, as well as the
planet, that pay the price. While scandals about conditions in clothing
supply chains have hit the big fashion labels and retailers, prompting
change, the outdoor brands have failed to keep up. Few companies have
environmental policies, with only two across all the products reviewed
getting anything but a ‘Worst’ rating for our ‘Environmental Reporting’
category. And even fewer have policies on toxic chemicals or the
controversial issue of nanotechnology.
We’ve covered six products:
fleeces page 8
waterproof jackets page 10
walking boots page 12
sleeping bags page 14
tents page 16
rucksacks page 18
Each has its own score table and best buy advice. In total we’ve
researched over 60 companies to give you the broadest possible range of
brands to choose from. It’s a very congested market and we enlisted the
help of experts from market research company OutdoorI to advise us
on which brands to review to give a good cross section of the market.
As well as asking companies about their environmental and supply
chain policies we asked companies questions about the following areas
key to this market:
Cotton
We asked companies if they have a policy that covers
• the use of genetically modified cotton,
• pesticides and herbicides,
• and sourcing from Uzbekistan, a country with an appalling human
rights record and massive use of forced child labour in its cotton
industry.
Toxics
We asked companies if they have a policy that
• quantifies the chemicals used in manufacture and sets targets for
the phasing out of the most dangerous,
• covers the use of nano technology, which is often used in the
manufacture of waterproof and breathable fabrics.
Animal rights
We asked
• Do companies use goose down in sleeping bags, leather in boots
or merino wool from Australia.
Unsustainable resources
We asked whether companies manufacture synthetic products derived
from oil. Those companies that have a majority of products derived
from oil receive a half mark in the Habitats & Resources column.
In the pages that follow we unpack the issue of nano-technology in
fabrics (page 20), pit synthetic materials against natural ones (page
21), and look at an exemplar of good practice from Canada (page
14). We also investigate how the sector impacts animal rights (pages
11 & 15) and supply chain issues (page 17).
JULY/AUGUST ‘10 www.ethiscore.org

OUTDOOR GEAR SPECIAL
Waterproof Jackets
Ethiscore (out of 20)
Environmental Reporting
Nuclear Power
Company profiles - fleeces
and waterproof jackets
Arc Teyx’s website explicitly states that
it does not use recycled materials. They
suggest recycled fabrics take more energy
to produce than virgin materials and also
do not perform as well. 15 However, none
10 www.ethicalconsumer.org JULY/AUGUST ‘10
Environment Animals People Politics +ve
Climate Change
Pollution & Toxics
Habitats & Resources
Animal Testing
BRAND COMPANY GROUP
Páramo 13.5 h Páramo Ltd
Lowe Alpine 10.5 H h h H h Lowe Alpine International
Patagonia [R] 10.5 H h h H h h h 1 Lost Arrow Corporation
Rohan 10.5 H h h H h Rohan Group
Snugpak 10.5 H h h H h Snugpak Ltd
Jack Wolfskin [R] 10 H H h H h h h 1 Jack Wolfskin
Montane [R] 10 H h h h h H h 0.5 Chonos
Columbia [R] 9.5 H H h H h h h 0.5 Columbia Sportswear Co
Haglofs [R] 9.5 H H h H h h Ratos AB
Mountain Hardwear [R] 9.5 H H h H h h h 0.5 Columbia Sportswear Co
Sprayway [R] 9.5 H H h H h H h 1 Bollin Group
Trespass 9.5 H H h h H h Jacobs and Turner
Vaude 9.5 H h H h H h Vaude Sport GmbH
Highlander 9 H H h h H h h Highlander (Scotland0 Ltd
Rab 9 H h h H h H h Equip Outdoor Technologies
Peter Storm 8.5 H H h H h H h Blacks Leisure Group
Regatta 8.5 H H h H h h h h Risol Imports
Craghoppers 8 H H h H h h H h Risol Imports
Mammut 8 H H H h H h h h Tegular AG
Timberland [R] 8 H H h H H H h h h 1 Timberland
Howies 7.5 h H h H H H h h h Timberland
Marmot 7.5 H H H H h H h h Jarden Corporation
Merrell 7.5 H h h H H H h h h Wolverine Worldwide Inc
North Face 7.5 H H h H H H h h VF Corporation
Arc’Teryx 6.5 H H h H H h H h H Amer Sports Corporation
Berghaus 6.5 H H h H H H H h h Robert Stephen Holdings
Salomon 6.5 H H h H H h H h H Amer Sports Corporation
Quechua 4.5 H H H H H H H H H h Mulliez Family
Helly Hansen 4 H H H h H H H H h H h h Altor Equity Partners
USING THE TABLES [R] = made from recycled materials
Factory Farming
Animal Rights
Human Rights
Workers’ Rights
Supply Chain Policy
Irresponsible Marketing
of the other companies that used recycled
textiles mentioned these issues.
Arms & Military Supply
Genetic Engineering
Berghaus is ultimately owned by Robert
Stephen Holdings, which also owns a
number of other household brands
including Brasher, Ellese, JD Sports,
Speedo and Kickers. They are one of only
Boycott Call
Political Activity
Anti-Social Finance
Company Ethos
Product Sustainability
Ethiscore: the higher the score, the better the company across the criticism categories. H bottom rating h middle rating top rating (no criticisms)
See ‘Our Rating System’ page at www.ethicalconsumer.org for category definitions
Positive ratings (+ve): Company Ethos: � full mark � half mark Product Sustainability: Maximum of five positive marks
Buyers’ Guides Plus - see all the research behind these ratings together with a PDF of this report at www.ethicalconsumer.org. £3 or free to subscribers.
4 companies in this report with a top mark
for supply chain policy. However they
also have operations in China, Vietnam,
Indonesia, Thailand and the USA that are
currently on Ethical Consumer’s oppressive
regimes list, which earns them a black mark
under Human Rights.

BES T BUY
ethical consumer magazine
Best Buy: Páramo (01892 78644)
Although not eligible for the Best Buy
label, Patagonia (08000260055), Jack
Wolfskin (01671 401115) and Montane
(01670 522 300) all produce waterproof
jackets that are made from recycled
material. They are recommended as the
next best option.
10.5
Company Profiles continued...
10
13.5
Columbia Sportswear gets animal rights
marks for the sale of hunting and fishing
equipment and selling leather. They also
own the Mountain Hardwear brand.
Owners of Helly Hansen, Altor Equity
Partners, also own Meyn Food Processing,
which is a massive manufacturer of
equipment for processing intensivelyfarmed
chickens. It also owns Ferrosan,
which produces pharmaceuticals and
health supplements, but has no policy on
animal testing, therefore scoring Ethical
Consumer’s worst rating in this category.
buyers’ guide
Don’t let Australian sheep farmers pull the
wool over your eyes
Poorva Joshipura, Director of Special Projects, People for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals (PETA) looks at the hard truth behind soft wool.
Commonly used for wool, Merino sheep are bred to have excessively wrinkly skin, so
they’ll produce higher yields. Because of this, their skin collects moisture and attracts flies,
who lay eggs in the folds of the sheep’s skin. The hatched maggots often eat away at the
sheep’s skin, a problem known as “flystrike.” Most Merino wool sold throughout the world
comes from Australia. In an attempt to create smooth, scarred skin that won’t harbor fly
eggs, many Australian sheep farmers cut flesh from lambs’ hindquarters with gardening
shears—without using painkillers. A practice know as ‘mulesing’.
There are humane and effective alternatives. No other country muleses sheep—New
Zealand stopped mulesing 10 years ago. Many Australian woolgrowers have stopped
mulesing their lambs, opting to use better husbandry methods or breed bare-breeched
sheep, who don’t have wrinkly skin on their bottoms and therefore aren’t susceptible to
flystrike.
In 2004, the trade group Australian Wool Innovation (AWI) pledged to end mulesing in
Australia by 2010, but in July of 2009, after years of stalling, it announced that it wouldn’t
meet the deadline as promised. Compassionate consumers and progressive retailers feel
the AWI is taking way too long to stop mulesing. While it was making excuses, a number
of retailers, including Liz Claiborne, Next, Gap Inc., HUGO BOSS, Perry Ellis, Adidas,
and H&M, signed a pledge put forward by PETA US to move away from mulesed wool or
implemented an outright ban on wool from mulesed lambs.
PETA US, which launched a campaign to end mulesing in 2005, recently asked Tony
Burke, Australian Minister of Agriculture, to promote a genetic solution, such as barebreech
breeding, and to set a two-year government deadline to end mulesing. Wool industry
insiders agree that this deadline is reasonable. If Mr. Burke accepts this deadline, PETA US
will extend its retail campaign moratorium while Australia sheep farmers implement a
genetic solution.
Bare-breech breeding, or a similar genetic solution, is an effective long–term alternative to
mulesing. However; consumers can best help sheep and other animals by choosing clothing
made from non-animal materials.
For more information see www.SavetheSheep.com.
JULY/AUGUST ‘10 www.ethiscore.org 11