Get Down with the Facts
British outdoor brand Rab moves forward with its down recycling programme.
By the time 2022 had drawn to a close, Equip-owned outdoor brand Rab had recycled and repurposed 54 kilograms of end-of-life natural down material. Its domestic down recycling scheme had begun with a single bin at its Derbyshire headquarters only a year earlier. Late last autumn, Rab said it was anticipating “a substantial increase” in its collections of down and feathers by the end of 2023, with volumes expected in the 100s of kilograms. Fittingly, there was even a down drop-off point at Rab’s booth at sports trade show ISPO Munich in November. Parent group Equip Outdoor Technologies acquired the brand in 2003, with Lowe Alpine joining the group in 2011.
Down to new territory
As head of corporate communications and CSR at Equip, Debbie Read, tells WSA, it is important to note that the brand rarely uses any of this recycled material directly in its own lines. “Only a fraction of the returned down may ever be utilised by Rab in reality,” she explains. Donations typically undergo processing at partner Minardi Piume’s northern Italian factory, where feathers and down from jackets, duvets, pillows, sleeping bags and more are extracted, cleaned and sorted into Global Recycled Standard (GRS)-approved material of various quality grades. Fabric fibres and trims are processed separately. “By promoting the return and recycling of end-of-life down, we effectively preserve this valuable resource from ending up in landfills or languishing unused in the back of a wardrobe,” Ms Read continues. Any repurposed down that does make it into the brand’s recycled lines will be highlighted in its new Material Facts tables. The nutrition-like ingredients label delineates the products’ origin, recycled content and fluorocarbon (PFAS) content originating from durable water repellence (DWRs) through to hydrophobic down, zips and trims.
The company commenced the down recycling programme’s roll-out to the rest of Europe in January. Rab’s dedicated European Service Centre in Leusden, the Netherlands, now serves as a handling hub for post-consumer down products collected in collaboration with various local retailers on the continent. Articles not yet considered end of life can also be shipped here for cleaning or restoration from elsewhere, in a bid to extend their usefulness. As in the UK, down product donations will only be accepted if products are truly beyond repair.
Expanded vantage points
Operations do differ slightly in Europe, however. For one, there is a much stronger emphasis on retail store drop-offs when it comes to materials recycling, the senior executive tells us, as opposed to incentivising individual action. Further adjustments relate to the streamlining of logistics when shipping post-consumer down to Italy from other parts of Europe, Ms Read goes on to say. Relatively simpler customs procedures for European Union (EU) member states likewise make the transport of materials easier, speedier and more cost effective, she notes, although country-specific challenges do of course remain. At this early stage, the goal is to “identify the most practical logistics and processes with the least possible environmental impact”. One route to doing so is to partner with retailers in the region, to secure improved shipping rates and other benefits while simultaneously scaling the project and, therefore, maximising its sustainability impact. She suggests that creating a network of like-minded retail partners is therefore key; the company has been encouraged by the positive response received from several Dutch and EU-based retailers thus far.
If this European pilot proves successful, there may be scope to take the scheme even further afield, perhaps as far as the US and Canada, where Rab also has offices and facilities, for instance. Any such expansion is dependent upon the availability of suitable in-country processors, capable of the level of efficiency and transparency that the brand requires, according to the communications and CSR lead. This in practice translates to extracting quality down and feathers, while minimising waste and implementing “low-impact” transport and logistics pathways.
Open field
At its core, Rab’s down recycling system is intended to alleviate the need for retailers to establish their own, disparate disposal methods, as Ms Read puts it. The company’s Material Facts initiative is similarly “unbranded” in this way. Its pared back, black-and-white design is deliberate, she explains, to give others the opportunity to mimic its formula and presentation in their own ranges. Made to empower today’s end customer “to make educated purchase decisions based on clear and accurate data”, the tables were first introduced to provide component-level clothing and sleeping bag breakdowns for Rab’s autumn-winter 2023 collections.
Already, the brand has itself issued 500-plus Material Fact sheets, which the senior executive describes as an “extremely challenging and resource-demanding undertaking across the whole business and beyond”, including close collaboration with supply chain partners “to ensure the validation of all data and certification of claims”. This autumn-winter season will see the concept extend to Rab equipment and packs, not to mention packs by sister business Lowe Alpine, taking the percentage of finished articles allocated a Material Facts table to 87% of Equip’s entire assortment. Subsequently, all packs, equipment and accessories sold by either brand will have been assigned their very own component ingredients breakdown by year’s end, including a new category which will be the percentage of renewable energy for production. Rab notably committed to removing the term ‘eco’ from all product descriptions once current inventory sells last September.
Coming back to down, 46% of all natural down purchased by the brand in 2022 was recycled, holding GRS certification, shares Equip product director, Tim Fish. More broadly, out of all fabrics, not only insulation, bought by the business that same year, 66% were recycled. “Whenever feasible, and without compromising performance, we prioritise the use of recycled materials over virgin materials,” Mr Fish states. Rab’s lightweight and packable Microlight range has been filled with recycled natural down since autumn-winter 2020, for example. The company’s Cirrus Ultra Hoody, meanwhile, which took home this year’s Slide and Outdoor Trade Show outdoor clothing award, and which will be available to consumers in autumn 2024, features PrimaLoft’s 100% synthetic Thermoplume+ insulation and features a heat-reflective thermo ionic lining technology (TILT).
In walking its talk, Rab demonstrates a breadth and depth of sustainability awareness that on the one hand pushes into uncharted territories such as shared recycling ecosystems and open-source materials labelling, yet on the other secures its footing in the land of data-led insights and transparency-motivated public accountability. As momentum builds, how quickly, and to what extent, others in the market fall in step remains to be seen.
Material Facts tables, available online, are retrievable via scanning QR codes printed on hang tags.
All credits: Rab
