Good Stories Episode 4 – Reconfiguring the landscape of the outdoor sports industry
Join Pioneers Post reporter David Lyons at Kendal Mountain Festival in the Lake District, England, where socially innovative outdoor wear brands, including Patagonia and others, are pushing forward circular economy solutions to halt the industry’s damaging effects on the environment that its enthusiasts want to continue to enjoy.
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At the heart of one of the most important events of the year for the outdoor sports industry, in the middle of a market selling the brands’ latest ranges of clothing, is a small trailer, affectionately known as ‘Sheddy’, where people can get damaged kit, from any brand, fixed for free.
Sheddy is the home of outdoor clothing brand Patagonia’s Worn Wear initiative. Pioneers Post reporter David Lyons visited Sheddy on a freezing cold day during Kendal Mountain Festival, to hear about how social innovative businesses are growing the circular economy in the outdoor sports industry.
Where Patagonia has positioned itself as a positive example of business for good within the outdoor sports industry, a group of social enterprises and other socially innovative businesses called the Re-Action Collective is taking a much more critical stance.
The clothing industry, including the overproduction of clothes and customers’ attitudes to buying and throwing away items, is a huge environmental problem. The British Fashion Council says the world already has enough clothes to dress the next six generations of humanity. The Stop Waste Colonialism campaign says clothing production across the world doubled from 2000 to 2014, surpassing 100 billion garments for the first time in 2014. The fashion industry is projected to account for 26% of global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
The Re-Action Collective says: “Outdoor apparel companies are stuck in a system that demands growth. They are financed by wealth funds and answerable to shareholders. As a result, brands are producing tonnes and tonnes of gear, taking measures that undermine the quality and longevity of outdoor kit and selling stories about technical enhancements that play on our insecurities and contribute to mental health problems. We don’t need kit with technical names and this season’s colours to be happier and healthier and a valuable member of society.”
Listen to David as he speaks to representatives of Patagonia, the Re-Action Collective and Kendal Mountain Festival to find out:
- What Kendal Mountain Festival is doing to try and influence the outdoors sports sector to move towards sustainability
- How Patagonia is ‘an experiment’, aiming to test how business can be done differently, but with people and planet in mind, rather than just profit
- Why the Re-Action Collective thinks we don’t need kit with technical names and this season’s colours to be happier and healthier
All images courtesy of Luke Broster and Patagonia
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