When Lloyd and Mary Anderson formed an outdoor recreation cooperative in 1938 with a group of 21 climbing friends, they built a business with a commitment to high quality gear and promise to share profits with members. Today, as a successful multi-channel retailer with over 3 million active members, our cooperative structure continues to guide our business. Throughout our history, we have also worked to conserve nature, inspire responsible use of the outdoors and enhance the natural world for the enjoyment of future generations.

We are proud to release our first annual stewardship report and invite you to read about our actions.This report is our first effort to measure and report publicly on the most significant social and environmental impacts from our business operations and in the communities where we do business. We also challenge ourselves to ambitious goals and commit to regularly reporting progress toward their achievement.

REI's stewardship report contains the following sections:

"About this Report" — The process we followed to develop our report, REI's values and general cooperative information.

"Active Stewardship" — Our efforts to encourage active hands-on conservation efforts and growing participation in responsible outdoor recreation, with a particular focus on engaging youth.

"Sustaining the Natural World" — Business operations and product innovation that focus on reducing our impact on the environment. We address energy use, green building, paper use, waste reduction, and sustainable products.

"People" — A look at why REI is a special and rewarding place to work, and how the cooperative implements socially responsible factory compliance around the world, wherever REI brand products are created.

We welcome your thoughts about our progress and invite you to take our online survey or send us your comments to stewardship@rei.com.

Sally Jewell
REI President and CEO

Table of Contents
REI—The Consumer Cooperative REI's Purpose, Values and Guiding Principles
Facts About REI REI's Board of Directors About This Report
Stewardship report brochure (403KB PDF)