Factory & Labor Compliance

At REI we are driven to provide safe, healthy, employee-friendly work environments. This extends not only to our team members in the United States, but also to those employed by our manufacturing partners. Our goal is — as it has been for more than a decade — to assure that factories where REI brand gear and apparel are made provide appropriate, safe and humane working environments that meet our expectations.

Fair labor and factory compliance is complicated because we sell our own branded goods and the goods of others. We also source products both domestically and internationally, often in developing countries. While labor laws in some of these countries meet internationally recognized standards, others do not yet meet our accepted standards to ensure compliance.

We take a two-pronged approach to reach our above-stated compliance goal:

• Through the use of audits, we work to achieve factory compliance in the contract facilities where REI products are manufactured.
• We collaborate with outdoor industry peers on a common set of compliance standards where non-REI branded products are developed.

Our ongoing work is moving us closer to the long-range goal of assuring that all products sold in REI stores are manufactured in factories that adhere to international standards of safety and fair labor.