Two major health concerns plagued the industry in 2008, but for the most part industry vendors and retailers were able to turn those obstacles into opportunities.
Indeed, the industry largely capitalized on consumer health concerns over bisphenol-A (BPA) and a group of plasticizers known as phthalates. Phthalates where a sporting goods industry as a whole concern as the chemicals were found to be harmful, especially to kids, which led to sweeping legislation changes that will take effect early this year. However for the outdoor industry, the bigger story was BPA and the demise of the Lexan bottle.
Vancouvers Mountain Equipment Co-Op (MEC) first moved on BPA in December 2007 when it pulled products containing the chemical compound from its shelves following the release of several studies linking BPA to infertility and cancer. The story really picked up steam, though, when Forzani and Lululemon followed suit by pulling water bottles containing BPA from their lines. Shortly thereafter, the BPA scare spilled into the U.S., as CamelBak, REI and Nalgene, among others, announced plans to phase out BPA-products from their inventories.
In response to the epidemic, the Food and Drug Administration formed an agency-wide BPA task force to facilitate cross-agency review of current research and new information on BPA for all FDA regulated products. Citing the review, the FDA maintained that FDA-regulated products containing BPA posed no threat to the consumer, and the agency did not recommend the discontinuation of use of these products.
Despite the FDAs findings, in June, Representative Edward J. Marky (D-MA), a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee with oversight over the Dept. of Health and Human Resources, introduced the “Ban Poisonous Additives” (BPA) Act to prohibit the use of BPA in all food and beverage containers. The bill still has not yet been voted on by the House.
The quick introduction of Triton from Eastman polymers gave vendors and retailers an easy replacement to the BPA-containing product, while giving consumers a way to still have their super-durable clear plastic water bottles. The combination sparked sales of Water Bottles as a whole with both plastic and metal product selling very well even in the difficult Holiday period and slow economy. According to retail point-of-sale data compiled by SportScanINFO, the health scare combined with a more eco-conscious consumer leery of one-time use bottled water to spark Water Bottle sales to jump over 70% for the year.
In August, the House and Senate approved legislation that will ban the use of lead and several forms of phthalates in toys and other childrens products. “The Consumer Product Safety Act of 2008” is regarded as the first major product safety legislation passed by Congress in more than a decade. Concerning phthalates, which are chemicals used as plasticizers in synthetic leathers and plastics, the legislation contains an interim ban on childrens toys that can be placed in the mouth and child care articles containing more than 0.1% of any of three types of phthalates.
The legislation was drafted in response to concerns arising from several recent recalls of products containing phthalates. Starting Feb. 10, it will be illegal to manufacture, sell, distribute or import into the U.S. any childrens product that contains more that 0.1% of the three types of phthalates in question. The ban only applies to products manufactured after Feb. 10, eliminating the impending headache industry dealers and retailers feared would come with throwing out existing inventory that did not fall under the new guidelines.
