The European Outdoor Group is helping finance a study of wages levels paid in the outdoor industry and has pledged to hire a sustainability manager with expertise in textile chemicals to help members find alternatives to hazardous substances such as PFC.


 

EOG Secretary General Mark Held disclosed the information to about 80 people attending the trade association's summer board of directors meeting on the eve of the OutDoor Show in Friedrichshafen, Germany.
Held said EOG has provided financial support for a Fair Wear Foundation (FWF) study on the living wage in the outdoor industry. Results of the study will be released to EOG members in the autumn, with a summary available for the wider public.

 

Held joined the FWF board earlier this year after years of unsuccessfully trying to engage pressure groups and other NGOs on corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues. At the EOG meeting, FWF Verification Coordinator Ivo Spauwen delivered a presentation about the living wage.

 

Held said that by hiring a sustainability manager with a background in textile chemicals, EOG hopes to work more effectively with outdoor brands, the chemical industry and the Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals Group, which EOG joined as an associate member this year.
The EOG has been exploring the viable options for reducing the use of environmentally harmful chemicals in the manufacture of outdoor products.

 

 

“The solutions will come from chemists, not brands,” said Held, “but the EOG is providing support and evidence-based guidance to the outdoor industry on a complex and difficult subject.

 

The European Outdoor Group, which represents outdoor brands active in Europe, now has 60 full members and works closely with nine national associations, including its U.S. counterpart Outdoor Industry Association. New EOG members attending the meeting in Friedrichshafen included Eider, Millet, Sea to Summit, Hanwag, Outdoor Research, Pacsafe, Thule and the Dutch Sporting Goods Federation.