It’s hard to believe, but there was a time when packaged food didn’t come with a nutrition label. But folks got increasingly concerned about the ingredients in the food they were eating, and over time a system sprang up to accommodate the desire to be a smarter consumer.
Enter Rab, the UK-based apparel and gear maker angling to bring the same transparency to the outdoor industry. Rab recently announced its ‘Material Facts’ program — in essence, a nutrition label for clothes.
Starting this September, Rab clothing and sleeping bags will sport a QR code on the tag. Scan the code, and your phone will pull up a label that tells you crucial sustainability information about your gear.
Want to know if your jacket contains fluorocarbons? Rab’s on it. How about how much of your jacket liner is recycled? You got it. And the best part is, it works anywhere in the world.
The system is easy and self-explanatory. The only thing consumers might question is what “trims” refers to. Rab explains, “trims include (but are not limited to) zips, toggles, pulls, pocket linings, logos, hood stiffeners, cords, and eyelets.”
“Communicating sustainability information is complex and means different things to different people, often leading to misleading claims and greenwashing,” Rab product director Tim Fish noted in a press release.
“We’ve developed our non-branded Material Facts program to provide consumers with enough information to make their own educated purchasing decisions. The program leads the way by taking into account consumers’ and retailers’ demands for accurate and honest sustainability product claims.”
