Organization News :Free Webinar Nov. 29 to Help Bike Companies Learn about Sustainability

Free Webinar Nov. 29 to Help Bike Companies Learn about Sustainability
Session Aims to Show How Bike Industry Can Join Outdoor Industry Efforts

Outdoor Industry Association® (OIA) is presenting a free webinar on Thursday, Nov. 29, at 10:00 am MST to highlight the outdoor industry’s sustainability efforts and how the bike industry can get involved.

Presented by OIA’s corporate responsibility team as well as guest speakers from Specialized and other bike industry companies, the one-hour session will provide an overview of the OIA Sustainability Working Group (SWG) — a volunteer collaboration among more than 250 outdoor industry brands, retailers and suppliers working to identify and improve the environmental and social impacts of their shared global supply chains.

A key takeaway for attendees will be how bike industry companies can get involved in these efforts and start measuring and improving the sustainability of their products.

“The outdoor industry’s collaborative sustainability efforts are groundbreaking, providing a common language and framework for measuring product-level sustainability,” said Beth Jensen, OIA’s director of corporate responsibility. “We’d like to see more bike industry companies get involved in this work.”

“Specialized joined the SWG last year to help develop the indexing tool for equipment,” said Bryant Bainbridge, who leads Specialized Bicycle Component’s corporate sustainability efforts. “The bike industry can leverage the outdoor industry’s work, which is more than five years in the making, to engage brands and suppliers and make sure all are using the same tools and standards for measuring product sustainability. ”

The webinar is free. For more information and to register, go to outdoorindustry.org/ou.

About Outdoor Industry Association
Based in Boulder, Colo., with offices in Washington, D.C., Outdoor Industry Association (OIA) is the leading trade association for the outdoor industry and the title sponsor of Outdoor Retailer. OIA supports the growth and success of more than 4,000 manufacturers, distributors, suppliers, sales representatives and retailers of outdoor recreation apparel, footwear, equipment and services. For more information, go to outdoorindustry.org or call 303.444.3353.

About the Outdoor Industry Association Sustainability Working Group
The Outdoor Industry Association Sustainability Working Group (OIA SWG) is a volunteer collaboration among more than 250 outdoor industry brands, retailers and suppliers working to identify and improve the environmental and social impacts of their shared global supply chains. The OIA SWG is currently focusing on four key areas: 1) index development for apparel, footwear and equipment, 2) responsible chemicals management, 3) materials traceability throughout the supply chain, and 4) social responsibility and fair labor issues. Through the OIA SWG, the outdoor industry is demonstrating that it is possible to effect meaningful, scalable change through pre-competitive, business-driven collaboration. For more information, visit outdoorindustry.org/sustainability.

Avery Stonich / Outdoor Industry Association / 303.327.3511 /astonich@outdoorindustry.org