Background

The outdoor industry has long had an involvement in the issue of sustainable business practice stemming in the main from the Entrepreneurial Owner/Founder origins. This interest was given a boost by the founding in the USA of the Outdoor Industry Association Eco Working Group and an upsurge in consumer interest in the subject. During the OutDoor Trade Fair in July 2008, the European Outdoor Group (EOG) held an open meeting to discuss what the European industry should be doing in response to this. The attendance at just over 60 was excellent and particularly so bearing in mind the coverage of the market that was represented. The key outcome of the meeting was the decision to set up a European Sustainability Working Group (SWG) and volunteers were sought to attend a subsequent meeting planned for October.

The follow-up meeting took place at the end of October in Friedrichshafen with those that confirmed attendance becoming the working group at least for the initial stages. The meeting agreed the following:

• To establish a formal mission statement
• To arrange a meeting with the US Eco Working Group to define areas of co-operation
• To set up a Stakeholder sub-committee to define who should be invited to join in with this initiative.

The Sustainability Working Group has now moved forwards on these issues and the complete details of our Operating Guidelines are in the document below.