Equip's Material Facts programme, which launched last year aims to providing consumers with a clear and simple industry-wide standard for communicating sustainability credentials to help them make informed choices.

The company has developed almost 500 Material Facts tables for its Autumn/Winter Rab apparel and sleeping bag ranges and aims to add more to its programme in upcoming seasons and it wants other brands to follow suit.

Equip explains its programme takes into account consumers' and retailers' demands for accurate and honest sustainability product claims.

It is set to roll out the Material Facts platform this summer ahead of the launch of its autumn/winter 2023 for all Rab apparel and sleeping bags.

The company adds that by 2024, all Rab and Lowe Alpine packs, equipment and accessories will have Material Facts tables.

Equip CEO Matt Gowar points out that brands are competing to find unique and compelling ways of communicating the term ‘sustainability’.

Goward continues: "This doesn’t work, confuses the consumer, can be misleading or risks greenwashing. We developed Material Facts as a non-branded simple way to convey data to the end consumer. We are happy to share our work and methodology so that we can as an industry work together to an agreed standard.

"This allows us all to concentrate on improvements in our own operations that will have a greater overall impact, rather than figure out how to state where we are today. We are happy to work with all industry partners to show them how they can quickly and easily convey the information that consumers want, and shortly we will be legally required to report on."

Equip says it will also drive industry-wide engagement to improve the programme and jointly create an industry standard which it believes is a clear step forward in terms of aligned, accurate and transparent CSR communication.