Product

99% of AW24 products are covered by Material Facts, this equates to 723 tables.

20,407 products washed and repaired, 32.3% increase from last year.

95% of AW24 Rab purchased fabric with a DWR is PFAS-free.

Expanding Material Facts

By AW24 we will have Material Facts tables for 99% of our products which equates to 723 tables.

Our Material Facts tables put the data in your hands, helping you to make informed choices by transparently showing how our products are made, from which materials, and where. 

For AW24, Material Facts has been expanded to include equipment and packs. Plus, we have added a new product characteristic – now sharing the % of renewable energy used in the final product manufacturing stage as our next phase of transparency. 

Find out more about Material Facts here. 

Our Service Centre is global.

In the last year, we repaired and washed over 20,000 items.

We have always made products you’d rather repair than replace. With our Rab Service Centre on hand to keep it in action, your kit is built for a lifetime of use. This way, all our adventures have a lower carbon footprint, giving products a second chance and keeping valuable resources out of landfill.

Customers choosing a quality repair over a new replacement shows the shift in attitude away from a ‘single-use’ society. 

We’ve always made gear that lasts, but it’s not indestructible. Repairing an item reduces the overall impact on the planet, by keeping valuable resources in use, rather than sending them to landfill. 

You can currently access our Rab Service Centres in the UK, Netherlands, Canada and USA.

Reducing ‘single-use’ with Rab Rental.

Since Rab Rental launched, our specialist rental kit has been used for 165 different events.

When an item finally needs to be retired from the field, we look at it afresh and either upcycle it for a second use, repair it and donate it to one of the charities we partner with, or strip it for spare parts to give other garments a new lease of life.   

Since 2022, we’ve been changing the narrative around single-use specialist gear purchases by offering our Rab Rental scheme, supplying high-quality kit for our customers when they need it. 

No need to compromise on cheaper, poor-quality products. No more one-trip gear gathering dust in the back of a cupboard or dumped in landfill. 

We clean, re-proof and repair all rented gear as necessary, so it’s in peak condition for the next adventure. And, at the end of its rental life, products are either cleaned, serviced and upcycled or stripped for parts which can be recycled. 

Our rental service is currently available in the UK only, but we hope to roll this out to other regions in the future. 

Recycle, reuse, repeat.

Of course, all products come to the end of life at some point. Our gear is built to last, but it’s not indestructible.

When an item finally needs to be retired from the field, we look at it afresh and either upcycle it for a second use, repair it and donate it to one of the charities we partner with, or strip it for spare parts to give other garments a new lease of life.

Recycling down 

Since 2021, we’ve been operating a down recycling scheme in the UK, with collection points set up at trade shows, events and our Service Centre. 

We recycle:

✅ Down Jackets 

✅ Down Sleeping Bags 

✅ Down Pillows 

✅ Down Duvets 

Parts of the recovered down will find their way into other Rab recycled down products. Our Material Facts tables show which products use recycled down. 

So, before you look at throwing that old gear away, please consider sending it back to us for a repair, wash or simply for recycling. And if you’ve got old down products you want to send us, you can find out more about recycling it online here. 

Phasing-out PFAS.

For over 10 years, we’ve been proactively phasing out fluorocarbons (PFAS) whilst pushing for greater honesty regarding PFAS use. 

Over several seasons now, we have been transitioning to PFAS-free durable water repellent (DWR) treatments. But what is often overlooked is that PFAS can also be used in waterproof membranes, zips, and trims. We want to tell the whole story. That’s why we talk about PFAS-free components, not just PFAS-free DWRs.    

You can read more about our journey to phase-out PFAS use here.

Using natural materials. 

There are times when natural materials such as animal by-products offer performance, weight, or insulation benefits that exceed their synthetic alternatives.

Animal by-products

All animal by-products are sourced from partners with strict adherence to animal welfare standards.

All leather is a by-product from animals bred for meat production. And suppliers must be certified by the Leather Working Group (LWG). 

All wool comes from farms or suppliers that are certified as mulesing-free.

We only use animal products for technical and performance reasons, never for an aesthetic purpose. 

We will not accept exotic skins or skins from wild animals and never use real fur. 

We stopped sourcing silk in 2021.

The Responsible Down Standard (RDS) independently certifies down and feathers against animal welfare requirements and tracks it from farm to final product.

While down products have revolutionised the way we dress for outdoor activities, it’s impossible to ignore the fact that the raw material is farmed from animals on a large scale. As the popularity of down garments grows, we have an increased responsibility to ensure that our insulation is produced in environments where animal welfare standards are being maintained.

That’s why all down sourced from farms into our supply chain is Responsible Down Standard certified, certified by Control Union CU839597. The RDS independently certifies down against animal welfare requirements and tracks it from the source to the final product. The purchase of Responsible Down Standard (RDS) certified products demonstrates demand for better animal welfare practices in the down and feather supply chain. 

You can find more information about the Responsible Down Standard here.

Cotton 

Cotton is a low-use fabric for Rab. It is primarly used in our tees. 100% of the cotton used in our tees is certified organic and all our organic cotton is GMO-free. 

Understanding microfibres.

Tiny fibres released from natural and synthetic textiles throughout the product lifecycle are widely referred to as microfibres, microplastics, or fibre fragments.    

Microfibres are not new, but awareness and evidence-based research is growing.  

Microfibres have the potential to harm the environment, wildlife and people through their presence in ecosystems from marine and freshwater environments to air and soil. All types of fibres have a tendency to shed, and understanding the full impacts of their source, presence and impact is a growing area of research.   

The Microfibre Consortium (TMC) 2030 Commitment.

By signing The Microfibre 2030 Commitment we have committed to put the research and understanding of fibre fragmentation on our agenda and contribute towards the development of knowledge and the identification of solutions.   

We share test results from all new base and mid-layer fabrics with The Microfibre Consortium, to contribute to a greater understanding of fibre fragmentation. 

We’ve saved 4.45 tonnes of polybags from going to landfill since SS21, equating to 300,000 polybags.