We’re still buzzing from the energy of OIA’s sold-out, inaugural Catalyst Conference that took place in Seattle, Washington on November 13th and 14th. Catalyst Conference convened members of the outdoor industry around a common theme: sustainability. The sessions explored a broad range of topics, including circularity, decarbonization, chemical compliance, and supply chain resilience, and featured speakers from various sections of the outdoor industry.
The Catalyst Conference brought the industry together at a time when community was more important than ever. Attendees shared that the event fostered a strong sense of camaraderie while delivering the expertise needed to tackle the industry’s toughest challenges. In addition to an impressive lineup of speakers, Catalyst offered opportunities to connect with peers through brand-led activities and
immersive experiences.
Highlights included exploring innovative products with a textile microscope, offsetting carbon emissions from travel, and renewable energy demos—all tied together with an expedition log for a chance to win prizes. The energy carried into the evening at the industry party, where attendees celebrated collective action and reaffirmed their commitment to sustainability progress. What was a sense of fear of the unknown path that lays ahead for sustainability quickly transformed into an atmosphere of hope and determination by the end of the day.
Read on for a recap of the event and explore select session recordings here.
On Opening Note of Inspiration from OIA's Director of Sustainable Business Innovation, Julie Brown
“Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the inaugural Catalyst Conference! It’s an honor to be here with all of you as we gather to confront some of the industry’s most urgent issues, and discuss solutions for people, product, and planet. Now, I realize that for many people in this room, the last week has been difficult. The election results have left many in the fields of sustainability or DEI feeling uncertain. I’m glad we’re here together because at times like these we need to remind ourselves and each other why we do this work—and why we cannot afford to slow down.
When I’m feeling like our sustainability goals are daunting, there are a few things that give me motivation, and I want to share them with you:
First, Collective Action: OIA’s Climate Action Corps has 354 professionals from 85 companies actively taking bold, collective action against climate change by reducing and removing emissions from their value chains. OIA’s Clean Chemistry and Materials Coalition has 320 individuals from 97 companies who are blazing the trail in the innovation and adoption of safer chemicals. OIA’s philanthropic arm, the Outdoor Foundation, has 13 communities (including here in Seattle) reaching 95,000 youth nationwide to ensure that everyone can thrive outside. All this effort leads to real, measurable benefits on a global scale.
Second, Rising Standards and Expectations: Sustainability is no longer optional. European and state regulations are tightening, forcing businesses to adapt—or risk being left behind. From PFAS laws to new waste and emissions regulations, the pressure is mounting. But here’s the thing: these changes aren’t just about compliance; they represent a powerful opportunity to innovate, improve, and stay ahead of the curve. Consumers are also demanding more. They expect their favorite brands to be responsible, fair, and accountable. The playing field for sustainability has fundamentally shifted, and the outdoor industry is in a prime position to rise to the challenge.
Third, we use our outside voices to advocate: Let’s not forget that the outdoor industry is a $1.1 Trillion bipartisan powerhouse – it can get things done. OIA will continue to work across the aisle, bringing diverse voices to advance policy solutions that protect lands, ensure equitable access to the outdoors, and promote sustainable trade.
Finally, Community: This industry is collaborative. We share challenges, brainstorm solutions, and support one another. Let’s face it, the election was a setback for climate action, and thus for the future of the safety of the outdoors, in a time when our industry really doesn’t need more setbacks. But you — the people in this room — understand these stakes better than anyone. And you keep showing up. You keep working with urgency and purpose to move toward a future we believe is possible. Your talent, creativity, and vision are vital in driving the sustainability successes we need. You are the catalysts for change, and there’s no place I’d rather be at this time than with this group of intelligent and inspiring professionals to move forward, together.”
Day One Session Takeaways
After Julie Brown’s inspiring introduction to kick-off the day, she sat down with REI CEO Eric Artz to discuss the outdoor industry’s responsibility to lead in sustainability. Artz shared that despite whatever administration is in the White House, the outdoor industry has managed to prevail and make progress.
We thrive when conditions are extreme, and we are motivated by the unknown. Artz highlighted the multitude of climate and public lands initiatives on the ballot across the country that passed this election cycle – showing that consumers are continuing to choose the planet.
Artz said: “Let’s focus on the millions that we serve, that are invested in the things we care about. How do we leverage that community more? How do we lean into it?”
Artz’s question was undoubtedly tackled throughout the rest of the Catalyst Conference as sustainability leaders in the industry discussed the most pressing issues of today.
Leah Thomas, Founder of Intersectional Environmentalist and environmental justice advocate, sat down with Ashley LaPorte (VP of Purpose & Impact, Burton), Jaclyn Levy (Senior Director of Government Affairs, OIA), and Troy Sicotte (President and Global GM, Mountain Hardwear) to discuss how sustainability practitioners can influence leadership in their organization.
LaPorte encouraged sustainability practitioners to build coalitions across their company – particularly with the finance team.
Sicotte pointed to consistently focusing on the consumer: “When people buy a Columbia stock, they know there’s a thread of consistency of the Columbia brands doing the right thing for the people and the planet.” LaPorte also mentioned the direct climate impacts on her staff. Hailing from Vermont, the extreme flooding Vermont has experienced in the past two years has severely impacted Burton’s staff’s ability to be productive.
Sicotte pointed to consistently focusing on the consumer: “When people buy a Columbia stock, they know there’s a thread of consistency of the Columbia brands doing the right thing for the people and the planet.” LaPorte also mentioned the direct climate impacts on her staff. Hailing from Vermont, the extreme flooding Vermont has experienced in the past two years has severely impacted Burton’s staff’s ability
to be productive.
“We will not be able to run a profitable business on a failing planet, and let’s make that really specific to our headquarters, in Burlington with 500 people, where twice in the past two years now we have lost serious productivity from folks because we are experiencing the impact of that crisis now.”
Moving on from a focus on leadership, the next panel highlighted how W.L. Gore, Ruffwear, Stanley 1913, and Patagonia are reducing their emissions. Kelly Hughes highlighted how at Ruffwear, they are focusing on reducing their scope 3 footprint through design, with their new designs beating the Higg Product Module LCIA score of the old designs in the following categories: global warming potential, eutrophication, water scarcity, fossil fuel depletion, and chemistry impacts.
Ryan Kelley from W.L. Gore shared that they have been able to achieve a 50% reduction in their GHG emissions to date, and highlighted two actions W.L. Gore has taken to reduce scope 1 emissions:
(1) By installing a heat pump in their facility in Shenzhen, China, the facility was able to reduce the site’s overall natural gas consumption by 31%; and
(2) by installing electric steam generation for their DWR line in Putzbrunn, Germany, they were able to decrease the site’s overall natural gas consumption by 20%.
Emily Cichy from Stanley 1913 shared the roadmap they followed to reduce scope 3 emissions, which entailed: measuring monthly data, setting goals and targets with their suppliers, creating reduction plans with their suppliers, and incorporating sustainability metrics into their supplier scorecards. Cichy also highlighted the work with the OIA Drinkware CoLab.
Kim Drenner from Patagonia shared how they are funding industry-wide studies to assess how suppliers can best reduce their emissions. They funded a number of electrification feasibility studies at suppliers in Taiwan, and determined that Electrified Thermal Energy Storage (ETES) has vast potential to achieve largescale decarbonization, and be a “drop-in” replacement for traditional boilers.
After the session on collective climate action, attendees had the option to choose between breakout sessions focused on circularity or attending a workshop on tackling organizational emissions. A highlight from the circularity panel included a robust discussion around “business as usual,” and changing the way the industry
creates and sells products to decouple production and profit. The less new product we produce – the less emissions we produce as an industry.
In the climate leadership workshop, members joined a facilitated discussion with industry peers about a specific emissions reduction topic, such as emissions measurement, target setting, logistics, carbon removal, etc. These discussions facilitated learning and collaboration amongst the participants, and attendees came away with next steps for the industry in the topic of their choice.
During the next pair of breakout sessions, attendees had the opportunity to choose between a session focused on building supply chain resilience, or a chemical compliance workshop. A theme that emerged from the supply chain resilience panel is that as the world warms, production is only going to become more interrupted by extreme heat and weather. Simultaneously, more energy will be needed in the supply chain to cool manufacturing facilities. Jason Judd, a professor at the Cornell School of Industrial and Labor Relations, implored the attendees to coalesce around enforceable working standards for supply chain workers that include wet bulb temperatures.
In the chemical compliance session, members had the opportunity to discuss shared challenges and key learnings of from PFAS phase-out in recent years. The challenge was: “Can OIA members agree on the next three chemical families to phase out before regulation?”
The last full-length session of the day centered around sustainability claims, and how to navigate today’s regulatory landscape. James Pollack, attorney at Marten Law, overviewed the legal concepts and regulations that apply to most of the outdoor industry, including FTC’s Green Guides, recyclability claims, “free of” claims, and carbon related claims.
Jason Parkin, Founder and President of Compose[d] talked about the benefits of sustainability marketing, and shared that education is paramount to connecting with your consumers on sustainability. Parkin also suggested breaking down sustainability reports into digestible, bite-sized pieces that can be spread out into a year-long content marketing strategy.
Leah Thomas, Founder of the Intersectional Environmentalist, encouraged brands to get involved at the local, grassroots level when engaging with environmental justice, to create reciprocal solutions in your community.
The programming of the day concluded with an industry address from Norah Stowell (Americas Regional Commercial Leader, W. L. Gore), who championed the industry’s progress in climate and chemistry postpandemic, and Kevin Myette (Director Global Brand Services, bluesign technologies ag), who shared the genesis of sustainability in the outdoor industry.
Myette shared: “What I do know is what got us here is certainly not going to get us where we ultimately need to be. I suggest we must also consider collaboration on scales we’ve never even imagined. It’s easy to get down by all the negativity that surrounds us.
Especially when business becomes so hard. However, we get to choose where we are on this trail. Are there any crusaders amongst you? Are we at an end, or a beginning?”
Attendees concluded the day participating in sponsor-led activations, including Title Sponsor GORE-TEX’s iconic “Rain Room” adventure, Worldly’s Product Impact Calculator, Community Gearbox’s new app, Patch’s carbon credit projects, Change Climate Project’s The Climate Label certification simulation, and Sol System’s renewable energy demos.
Day Two Session Takeaways
Day 2 of the Catalyst Conference was dedicated to working group meetings, exclusively for OIA members. The day began with a meeting for members of OIA’s three advisory councils (trade, sustainability, and recreation). All other attendees who are not members of OIA’s three advisory councils participated in networking and workshop tables focused on a specific sustainability topic. OIA’s advisory councils discussed 2025 policy priorities for the organization, with a specific focus on the intersection of trade and sustainability.
Register for OIA’s webinar on December 5th that will overview OIA’s policy priorities and the 2025 outlook for the outdoor industry here.
After the morning sessions, the entire Day 2 group reconvened, and OIA Sustainability Manager Breana Nehls overviewed collaboration at OIA, and each OIA Sustainability Task Force leader gave an overview of their task force, its progress, and its outlook for 2025. To learn more about the current OIA Sustainability Task Forces, click here.
Attendees then got together in groups, and workshopped ideas for new sustainability task forces to launch in 2025. The top ideas were:
• Traceability
• Toxic Chemicals and Solvents
• Design for Sustainability
• Funding Decarbonization
• Textile-to-Textile Recycling
• Durability Standards and Measurement
• Humans/Fair Labor
• Green Claims Guidance
• Clean Heat Installation
Attendees then regrouped according to the top idea that they were most interested in, and took time to brainstorm as a group what the objective and time frame for that topic’s task force would look like.
One person from each group then reported out to the larger group on their idea for their respective task force. The day ended with next steps: OIA will assess the task force proposals, and select a limited number to launch in 2025. Throughout Day 2, attendees were able to dive deeper into sustainability topics that interested them with their industry peers.
The day 2 activities fostered deep collaboration amongst OIA members, and simultaneously enabled OIA members to give direct input on how OIA will support them with sustainability in the future.
The OIA Team celebrates the inaugural Catalyst Conference as a tremendous success. OIA members were able to gather in person (many for the first time since the pandemic), share ideas, learn from one another, and connect on a deep level. Old friends were able to reunite, and new friendships were formed across generations. In a time of great uncertainty for the future of climate and sustainability, 200 outdoor and sustainability professionals showed up, and planned for a more sustainable future. We look forward to reconvening next year!
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Thank You to Our Title Sponsor
Catalyst Conference Supporting Sponsors
