Rab and Lowe Alpine: technical, sustainable and ethical products

The Rab and Lowe Alpine brands are recognized not only for the quality and performance of their products, but also for their commitment to ethical manufacturing practices. As leading members of the Fair Wear Foundation, these brands strive to ensure that workers in their supply chains enjoy safe, dignified and fairly remunerated working conditions. By choosing Rab and Lowe Alpine, you are supporting a company that puts workers' rights at the heart of its concerns, promotes transparency and contributes to a fairer future for the fashion industry. Buying their products means investing in high-performance clothing while making a responsible and sustainable choice.


Equip Outdoor Tchnologies: Fair Wear leader

Equip Outdoor Technologies Ltd (owner of British outdoor brands Rab and Lowe Alpine) has been awarded Leader Fair Wear status for the third year running. In their recent brand performance audit, Fair Wear recognized Equip's exceptional progress in protecting workers' rights throughout their global supply chain, with a strengthening of human rights due diligence.

As Fair Wear states in the brand performance check: "Equip has shown advanced results on the performance indicators and has made exceptional progress. With a total benchmark score of 76, the member is placed in the Leader category." This is a significant improvement on Equip's previous result, with 10 percentage points above the 2023 score.

Equip is committed to improving the working conditions of the people making their products, and continues to increase vigilance regarding human rights due diligence and transparency within their operations. This year, they published their Sourcing Principles, Responsible Business Conduct Policy and Human Rights Due Diligence Policy externally for the first time.
Matt Gowar, Executive Chairman and owner of Equip, explains: "Maintaining our Fair Wear Leader status reinforces the importance we place on factory relations. I favour face-to-face communication to build trust and openness. Regular, in-depth factory visits enable me to really understand what's happening on the ground, and to support factories where we identify improvements. This is how we work as a company. It's something we've always done and will continue to do."

Richard Leedham, CEO of Equip, adds: "This achievement is the result of the ongoing hard work of our teams and the constant monitoring of our processes. Building on this and our heritage is essential to me as we develop our business in the right way, taking into account our ESG leadership objectives that frame our 5-year strategy."

Towards an even more responsible future

Looking ahead, Equip has expressed its commitment to broadening the scope of its human rights due diligence. In 2025, Equip will commission additional Fair Wear training for workers, covering employee rights, anti-harassment and social dialogue, based on their HRDD risk assessment.
The Fair Wear Brand Performance Check (BPC) is a tool for verifying how a Fair Wear member's business practices contribute to improving working conditions throughout their supply chain. It contributes to more transparent and responsible relationships with manufacturing partners. Each year, Fair Wear evaluates brands' efforts by measuring the extent to which they have identified, assessed and prevented, mitigated or remedied (potential) risks with their suppliers. Making BPC results public ensures transparency and helps hold member brands accountable. Leader status is awarded to member companies that excel and operate at an advanced level. Leaders demonstrate best practice in complex areas such as monitoring, repair and training to enable workers to raise issues in their factories.
In addition to their work with Fair Wear, Equip continues to drive forward improvements in all other areas of its sustainability program. Their 2024 Sustainability Report provides a comprehensive overview of progress.


About Fair Wear Foundation

Fair Wear Foundation shows that it is possible to make clothes in a fairer way - a way that supports workers' rights to secure, dignified and properly paid employment. Fair Wear is a multi-stakeholder organization that works with brands and supports workers to find solutions to problems that others deem unsolvable. Together with other influential industry players, they are working to set a new standard, aiming to create a world where fashion is fair for all.