Mountain Hardwear

Feb 03, 2023

Mountain Hardwear is an American fashion retailer founded in 1993 in Richmond, California, by outdoor industry iconoclasts. The multinational clothing-retail company creates outdoor apparel for women and men.

Mountain Hardwear makes clothing, accessories, and equipment. The Columbia Sportswear Company owns Mountain Hardwear and many other brands, such as prAna, Sorel, and Columbia.

Columbia operates 129 outlet-retail stores in the United States, 13 branded retail stores, and four brand-specific e-commerce websites. It divides its operations into four geographic segments: the United States, Latin America, and Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Canada.

Mountain Hardwear combines its approach to product creation with its commitment to its consumers, communities, and the environment. It aims to protect the outdoors with partnerships for a sustainable planet, environmental impact management, and sustainable manufacturing practices.

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Sustainability Rating: 5/10

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Category: Clothing, accessories, bags

For: Women, men

Type: Basics, knitwear, activewear, underwear, loungewear, outerwear

Style: Casual

Quality: Medium

Prices: $$

Sizes: XS-XL, 2-16 (US), 4-18 (UK), 34-48 (EU), 4-18 (AU)

Fabrics: Cotton, linen, polyester, nylon, spandex, polyethylene, polypropylene, acrylic, neoprene, polyurethane, rubber, leather, wool, down

100% Organic: No

100% Vegan: No

Ethical & Fair: No

Recycling: Yes

Producing countries: Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Guatemala, Italy, Germany, Israel, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Philippines, Peru, Pakistan, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Thailand, Taiwan, United States, Vietnam

Certifications: RDS, Bluesign

Sustainability Practices

Mountain Hardwear takes wide-ranging measures to protect biodiversity, reduce its consumption of water, energy, and other resources, avoid waste, and combat climate change.

It wants to be better and more efficient by looking at every aspect of its value chain to ensure the healthy functioning of our planet. However, the majority of its business remains detrimental to the environment.

Mountain Hardwear only uses a tiny proportion of organic materials such as organic cotton or recycled materials such as recycled cotton, recycled polyester, and regenerated nylon.

Most of the fabrics it uses are either natural without relevant certifications, such as regular cotton or linen, or synthetic petroleum-based fibers such as polyester, nylon, acrylic, and more.

Mountain Hardwear publishes a list of all its manufacturers and many of its processing facilities on its corporate website. It has committed to high standards for furthering social responsibility and integrity across its supply chain.

Mountain Hardwear manufactures its clothes in many East Asian countries, where human rights and labor law violations happen every day.

The American clothing retailer doesn't show any labor certification standard that would ensure good working conditions, decent living wages, health, safety, and other crucial rights for workers in its supply chain.

Mountain Hardwear has a code of conduct that applies to all its suppliers and subcontractors based on the regulations set by the International Labor Organization (ILO).

Mountain Hardwear assesses compliance with its Code of Conduct by informal visits or third-party audits with or without notice. It aims to advance ethical worker treatment, safe working conditions, and transparency through its social responsibility program.

Mountain Hardwear doesn't use exotic animal skin, hair, fur, or angora. But it uses leather, wool, and down feathers to manufacture many clothing pieces.

These animal-derived materials are cruel and unethical. They also harm the environment by producing greenhouse gases and waste. More sustainable alternatives exist.

Sustainability Goals

Mountain Hardwear has committed to a 30% reduction in Scope 3 manufacturing emissions by 2030 as compared to a 2019 baseline. It focuses on its climate target and water usage to further climate management.