Mountain Equipment achieves RDS 3.0 brand certification
- Responsibility
Mountain Equipment is pleased to announce that it is now a certified Responsible Down Standard (RDS) brand. This represents the last step in integrating the RDS 3.0 standard into our DOWN CODEX®.
Being a certified brand partner means that the content claims in relation to the down we source are now independently verified by an accredited third-party certification body.
Prior to our adoption of the RDS 3.0 standard, whilst our audits were conducted by independent third parties, they were done so to a standard developed by us. Initially this was because no other standard existed but more recently this was because we felt the RDS standard fell short on some broader aspects of welfare but with the adoption of the 3.0 standard this changed.
The adoption of RDS 3.0 into DOWN CODEX® and our successful brand certification is an exciting prospect. It will, in our view, give us the best of both worlds, the greater transparency of DOWN CODEX® with its depth of detail and open-ness regarding supply chain conditions, and the certified rigour, paper trail, and third-party verification that comes from working with RDS.
For now, there will be little obvious change to our claims. One of our existing supply chains was already an RDS certified partner and the other two now in use, were selected with this standard adoption in mind. But customers will see a slight change to the format of the reports we publish and see greater use of the RDS logo alongside the DOWN CODEX® logo already used.
Being a certified brand partner means that the content claims in relation to the down we source are now independently verified by an accredited third-party certification body.
Prior to our adoption of the RDS 3.0 standard, whilst our audits were conducted by independent third parties, they were done so to a standard developed by us. Initially this was because no other standard existed but more recently this was because we felt the RDS standard fell short on some broader aspects of welfare but with the adoption of the 3.0 standard this changed.
The adoption of RDS 3.0 into DOWN CODEX® and our successful brand certification is an exciting prospect. It will, in our view, give us the best of both worlds, the greater transparency of DOWN CODEX® with its depth of detail and open-ness regarding supply chain conditions, and the certified rigour, paper trail, and third-party verification that comes from working with RDS.
For now, there will be little obvious change to our claims. One of our existing supply chains was already an RDS certified partner and the other two now in use, were selected with this standard adoption in mind. But customers will see a slight change to the format of the reports we publish and see greater use of the RDS logo alongside the DOWN CODEX® logo already used.
