Ryan Stuart, explore's gear editor
Ryan Stuart's tell all blog spot on his gear addiction and life and times as explore magazine's gear editor
Scoop: Socially responsible bikes from MEC
zoomI found out some interesting news the other day: Mountain Equipment Co-Op is planning to create their own bike line by 2010. A source involved in the project says MEC sees potential to produce reasonably priced bikes, with decent margins and so they're going for it.
The plan is to roll out a couple commuter style rides by spring 2010. Right now they are busy getting factories up to speed on MEC ethical requirements. Apparently fair worker treatment, pay and hours are new to most factories involved in the bike industry. MEC requires all the factories and companies it deals with to adhere to its Vendor Code of Conduct. They didn't face opposition, but it was something new for the factories. Here's some info on MEC's factory partnerships and the code of conduct from the co-op's website, mec.ca under 2007 Accountability Report:
"Our $54 million of MEC-brand inventory was made in 63 factories (mainly in Asia, and 30% in Canada). We're on track to release factory locations this year – a Canadian first. All factories sign our Vendor Code of Conduct. Thirty-four of them (representing 76% of product orders) were audited. We found 243 violations. We focused efforts on remediation, collaboration, capacity building, and worker empowerment training. Our results are mixed. We're reviewing priorities to release a new strategy in 2009."
I'm excited to see what MEC designers come up with.
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