The head of Mountain Equipment Co-op says the company isn鈥檛 rushing to make a decision about its supply chain after consumers on social media connected brands sold at its stores to a major U.S. gun manufacturer.
But CEO David Labistour said MEC will be looking more carefully at potential risks involved with larger holding companies it deals with.
鈥淲e鈥檝e always believed in having all the details and all the information before making a decision,鈥� Labistour said in an interview late Monday.
鈥淭hese decisions are going to offend someone somewhere because what we know through our social media feed is that not everyone is of the same opinion, so we have to weigh this very carefully and make sure that we make a decision that鈥檚 consistent with our membership and the values of the organizations.鈥�
His comments came after MEC said earlier Monday that its senior management would be meeting to discuss calls for it to stop selling Vista Outdoor Inc.-owned brands, including Camelbak and Bolle. Utah-based Vista also designs, develops and manufactures ammunition, long guns and related equipment, its website says.
Vista owns Savage Arms, which sells multiple semi-automatic rifles. Those are similar to the type of rifle a shooter used earlier this month to kill 17 people at a school in Parkland, Fla.
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While MEC doesn鈥檛 sell firearms, it does stock the helmets, sunglasses and other outdoor goods Vista makes.
Labistour said going forward, the company will be looking more carefully at its supply chain.
鈥淲hat we鈥檝e done in the past is that we鈥檝e been very focused on product sustainability and ethical sourcing, which we鈥檙e very proud of, but at the same time we鈥檝e never really looked upstream to parent companies and holding companies and the risk involved there,鈥� he said.
Tim Southam, public affairs manager at MEC, said ownership patterns in the outdoor industry are changing as more large players have come into the space and bought up what were formerly independent brands.
鈥淐amelbak, for example, our relationship goes back to 2009 before Vista Outdoors even existed as a company,鈥� Southam added. 鈥淭hese are relationships with individual brands that in some cases go back many years.
鈥淥ur sourcing practices have been squarely focused on MEC鈥檚 label and environmental consideration and kind of the larger political economy questions have not come into play. And what this situation underscores is that we need to dig into them more to have a better understanding.鈥�
A Change.org petition calls on the retailer to stop carrying the Vista brands.
鈥淕iven the recent massacre of high school students in Parkland, Fla., MEC is facing an urgent ethical obligation: to act in accordance with its 鈥榤ission and values,鈥欌�� reads the petition, which had been signed by about 900 people as of late Monday afternoon.
Some people aired their concerns on the company鈥檚 Twitter and Facebook pages, asking it to stop selling Vista-owned brands.
Vista did not immediately responded to a request for comment but MEC encouraged consumers to keep sharing their views via social media.
Aleksandra Sagan, The Canadian Press
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