REI
Balanced Simplicity
In 2015, while most retailers held all-day (and all-night) Black Friday sales, REI launched its #OptOutside campaign, closing its 149 stores and paying its employees to take Thanksgiving and Black Friday off. Rather than spending time running from one store to the next, REI encouraged its customers to spend time outdoors, connecting to nature and to their families instead. The following year, over 550 brands (including Sustainable Brands!) joined REI®’s #OptOutside campaign. This example and the one before it (Patagonia) are particularly illustrative of the overlap potential between the key elements of The Good Life. By promoting the values of moderation, excellence, reclamation and deliberate consumption — core tenets of Balanced Simplicity — Patagonia and REI simultaneously foster a community of conscious consumers who are increasingly aligned with the needs of their local and global environment.