Kathmandu named one of the best places to work

Outdoor lifestyle brand Kathmandu is celebrating another major award win, taking out the Retail, Hospitality, Tourism and Entertainment sector gong in the annual AFR BOSS Best Places to Work awards.

The awards identify and celebrate companies that have succeeded in creating motivating, productive and inclusive workplace environments that enable people to thrive, feel supported and excel in their careers.

There is an overall winner, 10 industry sector winners and five specialist category winners. More than 750 companies competed this year.

With a rigorous submission and assessment process, the awards underpinned by the Workplaces of the Future framework developed by leading behavioural science consultancy, Inventium.

“At Kathmandu, fostering a workplace culture that is committed to justice, equity, diversity and inclusion is paramount for everything we do. Our people are the backbone of our brand and the wellbeing of our team will always be our number one priority. We are a family and our achievements are because of the contribution of every individual,” says Rebecca Edwards, General Manager of People, Capability and Safety at Kathmandu.

Says CEO Reuben Casey: “Our brand ethos and culture is based on the benefits of being out there in nature and we fulfil our purpose of improving the wellbeing of the world through the outdoors by starting with our team. Our success, in part, is measured by the wellbeing and mental health of our cherished community of Kathmanduer’s and we are honoured to have this success recognised by AFR.”

The AFR coup follows a prestigious win in January at the fourth annual Outdoor Retailer Innovation Awards,the largest global B2B trade event serving the outdoor industry, attracting visitors and exhibitors from around the world.

Kathmandu’s innovative BioDown - the first biodegradable* jacket – scored an award from a pool of 152 entries.

The brand is working towards an ambitious net-zero waste by 2025 business goal: to have 100% of its products designed, developed, and manufactured using elements of sustainability principles.

BioDown - available in select Kathmandu retail stores and online from today - marks a significant milestone in this drive.

Robert Fry, Kathmandu General Manager of Product, says: “This jacket shows how deeply committed we are to this 2025 goal as we continue to change the way we look at our product and its impact on our planet. It’s the ultimate expression of passion, dedication, and skill used with the sole intention to make the world a better place.”

To launch the BioDown jacket, Kathmandu backed an installation in Melbourne's Federation Square created by zero-waste advocate and founder of Future Food Systems, Joost Baker, which opened on Tuesday and closes today.

Designed and built using over 3000kg of fashion waste sourced from recycling centre Upparel, the installation is designed to give visual representation to the staggering amount of fashion discarded by Australians.

“Every 10 minutes, Australians throw away 6000kgs of fashion into landfill - twice the volume of what was used to build this structure," says Bakker. "The aim was to give visual representation to this staggering statistic and force people to confront this issue head-on."

Within the installation, QR code technology allows visitors to access content about BioDown and learn more about its role in fighting fashion waste. Mass-scale community screens in Federation Square are on show to highlight informative and educational video footage surrounding the issue.

On ground for the launch were Kathmandu CEO Reuben Casey and Chief Customer Officer Eva Barrett.

“Kathmandu has always been about using our business as a force for positive change," says Casey.