Video: REI Invites Us to #OptOutside and Opt to Act

For the past few years, gear retailer REI has elected to close its doors on “Black Friday,” one of the biggest shopping days of the year. When it first made this bold move, the company says it was to give its employees a day off to spend time with their family and to head outdoors instead. It even promoted a popular hashtag —#OptOutside — to help spread the word. Since starting this movement, other outdoor companies and brands have followed suit, encouraging their employees to enjoy Black Friday pursuing their active adventures too. So much so, that it has turned into a full-fledged tradition. But in 2019, REI is looking to do something a little different. For the entire month of November, it is asking its 13,000 employees and more than 8 million members to join in an effort to help clean up the environment and protect the outdoors. The hope is that this will lead to a 52-week action plan in which we’ll all do something to help make the world a better place. And as this video shows, those efforts don’t have to be grand gestures. They can start very small and go from there. The point is, every effort — small or large — helps and we can all do something.

Kraig Becker