Cannondale honored as REI’s all-around vendor partner of 2019

Each day, REI Co-op offers customers the best outdoor gear and apparel from thousands of established and up-and-coming outdoor brands. This week, REI Co-op recognized 2019 vendor partners who help make a significant impact to the co-op’s mission to awaken a lifelong love of the outdoors in everyone with its Vendor Partner of the Year awards.

REI Vendor Partner of the Year Awards

Bicycle manufacturer Cannondale, a premium brand of Dorel Industries, Inc. (TSX: DII.B, DII.A), headquartered in Wilton, Connecticut, received the co-op’s overall Vendor Partner of the Year award.

“Cannondale is an extraordinary partner with a shared vision and deep commitment to get more people out riding,” said Chris Speyer, REI vice president, merchandising. “From product design to inventory flow, inspiring consumer events to staff expertise, or marketing collaborations to store experiences, they invest for our mutual success and always with customers in mind. We are grateful for their innovative and passionate approach to our partnership.”

The following vendors collected 2019 divisional honors for the year:

• Action sports: Carve Designs (Sausalito, California) continually went above and beyond to bring a fresh differentiated active apparel assortment to REI’s customers. In the past few years, Carve Designs has supported showcasing body diversity by delivering sample sets in full size runs, pushed into sustainability practices (e.g., working toward the elimination of polybag use), and continued partnership across every level of the co-op.
• Camp: Exped (US HQ: Tacoma, Washington) delivered on gear innovation, brought relevant products and features to co-op customers. Exped continually backed this up with strong customer service, lifetime repairs and warranties, and solid support across REI’s channels.
• Apparel: Arc’teryx (North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) demonstrated an outstanding level of consistency in brand, product, partnership, and purpose. They consistently excelled in meeting the co-op’s requirements and exceeded our customer’s high standards for quality and sustainability practices.
• Footwear and basics: Salomon (Ogden, Utah) continued to introduce innovative, functional, and beautiful footwear products that helped inspire active outdoors participation for both core outdoor enthusiasts and people new to outdoor activities.

The Vendor Partner of the Year awards program was established by REI in 1993. Each year, companies are nominated by the co-op’s four merchandising divisions – action sports, camp, apparel, and footwear and basics – for partnering with REI to meet customer needs, raise the bar for product quality and drive sustainable business practices.

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