When Mary Beth Laughton became CEO of REI this year , one of the first things she did was aimed at improving relations with the employees of the struggling outdoors gear retailer: She apologized for REI’s endorsement in January of President Donald Trump’s candidate for Secretary of the Interior, Doug Burgum.

“Let me be clear, signing that letter was a mistake,” she said, referring to a letter her predecessor Eric Artz signed, along with a number of other outdoor focused companies, supporting Burgum’s nomination.

As detailed in 2024 in a Fortune examination , REI (“Recreational Equipment Inc”) employees, known as “Green Vests” for their trademark in-store apparel, had been increasingly unhappy in recent years with what they saw as the rise of a corporate culture that undermined the

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