Dick’s Sporting Goods

Key Findings and Recommendations

• Corporate Commitment: Dick’s Sporting Goods is a member of the Outdoor Industry Association and has joined a working group to improve chemicals management practices. Otherwise, Dick’s Sporting Goods has no public written safer chemicals policy and has not made a public commitment to safer alternatives in products, packaging, or operations. Dick’s Sporting Goods should publicly commit to develop and implement a corporate safer chemicals policy.
• Transparency: The company’s most recent sustainability report states it annually trains suppliers and that it conducts random testing of certain brands for toxic chemicals to ensure compliance with its restricted substance list (RSL). Otherwise, there is no indication Dick’s Sporting Goods requires suppliers to disclose chemical ingredients or plastics to the retailer or consumers. Dick’s Sporting Goods should require ingredient disclosure and publicly evaluate its chemical footprint.
• Ban the Bad: Dick’s Sporting Goods restricts more than 10 chemical classes across products, as well as PVC plastics in its private-brand products. In March 2023, Dick’s Sporting Goods announced a new restriction on the entire class of PFAS in textiles. In 2023, the company also set restrictions on the chemicals bisphenol B (BPB), formamide, and N-Methylpyrrolidone (NMP).
• Safer Solutions: Dick’s Sporting Goods sells Nikwax waterproofing treatment, which has been identified as a safer alternative for textiles treatment. Otherwise, there is no indication that Dick’s Sporting Goods has supported the development or sale of safer products. Dick’s Sporting Goods should work to ensure substitutes for chemicals and plastics of high concern are safer for the health of consumers, communities, workers, and the environment.