Bluesky New York City—Deep in the basement of REI’s flagship SoHo store, Emma Harris was organizing shelves one day in October when she noticed the box of respirators was missing. Harris, an REI employee of more than five years, was alarmed. She worked two floors underground waxing and repairing skis, using a blowtorch to melt plastic like candle wax. “Everyone can smell it,” Harris told me. “It smells like plastic burning.” The fumes gave her a headache and a sore throat.