PATAGONIA
AN EVERGREEN
COMPANY
2023 JANUARY ISSUE
By CAROLINE KOPAS
From the Desk of the Publisher
This piece was prepared by Caroline Kopas and the research she did for Patagonia is very knowledgeable. Its founder Yvon Chouinard is not only unprecedented in donating his company, but also continuing in the fight against climate change. Patagonia has also been the frontrunner in sustainability for a very long time.
The company’s effort in connecting individuals with organizations to fight against the climate change is very encouraging.
Throughout the writing of this article, there are several links that can be connected to learn more about this meaningful act. And we have also found out that Patagonia has the “Worn Wear” model for garment recycle.
We suggest to the readers to read this article thoroughly as there are so many things to learn about sustainability.
If you didn’t know Patagonia is a green company a few months ago, odds are you now do. Making international news when founder Yvon Chouinard forfeited his ownership of the clothing brand to use the proceeds to fight climate change, Patagonia has firmly cemented itself as a champion of the environment. Although this news is groundbreaking and extraordinary in the fight against climate change, especially considering large corporations like Patagonia are often the greatest contributors of greenhouse gas emissions, it is far from the first step the company has taken for a greener and brighter present and future. In fact, Patagonia has been a frontrunner in sustainability for a very long time. This is exemplary of the trend that the most progressive, proactive, and environmentally-friendly companies also tend to be quiet and humble about their achievements, proving a certain genuineness and discrediting claims of performative activism.
Before showcasing Patagonia’s superb sustainable efforts, the interconnectivity of sustainable practices with human rights must first be explained. As outlined by the United Nations’ seventeen sustainable development goals, sustainability does not only refer to the conservation and preservation of the environment but also to ameliorating global challenges to facilitate life for populations around the world. Full sustainability ensures the protection of all life on earth, including humans.
This is incredibly evident when observing Patagonia’s practices, proving they are not only superiorly adept at protecting the environment but also human rights.
Here is a summary of the initiatives the company has taken to ensure a better quality of life for both present and future populations, starting with the environment:
Patagonia Action Works https://www.patagonia.com/actionworks/home/explore/grantees/all
Patagonia Action Works, available through the above link, is a Patagonia-sponsored program that connects website visitors to environmental grassroots organizations near them in order to encourage involvement in the fight against climate change. Expanding their outreach beyond what the company itself can do, Patagonia involves their consumers in the issues important to the company. Therefore, anyone visiting the Patagonia website can be directed to a way they can personally help.
This in no way distracts or takes away from Patagonia’s own action, however. It merely stands as a supplement and proves how much the company cares.
After entering your location and pressing a large orange “Act Now” button, you can then filter your results in order to display an organization more fitting to your interests. You can choose between the generalized “All Issues,” or the more specific “biodiversity,” “climate,” “communities,” “land,” or “water.” You can also multi-select in order to display several categories. Then, you are led to a page which displays everything from nearby events to petitions that relate to your filters. The interface is very user-friendly and undoubtedly leads to facilitated activism for many Patagonia consumers.
Alongside Action Works, Patagonia has their 30 by 30 Resolution to Protect Nature program. Urging activism, this program focuses on the protection of 30% of the world’s natural resources by 2030. This would not only help address climate change but also help curb the mass de-habitation, endangerment, and extinction of the world’s vast wildlife, protecting the environment’s delicate but critical biodiversity.
Action Works also makes various diverse yet powerful claims about the interconnectivity of environmental sustainability with human rights, as outlined in the United Nations’ sustainable development goals. In explaining how “climate justice is social justice,” the website remarks on how there is a wide array of human communities who are especially vulnerable to the effects of climate change, especially rising sea levels, and are suffering the consequences right now. Fighting against climate change also helps protect the livelihoods, health, economy, and much more of these people and their communities. Patagonia also connects environmental justice with issues such as pollution, Big Oil, and adverse health effects that often arise due to harmful climates. This is especially poignant considering the people most affected by these pollutants are of a low socio-economic demographic and often people of color.
Youtube: Patagonia | Patagonia Action Works | Feb 6, 2018 | 2:28
For almost 40 years, Patagonia has supported grassroots activists working to find solutions to the environmental crisis. But in this time of unprecedented threats, it’s often hard to know the best way to get involved. That’s why we’re connecting individuals with our grantees, to take action on the most pressing issues facing the world today. We built Patagonia Action Works to connect committed individuals to organizations working on environmental issues in the same community. It’s now possible for anyone to discover and connect with environmental action groups and get involved with the work they do.
Learn more at: patagonia.com/actionworks
For more information on Patagonia Actions Works, you can visit their page here.
1% for the Planet https://www.patagonia.com/one-percent-for-the-planet.html
One percent of Patagonia’s sales has been donated for the preservation, conservation, and restoration of the natural environment since 1985. Since then, over $140 million has been awarded to grassroots environmental groups, contributing greatly to the fight against climate change. In 2002, Chouinard alongside Craig Mathews, owner of Blue-Ribbon Flies, made 1% for the Planet not only a company policy but a nonprofit, creating a coalition of businesses pledging to donate one percent of their sales to environmental causes.
The website of this nonprofit, onepercentfortheplanet.org, goes on to explain that out of all philanthropic giving, only 3% goes to environmental organizations. This means the one percent this coalition is providing makes a sure difference in the funding of many grassroots groups and even has the potential to change attitudes towards charity and prioritize the environment more. With the combined efforts of companies pledging one percent, three percent could grow.
“This is not philanthropy. This should be a cost of doing business. It’s paying rent for our use of the planet,” said Yvon Chouinard.
Worn Wear
Worn Wear is a business model that sells and buys used Patagonia apparel. Explaining that “buying used extends a garment’s life by about two years, which drastically reduces both our reliance on virgin resources and our generation of waste,” Worn Wear’s website is a great place for thrift, sustainability, and much more.
Worn Wear also offers repairs of damaged Patagonia goods, which even further reduces waste. Created to be long-lasting, you can get even more use out of a Patagonia product by taking advantage of this useful policy. They even have a DIY option, providing over one hundred care and repairs guides for handy consumers.
Worn Wear has three separate collections of goods one can choose from:
- ReCrafted
- Seconds
- (Im)Perfectly Patched
Each collection offers a creative and consumer-friendly approach at sustainable practices and works at diverting products from landfills and giving them new life.
Courtesy of: Patagonia | https://wornwear.patagonia.com
2022 patagonia worn wear customer activation 45s 4K prores 422hq 16x9 m | 0:46
For almost 40 years, Patagonia has supported grassroots activists working to find solutions to the environmental crisis. But in this time of unprecedented threats, it’s often hard to know the best way to get involved. That’s why we’re connecting individuals with our grantees, to take action on the most pressing issues facing the world today. We built Patagonia Action Works to connect committed individuals to organizations working on environmental issues in the same community. It’s now possible for anyone to discover and connect with environmental action groups and get involved with the work they do.
Learn more at: patagonia.com/actionworks
Sourcing & Transparency
Patagonia offers more Fair Trade Certified™ clothing than any other apparel brand, meaning the company pays a premium with every certified style sewn that goes back into the hands of the factory workers who helped make the garment. This is not a trickle-down system—this premium goes directly to the workers, and its spending is up to their discretion. This helps ensure fair treatment and is a great step towards worker’s rights, especially in developing countries.
And a lot of Patagonia’s factories, mills, and farms are, in fact, located in developing countries. Scattered primarily across Southeast Asia, with a few locations in the United States, Central and South America, and one in Europe, Patagonia is extraordinarily transparent with their sourcing and supply chain. When outsourcing, however, little control is able to be exerted over facilities in which the company does not own. This leads to a substantial difference in the conditions and carbon footprint in Patagonia owned facilities and Patagonia outsourced facilities. Instead of hiding this difference, Patagonia is transparent about it and explains why it is so. The vast majority of Patagonia facilities run on renewable energy, and they are actively working on reducing their transportation footprint by limiting air-shipping.
Patagonia has a unique Supply Chain Environmental Responsibility Program. The program helps ensure facilities around the world meet a green standard ranging from carbon emissions to water-use to chemicals. Suppliers are regularly evaluated by the company to see if these standards are met, and if they go above and beyond expectations, the efforts are officially commended.
Patagonia similarly ensures their suppliers meet labor standards. Connecting to stop on the supply chain, the Patagonia Supplier Workforce Code of Conduct outlines the company’s policies on the following eighteen critical topics:
- Law and Code Compliance
- Child Labor
- Forced Labor
- Harassment, Abuse and Disciplinary Practices
- Discrimination
- Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining
- Employment Relationships
- Wages and Benefits
- Overtime Wages
- Hours of Work
- Health and Safety
- Environment
- Community
- Subcontracting
- Animal Welfare
- Traceability
- Code Communication
- Quality
Patagonia has worked and is working tirelessly to ensure all company workers are paid a living wage and are fairly compensated for their hard work despite the apparel industry in particular having a bad track record in this issue. On top of this, the company helps ensure foreign migrant workers and guest workers are treated justly and are not exploited in their vulnerability. They constructed barriers to forced labor and hiring fees throughout their supply chain to help prevent this exploitation.
Patagonia has two overseers of migrant worker treatment—one based in California and the other in Taiwan. These individuals help ensure that Patagonia’s Migrant Worker Employment Standards, which is an outline for migrant-related hiring and employment ethics, are adequately met. Additionally, the company works with the public sector, including NGOs and governmental organizations in order to better ameliorate the fair treatment of these workers and to better facilitate communication between these public entities, the supply chain, and the migrant employees.
The Hidden Cost of Clothes | https://www.patagonia.com/hidden-cost-of-clothes/
Continuing the trend of showcasing their green-mindedness, Patagonia has an incredibly user-friendly and interactive explanation and timeline of the apparel industry’s impact on CO2 emissions. It evokes climate change by name, does not sugarcoat the severity and escalation of the crisis and the industry’s intrinsic involvement, and discusses the harmful performative and hypocritical activism of various brands. However, it ends on an uplifting note: a powerful call to action, a vow to change, and a demonstration of Patagonia’s undoubtable commitment to sustainability.
This walkthrough is an extraordinary graphic of all Patagonia stands for and its importance, and works incredibly well regarding accessibility, clarity, and emotional impact.
Honorable Mentions
Activism Stories – Accessible at www.patagonia.com/stories/activism is a large database of uplifting stories of people and other entities pushing tirelessly for environmental and social progress. Spreading hope and giving recognition to these amazing people, Patagonia is willing to draw attention away from themselves and onto the unsung heroes of the activism world.
Acknowledgement | https://www.patagonia.com/stories/our-acknowledgment/story-91580.html
As already established, it is undeniable that environmental activism is inherently and permanently linked with social activism. This is again demonstrated with Patagonia’s acknowledgment of racism and the Black Lives Matter movement, and their vow to become actively an antiracist corporation. They unabashedly acknowledge that they are “ a white-led outdoor company reliant on recreation on stolen Native lands” and that the racial justice movement “revealed how much more we need to do to live up to our values as an activist company.”
Taking ownership of all harm they might have inflicted, Patagonia promises to actively work against racism, listen to BIPOC voices, and be truly committed to equity and justice around the world.
“We’re in business to save our home planet, but we can’t possibly do this alone,” their website says. “We must focus on those most impacted by the environmental crisis and follow their lead. We are here for the work of forging a more just world.”
Conclusion
When it comes to genuine activism, Patagonia is exemplary. Attempting to better the world on both large and small scales, Yvon Chouinard’s altruistic and unprecedented donation of his company is just the beginning. In the words of the founder himself, “It’s been nearly 50 years since we began our experiment in responsible business, and we are just getting started. If we have any hope of a thriving planet—much less a thriving business—50 years from now, it is going to take all of us doing what we can with the resources we have.”
Patagonia has already drastically influenced other companies, organizations, and corporations around the globe to take a stronger stance in and be more proactive in preventing the climate crisis. With this most recent step towards progress, it can only be wondered how much of an impact the company will have a year, a decade, or even a century down the line.
A profound one, certainly. An irreplaceable one.
And everyone and anyone can take notes and start working towards a better future together.