Patagonia, Inc., originally Chouinard Equipment, is an American clothing company that markets and sells sustainable outdoor clothing. The company was founded by Yvon Chouinard in 1973, and is based in Ventura, California. After going bankrupt in 1989, the company split into Black Diamond Equipment, selling climbing gear, and the current Patagonia company that sells soft goods. Its logo is the outline of Mount Fitz Roy in Patagonia, South America, which happens to border the two countries of the region: Chile and Argentina.
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History
Yvon Chouinard, an accredited rock climber, began selling hand forged mountain climbing gear in 1957 through his company Chouinard Equipment. He worked alone selling his gear until 1965 when he partnered with Tom Frost in order to improve his products and address the growing supply and demand issue he faced.
In 1970, Chouinard obtained rugby shirts from Scotland that he wore while climbing because the collar kept the climbing sling from hurting his neck. Collared shirts were then designed and implemented into his merchandise line and quickly became the primary product sold. Chouinard Equipment was forced to file for bankruptcy in 1989 when it lost a series of lawsuits claiming "failure to inform" of safety issues related to usage of climbing hardware including one filed by the survivors of a climber who died in a fall after slipping out of a Chouinard climbing harness. The resultant increases in their product liability insurance were cited by Chouinard as the reason they stopped making climbing gear. The liquidated assets of the climbing gear side were purchased for $900,000 by Chouinard's longtime partner, Peter Metcalf, and reorganized as Black Diamond Equipment. Yvon Chouinard retained the profitable soft goods (clothing) division of the company which had already been rebranded as Patagonia.
Patagonia has expanded its product line to include apparel targeted towards other sports, such as surfing. In addition to clothing, they offer other products such as backpacks and sleeping bags.
Starting in April 2017, certain Patagonia merchandise that is in good condition can be returned for new merchandise credits. The used merchandise gets cleaned and repaired and sold on their "Worn Wear" website.
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Activism
Patagonia considers itself an "activist company."
Environmental
Patagonia commits 1% of its total sales or 10% of its profit, whichever is more, to environmental groups. Yvon Chouinard was a founding member of One Percent for the Planet, an organization that encourages other businesses to do the same. Patagonia also allows its customers to recycle and reuse clothing between users through its "Common Threads" project.
Politics and land preservation
In February 2017, Patagonia led a boycott of the Outdoor Retailer trade show, which traditionally took place in Salt Lake City, Utah, because of the Utah state legislature's introduction of legislation that would transfer federal lands to the state. Patagonia also opposed Utah Governor Gary Herbert request that the Trump administration revoke the recently designated Bears Ears National Monument in southern Utah. After several companies joined the Patagonia-led boycott, event organizer Emerald Expositions said it would not accept a proposal from Utah to continue hosting the Outdoor Retailer trade show and would instead move the event to another state.
On December 6, 2017, Patagonia sued the United States Government and President Donald Trump for his proclamations of reducing the Bears Ears National Monument by 85% and the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument by almost 50%. Patagonia is suing over the interpretation of the Property Clause of the U.S. Constitution in which the country vests Congress with the power to manage federal lands. The company's CEO, Rose Marcario, contends that when Congress passed the Antiquities Act of 1906, it did not give any president the power to reverse a prior president's monument designations.
Materials
Down
In 2012, UK animal activist group Four Paws said that Patagonia used live-plucked down feathers and downs of force-fed geese. In a statement on their website, Patagonia denied use of live-plucking but said it had used down procured from the foie-gras industry. As of fall 2014, Patagonia said it was using 100% traceable down to ensure that birds were not force-fed or live-plucked and that down is not blended with down from unknown sources.
Wool
In February 2005, Patagonia's sourcing of wool from Australia was criticized by PETA over the practice of mulesing. Patagonia has since moved its sourcing of wool from Australia to South America and the cooperative Ovis 21. However, in August 2015 PETA released new video footage showing how sheep were treated cruelly in Ovis 21 farms. This led Patagonia to stop sourcing wool from Ovis 21.
In June 2016, Patagonia released a set of new wool principles that guide the treatment of animals as well as land-use practices, and sustainability.
References
Further reading
External links
- Official website
- How I Built This: Patagonia (podcast episode)
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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