California Apparel News

Telling customers to purchase less clothing is not something many companies would do, but Patagonia has never been a traditional company.

It was the first large retailer to switch from using conventional cotton to solely organic cotton back in the 1990s, and Patagonia has been a pioneer in corporate sustainability through its environmental grants program and 1% For The Planet initiative, long before corporate giving became fashionable.

Part of this disregard for convention stems from the company’s founder, Yvon Chouinard, a committed environmentalist who puts the environment first, often even before profit, said Rick Ridgeway, Patagonia’s vice president of environmental initiatives.

This renegade thinking has led the company to embrace a new movement to encourage its consumers to buy less products and recycle their old goods through the company’s already-existing Common Threads Initiative.

The new addition to the initiative is a partnership with eBay to encourage consumers to “Reduce what you buy,” “Repair what you can,” “Reuse what you no longer need” and “Recycle what’s worn out.”

The program initially began in 2006 as an effort to encourage the recycling of used Patagonia clothing, but more recently, the company saw the opportunity to expand upon it in response to both the current economic climate and the threat of increasing environmental issues.

“Three years ago, at the beginning of the recession, I started to notice a shift in the way people were buying stuff,” Ridgeway explained. “The smart people were investing in products that cost a bit more but last a long time.”

Ridgeway also noticed that people seemed less inclined to make purchases, period. What started as an economic incentive appeared to be turning into a drive for a simpler way of living.

“There was a trend starting to emerge, driven by the recession, prompting people to reassess their relationship with ’stuff.’ I had the intuition that it would grow into a major trend.”

Ridgeway’s intuition was right. Ultimately, the enhanced Common Thread Initiative has been so well received that the company has been attracting new customers, Jess Clayton, spokesperson for Patagonia, said.

“The message is really resonating. It’s a cool example of thinking outside the box,” she said.

The new partnership with eBay enables customers to buy or post used Patagonia products for sale on eBay under the Patagonia Common Threads online store after signing an online pledge to reduce their environmental footprint, in addition to recycling their extensively worn goods at a Patagonia store.

Ridgeway said the initiative lines up with the company’s core values.

“We really believe that we have to figure out a way to reduce the impact of our business. There won’t be enough resources to stay in business if we continue the way we have been,” Ridgeway said in regards to the apparel industry. “One of the single biggest ways to reduce our impact is by consuming less stuff and having the lowest possible footprint on the planet, but the company can’t achieve what needs to be done on its own. It has to be a partnership with our customers.”

Anne Leonard, director of The Story of Stuff Project—a nonprofit dedicated to increasing reuse of products rather than buying new goods—praised Patagonia’s ambitious and novel business approach.

“In addition to asking customers to buy used stuff, it also asks us to pause before we buy anything—to think hard about if we really need it,” she said. “In return, Patagonia promises to make their stuff as durable as possible and to repair it in those rare cases it needs repair. And, amazingly, it encourages people to dig out old unused Patagonia gear from the backs of closets and garages to resell them—at no financial benefit to Patagonia.”

Leonard said Patagonia is leading the way in charting a new kind of business for the future.

“If we want to prevent crashing into an ecological wall, we need to figure out how to run businesses that redefine our relationship to stuff and meet people’s needs in a way that is healthy for workers, healthy for customers and healthy for the planet. Patagonia is doing that,” she said. “They aren’t satisfied with tinkering around the edges, with incremental reductions in packaging, for example, but they are rethinking what it means to be a responsible business in this resource-scarce era.”

Annie Lescroart, senior manager of sustainability for eBay, said she hopes the partnership will inspire other businesses. “By partnering with a forward-thinking company like Patagonia ... we can advance a new model for consumption within the retail industry, addressing the full product lifecycle. It is our hope that this partnership will help pave the way for other retailers to take ownership of their products even after the point of purchase.”

Patagonia’s ultimate goal is to keep as much as clothing as possible out of a landfill, Clayton said. This initially started with recycling because recycled materials can be converted into new fabrics for clothes or “downcycled” into shower curtains, dog beds or insulation for homes. But recycling requires a lot of water and energy, which is why the company wanted to expand into something even less wasteful.

By encouraging customers to reduce how much they buy and repair existing products instead of purchasing new ones, Patagonia is having more of an impact on saving the environment, she explained.

It was a risk to encourage customers to purchase less, but “the decisions by the environment are always harder to make,” Clayton said. Ultimately, the company’s out-of-the-box thinking has helped attract more like-minded customers with its unique approach to business.

“We keep having our best year every year,” she said.

Harnessing human resources

The company has also embraced innovative thinking with its philosophy of putting as much emphasis on the environment and its employees as it does on its bottom line.

With perks such as flexible work hours and daily surf breaks as long as employees don’t miss a meeting or deadline, convention has never been the norm for the company, which initially began in a battered tin shed.

This approach of encouraging environmentalism and allowing employees time to enjoy the outdoors stems from founder Chouinard’s ethos of “Let My People Surf,” according to Clayton.

The company, based in Ventura, Calif., was established by Chouinard, a rock climber, as Chouinard Equipment in 1965. Chouinard partnered with Tom Frost, a fellow climber and aeronautical engineer, for the first nine years, and the company soon became the largest supplier of climbing hardware in the United States. In 1972, they switched from producing environmentally damaging climbing pitons to aluminum chocks that could be wedged into a mountain by hand rather than hammered. This was the first of many major decisions by the company to put the environment first.

By this time, the company had also expanded into carrying outdoor clothing, most of it imported from around the world. Soon, the company was making its own fabrics and clothing and inventing new textile technologies for climbing wear.

Today, the company has more than 300 employees at its Ventura headquarters and more than 1,000 employees worldwide, but Chouinard’s original tin shed sits out back at the headquarters as a reminder of the company’s humble origins.

The company is focused on embracing cultural values that favor the outdoors, a relaxed work atmosphere and healthy living, which, in turn, creates a productive workforce, Clayton said. As a testament to this, the company’s boardroom is literally a boardroom for housing surfboards.

Showers and bikes are provided on-site at the main campus to promote biking or walking to work, and financial credits are given for carpooling or not driving to work. Employees are also encouraged to participate in environmental internships with Patagonia covering the cost of their expenses and salary while attending.

There is an organic employee cafeteria, subsidized by Patagonia, to provide low-cost, healthy meals for employees three times a day, and protein bars and vitamin drinks are free to staff and visitors. Additionally, there is an on-site daycare for employees (costs are not subsidized by the company), which takes children aged infant to kindergartner.

Environmental ethos

Since 1985, Patagonia has pledged 1 percent of its net sales to the preservation and restoration of the environment by providing grants to small, grass-roots environmental organizations that are often overlooked by larger foundations. In 2002, the program expanded into a separate nonprofit, titled 1% For The Planet, in partnership with Craig Mathews, owner of Montana-based fly-fishing store Blue Ribbon Flies, and it now includes nearly 1,400 businesses that each give at least #8232;
1 percent of their annual sales to environmental causes.

The company’s environmental ethos appeals to customers who share Patagonia’s common beliefs, Ridgeway said. “They partner with us and align with our brand to become part of our family.”

Each year, Patagonia also launches a new environmental campaign. This year’s campaign, “Our Common Waters,” highlights the need to balance human water consumption and curb freshwater use. Next year, the company will launch a new campaign, titled “Vote the Environment,” which examines political candidates’ voting records on environmental issues, according to Clayton.

Eco from the inside out

Patagonia uses as many recycled materials as it can, such as recycled polyester and nylon, as well as environmentally friendly fibers, such as Tencel, Clayton said. Recycled plastic soda bottles and old garments are turned into fleece and polyester fibers used to make shell jackets and clothing.

The company has continued its green path by installing solar panels at its Ventura campus headquarters, which offset 50 percent of the buildings’ energy, as well as working primarily in older renovated buildings, rather than creating new office space. When the headquarters expanded 14 years ago, the new building was built with a recycled steel frame, reclaimed wood, low-flow toilets and motion-sensitive lights. The Reno, Nev., shipping center also uses solar panels and is gold LEED certified by the U.S. Green Building Council.

“We’re in business to inspire other businesses,” Clayton said.