Patagonia is an outdoor manufacturer with the logo of Mt. Fitz Roy, a mountain in southern Argentina. The company’s founder, Yvon Chouinard, taught himself to make and sell climbing gear such as pitons and chocks (tools used for rock climbing) around 1970.
The gear became the talk of the town among mountaineers, but as climbing became more popular, he realized that the pitons, which were made of steel, were damaging the rocks and destroying nature, so he stopped making and selling the popular gear.
Then, in 1972, he created climbing gear = clean climbing that doesn’t damage the rock. That means they were already developing products that did not damage the natural environment before the company was founded, which is the same as Patagonia’s management policy today. And in 1973, Patagonia was founded in the small town of Ventura, California.
Even after Patagonia’s success, Yvon Chouinard still wears old Patagonia clothing (20 years old) and cars drive old cars. He rarely has anything new. As for his lifestyle, when I stopped by Patagonia’s shop, there was an article in the catalog that I saw,
“dos and don’ts”, and I got a glimpse of the part that overlaps with it. Not Club Med (resort facility) >> but a small country inn, not a camper >> but a Volkswagen. It can be seen that the founder and Patagonia have the same idea and direction.
Thoughts on the environment
Yvon Chouinard, a lover of nature, says that it is ourselves, not the companies or the government, that have not been able to actively tackle problems in the global environment.
We, as consumers, are the ones who are urging companies to provide us with cheap and disposable products. He also talks about sustainability, which we hear a lot about these days, as follows.
“There is no such thing as sustainability. The best we can do is cause the least amount of harm.” -Yvon Chouinard-
Quoted from theguardian.com
The words of Yvon Chouinard
Yvon Chouinard and Patagonia have a philosophy that has remained consistent from the beginning to the present.
Patagonia is a very unique company in terms of the social structure of consumption. From their words and actions, I think they show that they are needed for the present to the future.
Keep in mind what Yvon Chouinard has said.
“One of the things I really believed in is the idea of simplicity, that life should always be moving towards more simplicity rather than more complexity. ” -Yvon Chouinard-
Quoted from Official blog of patagonia.jp
