Patagonia is known for its fleeces, parkas and shorts. But be aware that it also sells mackerel with paprika and pasta made from Kernza cereals. As the American company celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, in March it acquired Moonshot, a maker of crackers. In a press release, Yvon Chouinard, the founder, asks the obvious question: “Why does a specialist in clothing designed for outdoor activities sell food?” And to continue: “The real question for me is how could we do it differently?”
Patagonia has always pursued an original strategy. Yvon Chouinard, a climbing enthusiast from a Quebec family who immigrated to the United States, began in the late 1950s to forge steel pitons and carabiners by hand in his parents’ garden. He sells them to his fellow climbers from his car. Very quickly, the SME prospered. In 1973, he had the idea of launching a range of functional and durable clothing for outdoor sports enthusiasts. Here again, the success is there and the brand extends to Japan and Europe where a first store is opened, in Chamonix, in 1987. The turnover today revolves around 1.5 billion dollars, with a growing share from Europe.
Chouinard quickly realizes that textiles are a major pollution factor. Long before the concept gained traction, it preached sustainability and tried to make Patagonia an eco-responsible company with a mission to “save the planet.” A little contradictory when you sell billions of dollars of clothing whose manufacture has a significant impact on the environment? “There were two ways to solve this paradox, summarizes Frédéric Mouyade, brand manager in several European countries. We could have left the market to our competitors and disappeared. Or try to reduce our impact while encouraging others to follow. our model.”
In 1996, the group was one of the first to reject traditional cotton growing, which consumes a lot of pesticides and defoliants, to buy only organic cotton. It is also the first to produce recycled polyester fleece from plastic bottles. Next year, 98% of its collections will be made from materials that are organic, recycled or from regenerative agriculture. At the same time, it is working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from its entire production chain. And since 2013, it has worked to select factories that treat their workers fairly. “Most companies are profit-driven and settle for green veneer. Patagonia is driven by a mission that feels more authentic,” observes Sucharita Kodali, distribution specialist at Forrester, adding that not not being listed on the stock exchange “gives it more latitude to achieve its objectives”.
“I don’t drive a Lexus”
The “greening” of production is not without difficulty. Initially, there was not enough organic cotton to meet Patagonia’s needs and nearly thirty years later, it still represents less than 1% of global cotton production. Fleece wools have the unfortunate tendency, when worn, to sow plastic fibers that end up in the oceans. And it took time to find a substitute for the chemicals used to waterproof jackets. Aware that the only way to protect the Earth is to produce less, the brand has launched Worn Wear, a free repair site, which also offers the resale of second-hand clothing in the United States, and allows parkas and pants to be maintained. longer in circulation. More iconoclastic, Patagonia offered itself in 2011 in the New York Times a full page ad. It featured a fleece with the now famous slogan: “Don’t buy this jacket.” The idea was to discourage overconsumption by explaining that the production of this item required 135 liters of water, and generated 9 kilos of CO2. Ironically, this ad caused a surge in sales, and the brand was soon to be accused of hypocrisy. Yvon Chouinard keeps repeating that he never wanted to become a businessman. “It’s as hard for me to say these words as it is for a person to admit they’re an alcoholic,” he wrote in his book. Let my people go surfing. However, he has nothing against the notion of benefits, which he sees not as an end in itself but a means to an end. Patagonia donates 1% of its turnover to environmental organizations. It also subsidizes campaigns against fossil fuels or trawling which destroys the seabed. In Europe, she contributed to the creation of the Vjosa River National Park in Albania. And she does not hesitate to engage politically. In 2017, she sued the Trump administration to stop it from reducing the size of two nature reserves.
Yvon Chouinard
© / Getty Images
As Patagonia prospers, so does Yvon Chouinard’s fortune. Much to his chagrin. “I found myself included in Forbes’ list of billionaires and it really, really pissed me off. I don’t have a billion in the bank, I don’t drive a Lexus,” he said. he in the New York Times. The capitalist-in-despite-drives around in an old Subaru, and lives modestly between Ventura, California, the company’s headquarters, and Wyoming, where he flies. One summer in the mountains, he recounts in his memoirs, he fed on battered cat boxes and “murdered porcupines à la Trotski, with an ice pick”.
Recently, at the New York premiere of a documentary on the preservation of land in Chile, Yvon Chouinard said: “I am quite pessimistic about the fate of the planet. We have given 200 to 300 million dollars over the years but I always say to myself: what more can I do? He found, last year, taking an unprecedented decision. Rather than selling the group, valued at $3 billion, or listing it on the stock exchange, Yvon Chouinard, his wife and their two grown children transferred their voting shares – and therefore ceded control of Patagonia – to a trust, which protects its values, even when Yvon Chouinard, 84, is no longer there. The rest of the shares were entrusted to a non-profit organization intended to fight against global warming. It will be financed by part of the brand’s profits, some $100 million per year.
A boss who preaches in the desert
After ready-to-wear, the brand has decided to tackle the food industry, another major polluter. Its Patagonia Provisions division, created in 2012, markets – only in the United States – some twenty products including canned mussels, mackerel, fished in an eco-responsible way, and this famous pasta made from Kernza, a grass that helps restore soil health. Above all, she campaigns for the development of regenerative agriculture, a method that aims to avoid land depletion, improve biodiversity and potentially capture carbon in the soil.
Yvon Chouinard’s ultimate dream is to launch “a new form of capitalism”. “We are not going to save the planet on our own, it is not realistic. On the other hand, we can show the way and convert other companies”, explains Frédéric Mouyade. The brand has developed partnerships with Samsung, in particular to manufacture a washing machine equipped with a filter for microplastics. So far, Chouinard seems to be preaching in the desert. “He’s a missionary boss, we admire him, but I don’t think he succeeded in convincing anyone to imitate him in a meaningful way, although I would like that to be the case,” said Sucharita Kodali. . His goal, the Patagonia founder wrote a few years ago, was to keep “pushing the boundaries of what the industry considers possible.” There at least, he won his bet.