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Saturday, 17 September 2022
The rise of Patagonia: How rock climber and activist Yvon Chouinard created one of the world's biggest outdoor brands from the trunk of his car
Free bikes are available for employee use at the Patagonia corporate headquarters campus in Ventura, California.
David Walter Banks/For The Washington Post via Getty Images
Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard announced this week he is giving away the company, with all profits going to climate change.
Chouinard has a long history of environmental activism, which he has steeped into the company.
Here's a look at how Patagonia rose to become one of the world's most popular outdoor companies.
Patagonia was founded in 1973 by Yvon Chouinard, who is married with two children, now in their 40s.
Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard poses in his shop November 21, 1993 in California.
The company was built out of Chouinard's love for the outdoors. He was a passionate mountain climber at the ripe age of 14.
Yvon Chouinard climbs near Ophir wall during the three-day Mountainfilm festival in Telluride.
As Chouinard expanded his climbing experiences, he grew his network of friends in groups like the Sierra Club and learned to scale iconic peaks like Tahquitz and Yosemite.
Photo of rock climbers (L to R): Tom Frost, Royal Robbins, Chuck Pratt and Yvon Chouinard on the summit of El Capitan on 30 October 1964, following the ten day ascent of the North America Wall, Yosemite National Park, California.
Chouinard began teaching himself how to be a blacksmith in 1957, starting with making pitons, which are spikes mounted into rock to help support a climber. He quickly developed a following, and began selling them from his parents' backyard in Burbank, California, to friends and family.
A photo of a RURP (Realized Ultimate Reality Piton), invented by rock climbers Tom Frost and Yvon Chouinard.
His real passion, though, was being outside, climbing and surfing along the California coast. He continued selling the gear from his car to support himself, but "profits were slim," and Chouinard would eat discounted tins of cat food for sustenance.
Yvon Chouinard
Jacques Pavlovsky/Sygma/CORBIS/Sygma via Getty Images
Ready for a new adventure, in 1965 Chouinard teamed up with Tom Frost to create Chouinard Equipment, with a focus on redesigning climbing tools to make them "stronger, lighter, simpler, and more functional."
Chouinard Equipment Company, Ventura, California, 1969
Tom Frost - Skunkworks
Business began to grow, and by 1970 Chouinard Equipment was the largest climbing tool company in the US.
Inspired by Chouinard's use of a rugby shirt he picked up in Scotland — which worked well on climbs because the collar stopped slings from digging into his neck — the company decided to take a stab at making its own apparel.
Patagonia store owner Yvon Chouinard poses with his automobile November 21, 1993 in California
In 1973, the company opened its first store, Great Pacific Iron Works in Ventura, California. Today it serves as the company headquarters.
Patagonia headquarters, the site of the first store, Great Pacific Iron Works
Wikimedia Commons
Throughout the next decade, Patagonia worked on developing new forms of apparel — including specialty outerwear and long underwear — designed to keep climbers warm and dry.
Robert Alexander/Getty Images
The company experimented with different types of fabrics and materials. It also began using its signature bright, bold colors for its clothing.
An array of fabrics along the wall in the lab on the Patagonia corporate headquarters campus in Ventura, California.
David Walter Banks/For The Washington Post via Getty Images
By the late 80s and early 90s, the company established a culture known for its community spirit and love of outdoor sports.
Free bikes are available for employee use on the Patagonia corporate headquarters campus in Ventura, California.
David Walter Banks/For The Washington Post via Getty Images
Its headquarters had no private offices, and employees were allowed to wear whatever they pleased.
Solar panels cover the employee parking lot on the Patagonia corporate headquarters campus in Ventura, California on Friday, September 19, 2014.
David Walter Banks/For The Washington Post via Getty Images
Employees were encouraged to take surf breaks. Chouinard's laid-back approach to management is detailed in his memoir, "Let My People Go Surfing."
Laura Tripp, testing & standards engineer, tests fabric strength in the lab on the Patagonia corporate headquarters campus in Ventura, California on Friday, September 19, 2014.
David Walter Banks/For The Washington Post via Getty Images
It was also during this period that the company made an increased effort to support environmental efforts, and in 1988 Patagonia kicked off its first major campaign to protect Yosemite Valley.
In this Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2019, photograph, buyers pass by a sign in the Patagonia exhibit at the Outdoor Retailer & Snow Show in the Colorado Convention Center in Denver. Major players in the outdoor industry jumped into the political fight over national monuments two years ago and now have added climate change and sustainable manufacturing to their portfolio.
AP Photo/David Zalubowski
Similar efforts continued over the years, and the company began making regular donations to grassroots environmental organizations. It later debuted its 1% for the Planet effort, in which 1% of all sales are directed to these groups.
Bethany Biron/Business Insider
Patagonia continued to make waves on the sustainability front, including with major campaigns like the 2011 Black Friday "Don't Buy This Jacket" ads, which urged customers to reduce their consumption.
Despite its focus on activism, Patagonia hasn't been impervious to controversy. In 2015, an expose from The Atlantic reported that internal audits showed "multiple instances of human trafficking, forced labor, and exploitation in Patagonia's supply chain."
Demand Fair Trade sticker seen in the Patagonia store window in Dublin city center during Level 5 Covid-19 lockdown. On Saturday, 13 March 2021, in Dublin, Ireland.
Over the past decade, the company continued to expand its reach, including launching its own line of food, designed for hiking and camping called Patagonia Provisions.
Today, Patagonia has more than 70 stores globally and operates two distribution centers.
Tourists enter the Patagonia outdoor clothing shop in Vail, Colorado.
In April 2017, Patagonia announced the launch of Worn Wear, a program in which customers can return old gear and apparel, and receive credit toward a new item.
The company then mends the used items and resells them on its Worn Wear website.
Bethany Biron/Business Insider
In 2020, Patagonia took its activism to new heights when it sued former President Donald Trump over plans to reduce the size of two national monuments in Utah. The lawsuit came in tandem with an awareness campaign, "The President Stole Your Land."
In an unprecedented move, Chouinard announced this week he is giving away Patagonia, with all profits going into a new trust established to fight climate change.
Brad Barket/GettyImages
"Instead of 'going public,' you could say we're 'going purpose.' Instead of extracting value from nature and transforming it into wealth for investors, we'll use the wealth Patagonia creates to protect the source of all wealth," he wrote in a statement on Wednesday.
The company, which is valued at around $3 billion, will now be owned by the Patagonia Purpose Trust and Holdfast Collective.
A Patagonia store signage is seen on Greene Street on September 14, 2022 in New York City.
Often described as a "reluctant billionaire," Chouinard still embodies the same adventurous and unfettered spirit of his youth. According to The New York Times, the 83-year-old who was born in Maine "wears raggedy old clothes, drives a beat-up Subaru" and "does not own a computer or a cellphone."
Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard
"I never wanted to be a businessman," he wrote in his Wednesday statement. "I started as a craftsman, making climbing gear for my friends and myself, then got into apparel."
He continued: "Despite its immensity, the Earth's resources are not infinite, and it's clear we've exceeded its limits. But it's also resilient. We can save our planet if we commit to it."
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