Patagonia was incorporated in 1984. Patagonia followed Chouinard's
original intentions of developing goods that could easily be described as
ridiculously overbuilt (Defining Quality, 5). Chouinard began technical product
development in 1973, which continued and intensified under the Patagonia name.
Patagonia continually improved on the amount of environmental impact as well as
the quality of their materials. Pile lead to Bunting, which lead to Synchilla,
which eventually changed the industry. Patagonia also introduced polypropylene
underwear, which was replaced by Capilene in 1985. Although competition became
fierce, Patagonia's attention to the details and construction of their products
kept them ahead of the others. Throughout the years there has always been one
constant in Patagonia's design and philosophy- a sense that there is in the
products, or should be, more than meets the eye. Quality. Superb functionality.
Environmental concern. A Killer warranty and service to match” (Defining
Quality, 9). Patagonia's Environmental History As you can see in the above text,
Patagonia’s founder Yvon Chouinard has always put the environment first in his
business plans. But Patagonia has done more for the environment then first meets
the eye. In 1973 a young activist contacted Patagonia with concerns of the
polluted Ventura River. Soon after Patagonia started making contributions to the
Friends of the Ventura River. This marked Patagonia's first step towards
donating to environmental causes. Over the next several years as Patagonia
gained further success, Chouinard continued to increase donations to
environmental groups. In 1985 Patagonia initiated a Tithing Program, which made
a commitment to donate ten percent of profits to various environmental group.
They could now focus on the bottom line with pride-knowing that if they made
money, others would as well (Defining Quality, 24). Between 1985 and 1998 alone,
Patagonia has given over $13million to environmental groups.
The Tithing Program
started by Patagonia was gaining such strong media recognition that many other
companies began to initiate similar programs. Although this seemed like a step
towards the right direction, Patagonia found one major flaw. If profits were
low, high volume companies committed to donating 10% often ended up giving very
little to environmental groups. After this discovery, Patagonia decided to up
the ante. Patagonia would now give one percent of sales revenue or 10% of
profits, whichever be greater, to these organizations. Later in the1980's
Patagonia began to take their environmental values and focus inward. Patagonia
started to look at their production process with hopes of improvement. They
started by drastically reducing the waste in their facilities. In 1989 the Salt
Lake City Patagonia outlet set up a recycling station in their parking lot. This
was the first public recycling station in the state of Utah. Patagonia also
changed the way they built their facilities. For example, they switched from
using fir to recycled wood and steel for trims. They now use paint that contains
low amounts of volatile organic compounds, and they have installed many devices
used to store and conserve energy. Patagonia then took the next step by looking
at the materials used in the production of their products. They found that they
could reduce the effects of their synthetic fibers. In 1993, Patagonia
introduced PCR Synchilla, which was made from recycled plastic bottles. This
shifted consumption away from virgin crude oil that was previously used to make
these garments. Once again, Patagonia became an industry leader as many other
companies converted to PCR Synchilla. Next, Patagonia found that the
conventionally grown cotton being used in their garments was grown with large
amounts of pesticides. So, in 1996, Patagonia started to only use one hundred
percent organic cotton. Also in 1996, Patagonia hosted an environmental
conference for their suppliers.
