Patagonia

Patagonia is committed to building the best outdoor clothing and gear, causing no unnecessary harm, and using business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis. The company donates time, services and 1% of sales to hundreds of grassroots environmental organizations all over the world.

Patagonia is at the forefront in demonstrating corporate responsibility. It promotes fair labor practices and safe working conditions throughout its supply chain. Among Patagonia’s corporate responsibility initiatives are the:

Patagonia Provisions
Patagonia has expanded its vision to include sustainable foods. Salmon and tsampa soup are among its introductory offerings.

Common Threads Initiative 
Calls upon others to join the company in pledging to reduce excess consumption and give the planet's vital systems a rest from pollution, resource depletion and greenhouse gases. The pledge reads: " Build useful things that last, repair what breaks and recycle what comes to the end of its useful life; buy only what you need (and will last), repair what breaks, reuse (share) what you no longer need and recycle everything else."

The Footprint Chronicles
Examines Patagonia's life and habit as a company. The goal is to use transparency about its supply chain to help it reduce its adverse social and environmental impacts--and on an industrial scale.

Environmentalism
Patagonia thinks that business can inspire solutions to the environmental crisis. This means that what Patagonia makes and how it makes it must cause the least harm to the environment. The company evaluates raw materials, invests in innovative technologies and rigorously polices its waste. Among its environmental initiatives is the investment of over $13 million to put solar panels on homes in Hawaii and the documentary DamNation about the need to remove specific dams to save the environment.

1% For the Planet
Since 1985, Patagonia has pledged 1% of sales to the preservation and restoration of the natural environment. It has awarded over $46 million in cash and in-kind donations to domestic and international grassroots environmental groups, making a difference in their local communities. In 2002 the founder of Patagonia, Yvon Chouinard, and Craig Matthews, owner of Blue Ribbon Files, created a nonprofit corporation to encourage other businesses to do the same.

Selected Awards:
World’s Most Ethical Companies
Ethisphere, 2009-2012

Best Places to Work
Outside Magazine, 2011