A model wearing a Patagonia jacket. Vanni Bassettifake images
In rare and surprising good news for the sustainable fashion movement, this week outdoor clothing brand Patagonia announced a precedent-setting decision. The brand’s founder, Yvon Chouinard, 83, is donating the $3 billion company to two environmental organizations. “The Earth is now our sole shareholder,” Chouinard began in a statement released this week.
What this means is that 98 percent of Patagonia’s shares will go to the Holdfast Collective, a newly formed non-profit organization that will invest in protecting nature, biodiversity and communities. All shares will be non-voting, meaning the collective will have no say in how Patagonia is run. The remaining 2 percent will go to the Patagonia Purpose Trust, which will be run by members of the Chouinard family to ensure the brand continues to operate with the mission and values it established nearly 50 years ago. The family, which previously made about $100 million in earnings each year, will no longer receive that money.
Yvon Chouinard
Ben Gabbefake images
Patagonia has long been a philanthropic business; was an early adopter of the B-Corp movement, and its founder helped establish 1% for the Planet in 2002, but an apparel company had never before made a move on this scale. Chouinard says that instead of going public or selling the business and donating the proceeds, which would leave the family unable to control the future of Patagonia, they came up with an entirely new solution. “Instead of ‘going public,’ you could say ‘we have a purpose,’” he said in the statement. “Instead of extracting value from nature and transforming it into wealth for investors, we will use the wealth that Patagonia creates to protect the source of all wealth.”
Without a doubt, Chouinard’s decision makes a lot of sense for Patagonia because protecting nature has always been part of the brand’s DNA. Chouinard also describes himself “existential garbage” that he never wanted to be a businessman, let alone a billionaire, in the first place. He drives an old Subaru and has no phone or computer, according to the New York Times. He is clearly an outlier when it comes to billionaires.
Prince William in a Patagonia jacket
Pool/Max Mumbyfake images
Still, his decision feels momentous because it’s a rare display of radical dedication to a cause. In an industry plagued by greenwashing, performative sustainability, and climate goals that are neither achievable nor ambitious, his rejection of the status quo is heartening. In the same week, Kourtney Kardashian Barker launched her “sustainable” collection with fast-fashion brand Boohoo (yes, the same Boohoo that was caught paying garment workers in Leicester £3.50 an hour during the pandemic). Encouragingly, criticism of this troubled collaboration (in more ways than one) has been loud and clear. The public has had enough.
There is no shortage of billionaires who have made their fortune in fashion. According to the Forbes Billionaires List 2022, the global industry has produced some 250 billionaires, and Chouinard’s bold commitment to the environment is sure to catch your eye. The question is, will they follow his example?
Source: www.harpersbazaar.com