Patagonia
Founded 1973 · Ventura, California, United States · Yvon Chouinard
Patagonia came out of a forge making climbing pitons and ended up as the clothing company that in 2022 gave itself away to an environmental trust. Its most famous advertisement said "don't buy this jacket", and there are almost no pieces of it in this catalogue because it **deliberately restricts its sales on Amazon**.
History
Yvon Chouinard, a climber, began in 1957 forging steel pitons in the boot of his car and selling them in Yosemite. By 1970 his company was the largest supplier of climbing hardware in the United States, and that same year Chouinard concluded that his own pitons were destroying the cracks of El Capitan: he stopped making them and moved to chocks, which do not damage the rock. That is where the house's logic comes from. Patagonia was founded in 1973 as its textile arm. In 1985 it began giving 1% of sales to environmental causes; in 2011 it ran the "Don't Buy This Jacket" advertisement in the New York Times; in 2022 Chouinard transferred the entire ownership to a trust and a non-profit, so that all profits fund the fight against climate change.
Iconic models
Synchilla Snap-T (1985)
The half-snap fleece with a kangaroo pocket. Made from recycled plastic since 1993.
Better Sweater
A fleece that looks like a knitted sweater; the house's best seller.
Baggies Shorts (1982)
Nylon shorts that double as swim trunks. The pattern unchanged in forty years.
Nano Puff
A packable synthetic insulated jacket, made to live in a rucksack.
Worth knowing
In 2022 Chouinard neither sold the company nor floated it: he gave it away. One hundred per cent of the shares passed to a trust and a foundation, and since then the profits — some hundred million dollars a year — go to environmental causes.
