A heartfelt statement by founder Yvon Chouinard outlined the reasons he decided to give the company away to the Holdfast Collective, a nonprofit dedicated to fighting the environmental crisis. This means that after it’s reinvested in the business as needed, every cent Patagonia has left will be used to help save our planet from impending doom. 

“While we’re doing our best to address the environmental crisis, it’s not enough,” writes Chouinard. “We needed to find a way to put more money into fighting the crisis while keeping the company’s values intact.”

“There were no good options available,” he continues, “so, we created our own.”

Even before 2022, Patagonia was already committed to its fair share of environmental practices, such as pledging 1% of annual sales to eco-friendly causes, and getting its high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability certified in order to become a B corporation.

The company has had the future of our planet at heart long before it was “cool” or as prevalent a marketing practice as it is now. It became the first major clothing brand to donate 10% of profits to charity all the way back in 1986, when the thinning of the ozone layer first entered public consciousness, and a year before the Montreal Protocol was signed. 

Things didn’t stop there: Chouinard founded the global movement 1% for the Planet in 2002 to support environmental solutions through everyday actions; in 2019, Patagonia won the United Nations' top environmental honor for entrepreneurial vision, the Champions of the Earth Award, and in 2021, the U.S. Department of State's Award for Corporate Excellence in climate innovation. 

When it comes to corporate planet-friendly actions, the company often tops lists and rankings across the board. This reflects their commitment to protecting our home planet, and moreover, the one element that undeniably separates Patagonia from several of its competitors: they actually take their word (and work) seriously. 

The Patagonia website states that “the climate crisis is an existential threat, and every part of Patagonia’s business is implicated,” then goes on to examine all the ways that the company won’t stop at carbon offsetting and transforming their business plans and policies, but concretely support community-led efforts to go fossil-fuel-free, and demand nothing short of systemic change from government and industry.

These are powerful words on paper, but in action? They’re truly revolutionary. 

Here at Greenworlder, we hate empty promises. We prefer when people, companies, activists and governments put their money where their mouths are, so to speak, and we’re proud to have high standards and expectations. 

We recognize the importance of integrity for integrity’s sake, and we value the role that every man or woman at the helm of a modern company can play in the larger transformation of our goals and ideals towards a more sustainable world. 

Yvon Chouinard is neither a billionaire nor a capitalist. He describes himself as a craftsman and an ‘existential dirtbag’ who stumbled his way to a very successful business, without ever wanting to become a businessman himself. But in order for things to truly transform for the better, we need traditional CEOs to get onboard with the Chouinard mindset. 

In order to see the large-scale change we need enacted quickly, we need more companies to follow in Patagonia’s footsteps: we cannot afford to wait for other people to take the first step ––we need to come together to create new, visionary, responsible ways of conducting business, and we need to collectively put purpose over profit at every chance. 

We like to believe that’s actually the whole point of what Patagonia is trying to accomplish. “(We’re) committed to using our company to change the way business (is) done,” writes its founder. “If we could do the right thing while making enough to pay the bills, we could influence customers and other businesses, and maybe change the system along the way.”

It might sound idealistic, but Patagonia has already demonstrated that it means every word. Now it’s up to us to do the same.