By Amelia Petty
Patagonia, a popular outdoor clothing company, declared this summer that it will be devoting 100 percent of its profits to charities combating climate change. Founded by Yvon Chouinard, Patagonia is known for its attempts to be a sustainable and environmentally friendly clothing brand. This recent step only furthered their commitment to combating climate change through encouraging sustainable fashion, ethical consumption, and hopefully setting a precedent for other companies to do the same. However, even with this progress, is it ethical to still buy from a large company like Patagonia?
Yvon Chouinard transferred ownership of Patagonia to a nonprofit organization and a designated trust created to ensure the continued donation of profits to combat climate change. The trust, called the Patagonia Purpose Trust, is where the company’s entire voting stock was transferred. According to a New York Times article on the transfer, not only will the trust ensure that in the future, its profits will be given away, but it will also guarantee that Patagonia stays true to its mission of running a more sustainable business. However, the 2 percent of the voting stock was only a small fraction of the $3 billion company’s revenue. The other 98 percent was donated to the Holdfast Collective, a nonprofit combating climate change and preserving undeveloped land. The $100 million that the company gains a year will go entirely to the nonprofit (New York Times, 2022).
This is not Patagonia’s first step towards a more environmentally friendly and sustainable company. Simply looking at Patagonia’s home page will show you how the company’s core values promote sustainability and climate activism. Ethical consumerism is an increasingly large factor in the marketing of many clothing and product companies, attempting to appear that they are committed to ethical practices and sourcing of materials. Ethical consumers are not only looking at products, but also the values of these companies. We’re asking whether it aligns with our morals to support their company.
So, is it ethical to buy Patagonia in a world where consumption can never be ideal? Overall, yes! But there are other factors to consider. Patagonia is making a conscious effort to support the environment in many major ways. While every major clothing manufacturer struggles with this goal, Patagonia is constantly ameliorating its business model to be more ethical and sustainable. Compared to its competitors like REI, Columbia Sportswear, and Marmot, Patagonia is doing significantly more with its goal of supporting the environment and tackling climate change. While these other outdoors-loving companies do make an effort to promote eco-friendly practices, none have gone anywhere close to as far as Patagonia, donating all of its profits to charities and trusts, and committing to more sustainable practices at the cost of losing revenue. If someone is looking for a new winter jacket this fall and wants to make a more ethical choice, Patagonia seems like the way to go compared to these major companies.
On the other hand, just because Patagonia is doing a lot more than its competitors, does not mean that in general, they are a perfect model for ethical consumers. Smaller businesses that do not have large manufacturing factories emitting harmful chemicals or cargo trucks circumnavigating the globe tend to have less of an ecological footprint compared to large corporations largely due to their small reaches. In the past, controversial headlines have arisen about Patagonia’s lack of animal humane treatment and worker conditions, but these have since caused them to improve these aspects of their company. In the past few decades, the company has made significant improvements in prioritizing sustainably sourced leather and furs, and improving labor conditions and wages (Goodonyou, 2022). It is safe to say that Patagonia is making a large conscious effort to improve its ethics and sustainability through all aspects of its business.
Patagonia’s tremendous step in devoting its revenue to nonprofits combating climate change should persuade consumers to buy its products. It is not only about the potential increase in customers that caused this move. Chouinard has always believed in creating the most sustainable and environmentally beneficial company possible, and this step has ensured that Patagonia will always be that way. Patagonia is providing a beneficial model for large companies to prioritize helping the environment and promoting sustainability instead of focusing on generating a higher profit. The Chouinards are now receiving next to none of the profits from the company, as everything is going to the Holdfast Collective and Patagonia Purpose Trust. While many other billion-dollar companies have made large donations to climate change efforts, those company owners still make more and more money each year, and only donate just a tiny fraction of their revenue to causes such as this. Taking into account the incomparable efforts of Patagonia’s competitors and the immense changes that the company is enacting all around proves that if you have to buy a winter coat, Patagonia might be the way to go. But, of course, less consumption is more. If you already have a jacket, there’s no need to consume in excess!
Sources:
https://www.columbia.com/ https://www.marmot.com/sustainability.html
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