“Despite all the work we put into our products and supply chain, and all the money we donate to environmental nonprofits, “It’s still not enough.”dice Yvon Chouinardfounder of Patagonia. And he confesses that “he has worked harder than an 87-year-old person should.”
Today, three years after having transferred its shares to the Earth, Patagonia publishes a global report on progress towards its goal of implementing solutions to the climate and ecological crisis. “Being accountable to our new boss, the Earth, has not been easy,” Chouinard acknowledges.
The report “Work in Progress” reports on the sports apparel company’s business impact to date, its ownership structure and environmental donations you make.
The name of the report refers to the fact that Patagonia sees itself as an experiment in doing business unconventionally and sees itself as a work in progress..
“We want our workers, our customers and our community to know where we are doing well and where we need to improve,” says Corley Kenna, the company’s director of impact and communications. And he points out: “The report makes clear that we are not perfect, but that we are firmly committed to improving every aspect of our business.”from manufacturing the highest quality products to supporting our employees and our community of activists and ambassadors. “This report is not a celebration, it is a tool to achieve greater transparency.”
According to the report, They made concrete progress: they eliminated PFAS -fluorinated chemicals used in water repellent treatments– of its entire product line, donated $14.7 million of last year’s sales to support grassroots activists and gave a total of $180 million to Holdfast Collective from 2022. “But we still have not managed to eradicate the existential concerns that kept our founders up at night in previous years. Mainly, the question of how to use our company to save the planet if it is our own products that damage it. Our best answer? Ask ourselves better questions. Avoid attractive but empty promises. Adopt an ongoing experimentation approach. And when we find solutions, regardless of their importance, share them with our collaborators and allies, including our competitors,” the Ventura-based company says.
Both, admits there are many contradictions they are trying to resolve, such as “having the largest repair center in North America, yet almost 85% of our products do not have an end-of-life solution.”or almost completely eliminate the use of virgin fossil fuels in our products, but work with factories that still use coal as energy to make our garments.”
Patagonia – which was chosen as one of the most cool of the world for its particular philosophy that its founder Yvon Chouinard sowed and that he expressed in his book Let people go surfing– in September 2022 announced that it was making Earth its sole shareholder. In this way, Chouinard and his family transferred ownership of the company to Holdfast Collective and the Patagonia Purpose Trust. This ownership structure allows the company to remain linked to its goal of saving planet Earth, indefinitely. Patagonia’s excess profits, that is, money left over after reinvesting in the business, are distributed to Holdfast Collectivea group of non-profit organizations, which uses them to protect nature and biodiversity.
The report covers fiscal year 2025 – from May 1, 2024 to April 30, 2025 – and establishes that since 2022 it has allocated $180 million to Holdfast Collective to finance environmental actions such as the protection of wetlands and the defense of communities against air pollution. AND Thus, it reaffirms Patagonia’s commitment to a model of regenerative capitalism.which prioritizes environmental and social impact over capital accumulation.
Besides, highlights some of the main actions implemented:
Since its founding in 1973, Patagonia has donated more than $240 million to environmental organizations around the world. Additionally, through the 1% for the Planet® program, 824 organizations received $14.7 million in grants and in-kind support during the last year.
The new report highlights that profits that are not reinvested in the business go to protecting nature and biodiversity.
In the words of Yvon Chouinard: “The next 50 years are not going to be easy. We can change this fateful form of extractive capitalism that has brought us here. But we must take the first step.”
