Patagonia wants to sell fewer clothes to help save the planet

Patagonia's CEO, Rose Marcario, explains how the sustainable clothing brand is balancing profit with sustainability

18 May 2016

A Patagonia shopfront in Tokyo



US-based outdoor-clothing company Patagonia uses materials that either benefit, or cause minimal damage to, the environment. Based in Ventura, California, it also pledges to give its manufacturing plants "safe, fair, legal and humane" working conditions. Having been steadily successful since it was founded in 1973, the company has doubled in size, tripled its profits and become a certified B Corp over the past ten years.

In 2009, Patagonia partnered with Walmart to set up the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, persuading companies such as Levi Strauss & Co, Nike, Gap and adidas to work with it as it drew up new standards for clothing manufacture.

The company's annual revenues, in excess of $600 million in 2013, have continued to rise, despite - or rather, partly due to - a programme called Worn Wear. This encourages consumers to conserve natural resources by sending worn-out garments to Patagonia for repair rather than buying new ones.

The company claims sales have increased as a result. Patagonia, still privately owned by its founder, 77-year-old Yvon Chouinard, continues to donate at least one per cent of its annual net revenue to environmental causes, to date totalling $36 million.

CEO Rose Marcario claims it's essential for a company like hers to examine what it can do, and take transparent action. "There is nothing we can change about making clothing that would have more positive environmental impact than making less," she says. "Worn Wear is a celebration of quality products and their relationship to our lives. It's simple: keep your gear in action longer and take some pressure off our planet."