10 ms·
Patagonia Stops Selling Vests To Some Finance Firms
- _bxg1 8y agoLove it.
- zeveb 8y agoThey're free to do business with whomever they wish to, of course, but this seems an odd choice.
- raiyu 8y agoHere we have a company that has cobranded with others in the past, but over time there has been a sentiment shift and now it wishes to distance itself from what this particular area of society reflects. It's interesting because it is sort of a rebrand for Patagonia to move away from this market. I have no idea if the numbers of cobranded vests are large and material on their revenue. If I had to guess I would probably say no. However, the public sentiment on this and seeing these vests on wall st and in VC circles could be actually a potentially damaging blow to the brand. One that was originally self inflicted. Based on them looking to move away from this I would have to guess that they aren't really happy with this direction. Kind of like the Colin Kaepernick ads with Nike, though on a much smaller scale.
- toss1 8y agoOutstanding. And of course, on-brand.
- whoisjuan 8y agoWell it's a smart move. They are simply protecting the integrity of their brand. They built a reputation based on a set of corporate values that are not necessarily aligned with those companies that embroider their logo in those vests. They probably don't make a lot of money from those corporate sales either. Any risk of damaging the brand by association is not worth it.
- lamarpye 8y agoThat whole April Fool's thing kinda went over your head.
- msla 8y agoOr yours.
- whoisjuan 8y agoI think it actually went over yours (from the article): >"A representative for Patagonia confirmed it has recently changed its policy, but declined to say exactly when this change happened. Here is the company’s statement: “Our corporate sales program manages Patagonia’s sales to other companies, non-profits and other organizations. We recently shifted the focus of this program to increase the number of Certified B Corporations, 1% For The Planet members and other mission-driven companies that prioritize the planet. This shift does not affect current customers in our corporate sales program.”"
- mikekij 8y agoI am so happy to see this. I have supported Patagonia as a consumer due to their commitment to corporate responsibility, specifically their (more) ethical clothing manufacturing practices. When I’m in the Bay Area and see every private equity bro wearing a Patagonia fleece, it makes me wonder if they are supporting the brand for the same reason. Ultimately it shouldn’t matter. But I’d rather be associated with the responsibly sourced clothing brand than the financial engineering brand.
- cabaalis 8y agoI find it odd that excluding religious groups is now considered good ethics.
- thundergolfer 8y agoCan you explain what you're referring to with "excluding religious groups"?
- javagram 8y agoThe tweet in the article states that Patagonia is now excluding religious groups https://twitter.com/binnaskim/status/1112731360244961283 https://twitter.com/binnaskim/status/1112731360244961283
- thundergolfer 8y agoOh thanks for the heads up. Seems entirely reasonable to exclude religious groups who promote anti-environmentalism. They're not blanket excluding religious groups.
- adamparsons 8y agoReligion and conservatism do tend to be pretty aligned, and this seems to be about being a more progressive brand or something
- craftyguy 8y ago
- crushcrashcrush 8y agoLots of finance meme accounts reflect the "Patagucci" culture of finance - check out these - they frequently showcase "sleds" - $300+ (frankly, tasteless) Gucci and Ferragamo shoes that are sort of a "post-intern" status symbol. I follow these accounts to try and have a pulse on when the next recession will hit. https://www.instagram.com/hoeingforyield/ https://www.instagram.com/hoeingforyield/ https://www.instagram.com/finance_god/ https://www.instagram.com/finance_god/ I could absolutely see why Patagonia wants to distance itself from these sorts of fratty, money-focused business cultures. Same with Venture Capital.
- mattrp 8y agoThis thread is worth it just for the instagram links above!
- mattrp 8y agoFor ex. https://www.instagram.com/p/BvH3sS1FuPy/ https://www.instagram.com/p/BvH3sS1FuPy/
- walshemj 8y agoMore than $300 gosh - in the City a lot of the ones crushing it are wearing £2800 hand made shoes.
- asark 8y agoYeah, $300's like entry-level for good shoes if you're not importing from somewhere cheap (might get down into the neighborhood of $200 then) or shopping seconds or other bargains (again, down around $200). Or buying used I guess, which is A Thing.
- fakename 8y agobig opportunity for Summit Ice
- noway_ 8y agoDeny nothing
- munk-a 8y agoBravo! I hope this (and Nike with Kaepernick) is the start of a wave in society calling companies to task over advertising shilling. Personally, and I've expressed this numerous times, I find advertising to be absolutely devastating on the efficiency of modern society so... let's de-brand everything wee!
- kevin_thibedeau 8y agoIn Soviet utopia, only one toothbrush. Very efficient, yes?
- vkou 8y agoContrary to the misconceptions of many people who have never actually lived in the Soviet Union, there were multiple, competing brands of consumer goods, all the way from radios, to automobiles [1] and refrigerators. [1] Off that list, of course, automobiles were very difficult to obtain.
- marviel 8y agoI see your tongue in your cheek; nonetheless, I have struggled with the very idea you entertain. Marking that a product comes from a particular place allows the non knowledgeable person to find more of that thing. A separate-but-related idea is that of advertising, i.e. putting the idea of a product out there separately from the good itself. Nobody thinks they like it, but I know that some of the more meaningful experiences in my life (finding local improv, for instance) have come as a result of effective advertisement. I suppose the problem is not that advertisement or branding exists at all --- but how it exists today. I don't know if this is the "resting state" of advertisement/branding or not.
- munk-a 8y agoAdvertising, at it's best, informs consumers of choice - if this were the type of advertising we saw in the modern world that's fine - posting a DIY tool shed build and including links to specific tools that might be useful is helpful, and I think that's why we've seen sponsored content come into prominence, briefly be useful, and then get swarmed by BS. We need to find some way, societally, to limit how much of this wave'o'advertising we're exposed to - to place a value on time and remove the "cold call" style of advertising pitches. I was optimistic about ad-words when it first rolled out because, given the context awareness and unobtrusiveness, I thought it might kill advertising dead - and it sort of did. We no longer have the "Shoot the pirate" flash banner ads, nor the popups for v1agr4 since that over the top attention grab ended up being pushed out by more relevant product advertising... but we're backsliding again. If you're an advertiser and I raise my hand and say "I'm looking for a power drill" or even "I'm looking for something to do on saturday" then feel free to make your case - but this unsolicited BS is like the bane that once was door-to-door salesmen, it's actually a hilariously parallel - your time is being taken, something is invading your private space and you're being interrupted from doing something you'd like to do to listen to someone shill.
- ancorevard 8y agoI love the freedom that capitalism enable as clearly seen here. At the same time, I wonder where the lines are between being consistent to your organizational values, virtue signaling. Now, virtue signaling is nothing new. Humans have expressed their moral values for a very very long time. Governments too, and of course companies as seen here. Where it might get sticky and dangerous is virtue signaling by technology companies that functions as utility company to certain aspects of the internet. At that intersection, one organization's virtue signaling is another's free speech ban.
- dmix 8y agoI just want a jacket. I don't care about the political opinions of some outdoor clothing company has deemed fashionable/safe enough to get behind. That said, it's always great when company's give to charity out of good will. My only problem is pushing 'social good' narratives for internet points among online slacktivists.
- brianberns 8y agoSo buy a jacket then. This is about co-branding.
- tclancy 8y agoSo child labor is ok then?
- hannasanarion 8y agoThis drives me up a wall. This is nowhere near "virtue signaling". Virtue signaling is cheap superficial attempts to boost a reputation by attaching to a movement. Turning down all future deals from the oil and financial tech sectors is not cheap or superficial. Know what real virtue signaling looks like? Crying "virtue signaling!" whenever you see anyone take a principled stand for something. We get it, you know the fancy word and you hate liberalism, I'm sure your fellow reactionaries are very proud of you.
- hurr_durr 8y ago
- dm8 8y agoFrom what I have gathered, reason vests are popular in SF is due to daily weather fluctuations since they are light weight. I did not know they were popular in other cities/metros too. Especially in finance sector.
- asark 8y agoOne of the only interesting observations in the (awful, just awful, I cannot emphasize enough how bad it is) sequel to The Prep Handbook is that synthetic fleece had, since the first book, became a hugely popular exception to the usual prep-set rule of "no synthetics", largely for practical reasons (at least at first). I wouldn't be surprised if it's a bit of dressed-down prep fashion being expressed or imitated, at least by a certain set of the folks wearing it. Finance'd be the right crowd for that. [EDIT] that is, The Official Preppy Handbook. The sequel's called True Prep and is, again, awful, do not read it, it has none of the fun, well-voiced humor of the first, it's bad, bad, bad.
- hermitdev 8y agoI work in finance (in the midwest), and for some reason, all of the offices I've worked in seem to be kept at an unreasonably low temp, like 68F or lower year-round. That would be fine if I was active, but I'm sitting at a computer from 830a-500p. I've routinely been cold enough to start shivering or to lose dexterity in my hands as they stiffen from the cold. I can't wear sweatshirts at my current job, but used to at my 3 previous jobs. Now, it's a button down shirt and either a sweater or vest. Ive plenty of both, but none corporate branded. Vests are nice in that they can easily be removed and put back on. Most of my sweaters are partial zip. I can't easily remove one without my shirt and undershirt coming with it (I'm a guy, but I still think its rude to go flashing my bare chest & back in an office).
- FearNotDaniel 8y agoOh come on, don't drag Jared into this, he's one of the good ones! And his vest isn't even co-branded.
- caprese 8y agoI saw this on @litquidity and thought it was still an April fools headline
- mindgam3 8y agoUm, you guys... the PR firm that uncovered this alleged plot is called - wait for it - “Vested”. “Kim, president of the communications agency Vested (the reference is to the finance term, not the sleeveless layer), attempted to place an order for a client...” Their website is www.fullyvested.com and their recruiting page is titled In-Vested. Get it? In Vested. Scroll down the article to the satirical Instagram post with a new definition of “Divest” involving “guys named Chad.” Announcing it yesterday would have made the prank too obvious. Hats off to the creative director at Vested for pulling off a masterful stroke of guerilla marketing. Now they are on the radar of tons of finance firms who know that this firm “feels their pain,” so to speak. Well played on all fronts.
- almost_usual 8y agohttps://twitter.com/binnaskim/status/1112800424543780864 https://twitter.com/binnaskim/status/1112800424543780864
- mindgam3 8y agoYeah, I saw the denial... I was still skeptical. But I found what appears to be confirmation by Patagonia: https://twitter.com/patagonia/status/1113110848778768384 https://twitter.com/patagonia/status/1113110848778768384 So at this point I guess I am forced to concede that this is legit, and the fact that this emerged from a company named "Vested" on April Fools is just an absurd coincidence. My bad. "Frequently wrong, never in doubt" <== my motto, due to situations like this
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- traek 8y agoNothing here indicates a prank to me. The Instagram post was from half a year ago and is from an account that semi-famous in NY for making fun of finance bros. The author just included it as an example of how the vest is associated with finance culture.
- kevin_thibedeau 8y agoDon't think I can take Ms. Notopoulos seriously when she doles out dreck like this: > The Power Vest flaunts a very cruel male privilege: being comfortable. > The Power Vest is a form of male privilege, a hideous fleece totem of the patriarchy’s oppression of non-cis-male people in the workplace. Seriously? It's just a vest. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/katienotopoulos/i-wore-a-vest-like-jeff-bezos-for-a-week-to-see-if-id-be https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/katienotopoulos/i-wore-...
- notatoad 8y ago>Don't think I can take Ms. Notopoulos seriously i'm not entirely sure you were supposed to.
- msla 8y agoWell, that's the thing, isn't it? It's Poe's Law but with reputational damage if you guess wrong in the wrong situation. Take it seriously and it wasn't? You're a buffoon. Take it as a joke when it's serious? You're an insensitive asshole and a bigot, and nobody can make the case you were acting in good faith and made a mistake.
- wavefunction 8y agoThe dangers of engaging with satire are very real. However the costs paid are generally short-lived and to the open-minded and those able to find humor in themselves, repaid in full if not in excess.
- notatoad 8y agonot offering a comment is always an option.
- whoisjuan 8y agoThat's her writing style. I think it's a bit of satire. She once wrote an article about something I did and it was as hyperbolic. It was a mix of "WTF are you talking about?" and "Well, that's actually kind of funny".
- kop316 8y agoMaybe this is because I'm not in that particular tech scene, but is this a thing? Between that and the linked article: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/katienotopoulos/i-wore-a-vest-like-jeff-bezos-for-a-week-to-see-if-id-be https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/katienotopoulos/i-wore-... I am honestly not sure.
- ummonk 8y agoI don’t see vests that much but see black Patagonia puff jackets everywhere, both branded and unbranded.
- CalChris 8y agoWhy doesn't someone just take this to the next level and make one of these with an FYIFV logo?
- IdontRememberIt 8y agoYes, and the clothing industry is well known to be employee friendly and to generously share revenue with the whole supply chain. The day they publish their margin and cost breakdown, I may listen to their PR BS.
- ip26 8y agoI'm not sure if they publish their finances, but being employee friendly and boosting their supply chain is kind of a large part of their identity as a company. Maybe you consider it to be simply propaganda, but you are aware of the founder's book titled Let My People Go Surfing?
- IdontRememberIt 8y agoI may be biased... I have worked for a company "employee oriented" which also had an big association to help needing people. So now I only trust the numbers and not the PR on their website.
- seedless-sensat 8y agoPatagonia are absolute pioneers of sustainable clothing, and significantly pushed the industry in the right direction. Please spend 30 seconds on their corporate website, or go read Let my people go surfing before making unsustaniated critiques.
- crumpets 8y ago>Please spend 30 seconds on their corporate website Ah yes, the corporate website, a true bastion of unbiased information.
- DiabloD3 8y agoMan, you people out in your weird little bubbles are... weird. I own a Patagonia jacket, one of their Nano Puff line. I do not own it because of some weird status symbol masturbation schtick, but because I live in Maine, Maine winters can be brutal at times (especially if you love the outdoors), and I picked it up for $150 on sale. Its the lightest and also warmest winter jacket I've ever owned, and the quality is immensely higher than the garbage North Face and Columbia import from China. It isn't, however, a status symbol. I see lots of people with Patagonia jackets around here, and this isn't some hyper-rich super-exclusive area, just a lot of just plain normal people that work plain normal jobs live around here. The only competition to Patagonia for a winter jacket is Arc’teryx and REI... and all you're doing is paying more for a similar quality jacket. Arc'teryx is a much bigger status symbol than Patagonia is, at least around here. So yeah, if some asshat on Wall Street thinks Patagonia is somehow a status symbol, they're also the same type of asshat that thinks Apple is an acceptable phone/laptop brand (it ain't), and the same type of asshat that thinks Starbucks doesn't taste like burnt gasoline. They don't live in the real world, their "impressive" paychecks are just being wasted by trying to keep up with the Jonses, and they're arguably not even actual real authentic people, just some 24/7 kayfabe-esque act, because of this. Dear HN, please don't keep up with the Jonses. You need to own things because of how the world works, so just own a few nice quality objects that last awhile. Patagonia will never be a status symbol because it lasts forever if well loved.
- jedmeyers 8y agoVests make a corporate comeback!
- loph 8y agoMore for L.L. Bean, I guess.
- smith-kyle 8y ago"All those evil hedge funds and “Uber-for-X” tech startups can go pound sand." Why are "Uber-for-X" startups and hedge funds lumped into the same category? Is the "Uber-for-X" business model unethical or does it bring no value to consumers?
- adamparsons 8y agoUber for x usually means “let’s break laws and ‘disrupt’ an industry where workers had a reasonable quality of life and further push the gig economy” I’m fully okay with calling that out for being detrimental. At least a hedge fund invests money for clients and pays taxes (sometimes)
- InTheArena 8y agoThis is epic. I actually received one of these at a event last week. I actually thought it was horribly tacky, living someplace not California where jackets need arms to prevent frostbite. I had no idea that they were a part of the culture wars.