7 ms·

Patagonia's Philosopher King (2016)

154 points by anonymouslee 7y ago

JohnJamesRambo 7y ago
Personal hero of mine. He pops up in lots of mountaineering documentaries. If only more CEOs were like this. “I realized we were just growing for the sake of growing, which is bullshit.”
- samvher 7y ago
  Yeah I really recommend the documentary 180° South [1] which has both Yvon Chouinard (Patagonia) and Doug Tompkins (The North Face) and has them talking about their philosophy and conservation efforts as well. (A guy retraces a journey these two made in Patagonia back in the 60s.) [1] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1407927/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1407927/ / https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AC9k2N9z3SI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AC9k2N9z3SI
  - js2 7y ago
    To go along with that recommendation, I'd add Chouinard's book: https://www.patagonia.com/product/let-my-people-go-surfing-revised-paperback-book/BK067.html https://www.patagonia.com/product/let-my-people-go-surfing-r...
  - ilikehurdles 7y ago
    The youtube video is unfortunately unavailable in my country (USA).
  - 50208 7y ago
    Watch the original ... 180 South was based on ... Mountain of Storms: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ympydy7f1Mg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ympydy7f1Mg
    - samvher 7y ago
      This is great, thanks! I was wondering where the guy who made the other documentary got the old footage.
- iamvik 7y ago
  we don't grow "for the sake of growing", there's plenty of poor people in the world that need that growth. Whether that growth reaches them is another story..
icpmacdo 7y ago
Read this profile a few weeks ago on a flight, what a badass. Patagonia’s summer sale is currently going on [0]. They seem to be one of the few companies that actually takes sustainability seriously so I don’t mind the more premium prices of there garments. There 5" baggie’s shorts are a personal favorite of mine. [0] https://www.patagonia.com/shop/web-specials https://www.patagonia.com/shop/web-specials
_kyran 7y ago
Is Patagonia's marketing at heart not Greenwashing (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwashing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwashing) ? I get that they source materials ethically and do things way better than 90% of other clothing companies. Surely if they truly wanted to minimise their impact on the planet, they would rid their stores of sales and cut back on the amount of new styles/designs that they release. Where I live there are around 3 patagonia outlets that are always promoting sales of up to 80% off, and that just seems so off compared to what they claim to stand for.
- PhaseLockk 7y ago
  What is the problem with companies offering sales?
  - _kyran 7y ago
    No problem with companies putting something on sale. One of their values is that: "We know that our business activity—from lighting stores to dyeing shirts—is part of the problem. We work steadily to change our business practices and share what we’ve learned. But we recognize that this is not enough. We seek not only to do less harm, but more good." Running sales, just generates more impulse purchases and consumerism. If the products they make are truly the best that they can, they wouldn't have the need to clear out stock on a regular basis and to make way for new styles being made all the time. Furthermore, they love to plaster their branding all over the "Big Oil, Don't Surf" campaigns (of which I do think is a good cause), but it's a little hypocritic when the surf industry wouldn't exist without oil, not to mention that their own wetsuits contain synthetic rubber (derived from oil).
    - francisofascii 7y ago
      Some people simply won't purchase unless it is on sale. Better to own one quality pair of shorts than two cheaper mediocre pairs. Also, advocating for drastic reductions of oil extraction does not mean you have to give up oil completely. The world is in trouble not because we use oil, but because we use way, way too much of it when viable alternatives exist.
spodek 7y ago
I toured Patagonia's headquarters last year after featuring Vincent Stanley, who has been with them since 1973, on my podcast http://joshuaspodek.com/guests/vincent-stanley http://joshuaspodek.com/guests/vincent-stanley. The culture was amazing -- friendly, productive, supportive. I asked a random employee to join me for lunch. Whatever I asked about company vision, culture, etc she knew. When I asked why they did this or that thing a certain way, she'd say things like "Person A saw a problem with how we were doing it before, but couldn't solve it. Person B figured out how to solve it but couldn't implement it. Person C implemented it." Critical to all their decisions, as I heard, were the environment, employees, suppliers' employees, and customers. In most places, Person A's recognition of a problem would lead to everyone else saying, "Well, what can you do?" and leave it. If by some chance person B solved it despite the inertia, people would respond, "But what about X or Y" or some edge case and leave it. Nearly any company could learn from Patagonia's culture.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- teachrdan 7y ago
  Here's a quote from his amazing book, Let My People Go Surfing: "When I look at my business today, I realize one of the biggest challenges I have is combating complacency. I always say we're running Patagonia as if it's going to b e here a hundred years from now, but that doesn't mean we have a hundred years to get there! Our success and longevity lie in our ability to change quickly. Continuous change and innovation require maintaining a sense of urgency--a tall order, especially in Patagonia's seemingly laid-back corporate culture. In fact, one of the biggest mandates I have for managers at the company is to instigate change. It's the only way we're going to survive in the long run."
  - davidw 7y ago
    > require maintaining a sense of urgency--a tall order, especially in Patagonia's seemingly laid-back corporate culture Interesting... so which is it? Is the "laid back" thing just marketing and they're running people around just like many other places, or do they things some other way?
splatcollision 7y ago
One thing that they do fantastically well is the repair program, which is also good for the world instead of their bottom line. Even years-old winter coats you can bring into a store and they will send it off for repair, instead of you having to buy a new one.
- sebasmurphy 7y ago
  +1
- kmundnic 7y ago
  The zipper of a down jacket I bought from them would get stuck. They repaired it twice for me, and the third time I took it for repair, they gave me a new one. This was 4 years after I bought it, no receipt needed. I would assume that the old jacket went into their recycling program. The new jacket came with a sturdier zipper, so it also showed that they acknowledged the design flaw. I've been using this jacket for the last 5 years, and it is still holding well (and never again had a problem with the zipper).
- LMYahooTFY 7y ago
  They also have a truck they tour around to various events to do on-site repairs. I've encountered it at 24 Hours of Horseshoe Hell (endurance rock climbing competition), it's very cool! https://www.patagonia.com/worn-wear.html https://www.patagonia.com/worn-wear.html
- acdanger 7y ago
  My puppy eviscerated the back of a merino wool sweater two days after I bought it. Patagonia repaired it for the cost of shipping.
- wil421 7y ago
  If you can go to one of their stores I highly recommend it. The associate walked a guy to a shoe repair shop and paid for a zipper on a backpack they no longer make. This was after offering him a new one but he liked the old style.
snowcrashover 7y ago
Good profile. I feel like the author was having a lot of fun with his thesaurus: "He has a lifelong habit of collecting garrulous friends and yet a tendency to induce some measure of taciturnity in all but the most voluble of them. His style of reticence is contagious."
- johncalvinyoung 7y ago
  haha, I guess I'm around a lot of bookish & verbal friends. That sentence didn't strike me as odd in the slightest.
  - swamy_g 7y ago
    Your friends are probably very garrulous. :)
  - mturmon 7y ago
    I'd suggest that it's not so much the particular words, it's that all the "oddball" words in the sentence are directly Latin-derived -- garrulous, taciturnity, voluble, reticence. This is what gives the sentence a somewhat forced tone - perhaps a good Anglo-Saxon term might provide a punch. Probably the stock phrases, "collecting friends", "some measure of X", "all but the most", "style is contagious", don't help either. The quoted words don't seem that well-crafted, but the content of the observation serves as a good character sketch.
- vinhboy 7y ago
  Every time I read a New Yorker article I feel like that. Here are four words I don't know in just the first paragraph: garrulous, taciturnity, voluble, reticence.
  - airstrike 7y ago
    Really? Those words seem perfectly cromulent to me
jihadjihad 7y ago
I thoroughly enjoyed the NPR podcast "How I Built This" episode [0] on Yvon, it was really interesting hearing his story! [0] https://www.npr.org/2018/02/06/572558864/patagonia-yvon-chouinard https://www.npr.org/2018/02/06/572558864/patagonia-yvon-chou...
nerdb4itwascool 7y ago
I've done a lot of work with Patagonia, visited their HQ numerous times, and have become friends with a handful of their employees. They are not driven by profit, but by a will to do what is right in the world and for their customers. This all starts and ends with Yvon. This is how you build a culture. It should be studied for generations. I can't express how great they are to work with as a client -- smart people and everyone's heart is in the right place.
jschwartzi 7y ago
All of the gear I've bought from them has been better than the competition in some way that matters. For example I have a couple of sun hoodies from Columbia, and one from Patagonia, and the Patagonia ones cool actively even when there isn't a breeze while the Columbia ones require a light breeze for the cooling fabric to work. They're both great products but the Patagonia one is honestly worth the extra $20.00 or so.
zjaffee 7y ago
I saw him speak a few years back, and he called for radical ideas, like suggesting the entire concept of a publicly traded company as we know it allows companies to throw their hands in the air in regards to their ethics in regards to the environment. This extends into their repair program, and various other sustainability focused goals. Patagonia is certainly one of the rare examples of what a modern ethical company would look like (however this often includes the fact that their goods are much higher priced than what you find at walmart).
- amalow 7y ago
  Vote with your wallet, pay for good quality and ethical treatment of manufacturers.

154 points by anonymouslee 7y ago

Personal hero of mine. He pops up in lots of mountaineering documentaries. If only more CEOs were like this. “I realized we were just growing for the sake of growing, which is bullshit.”

samvher 7y ago
Yeah I really recommend the documentary 180° South [1] which has both Yvon Chouinard (Patagonia) and Doug Tompkins (The North Face) and has them talking about their philosophy and conservation efforts as well. (A guy retraces a journey these two made in Patagonia back in the 60s.) [1] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1407927/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1407927/ / https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AC9k2N9z3SI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AC9k2N9z3SI
- js2 7y ago
  To go along with that recommendation, I'd add Chouinard's book: https://www.patagonia.com/product/let-my-people-go-surfing-revised-paperback-book/BK067.html https://www.patagonia.com/product/let-my-people-go-surfing-r...
- ilikehurdles 7y ago
  The youtube video is unfortunately unavailable in my country (USA).
- 50208 7y ago
  Watch the original ... 180 South was based on ... Mountain of Storms: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ympydy7f1Mg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ympydy7f1Mg
  - samvher 7y ago
    This is great, thanks! I was wondering where the guy who made the other documentary got the old footage.
iamvik 7y ago
we don't grow "for the sake of growing", there's plenty of poor people in the world that need that growth. Whether that growth reaches them is another story..

icpmacdo 7y ago

Read this profile a few weeks ago on a flight, what a badass. Patagonia’s summer sale is currently going on [0]. They seem to be one of the few companies that actually takes sustainability seriously so I don’t mind the more premium prices of there garments. There 5" baggie’s shorts are a personal favorite of mine. [0] https://www.patagonia.com/shop/web-specials https://www.patagonia.com/shop/web-specials

_kyran 7y ago

Is Patagonia's marketing at heart not Greenwashing (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwashing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwashing) ? I get that they source materials ethically and do things way better than 90% of other clothing companies. Surely if they truly wanted to minimise their impact on the planet, they would rid their stores of sales and cut back on the amount of new styles/designs that they release. Where I live there are around 3 patagonia outlets that are always promoting sales of up to 80% off, and that just seems so off compared to what they claim to stand for.

PhaseLockk 7y ago
What is the problem with companies offering sales?
- _kyran 7y ago
  No problem with companies putting something on sale. One of their values is that: "We know that our business activity—from lighting stores to dyeing shirts—is part of the problem. We work steadily to change our business practices and share what we’ve learned. But we recognize that this is not enough. We seek not only to do less harm, but more good." Running sales, just generates more impulse purchases and consumerism. If the products they make are truly the best that they can, they wouldn't have the need to clear out stock on a regular basis and to make way for new styles being made all the time. Furthermore, they love to plaster their branding all over the "Big Oil, Don't Surf" campaigns (of which I do think is a good cause), but it's a little hypocritic when the surf industry wouldn't exist without oil, not to mention that their own wetsuits contain synthetic rubber (derived from oil).
  - francisofascii 7y ago
    Some people simply won't purchase unless it is on sale. Better to own one quality pair of shorts than two cheaper mediocre pairs. Also, advocating for drastic reductions of oil extraction does not mean you have to give up oil completely. The world is in trouble not because we use oil, but because we use way, way too much of it when viable alternatives exist.

spodek 7y ago

I toured Patagonia's headquarters last year after featuring Vincent Stanley, who has been with them since 1973, on my podcast http://joshuaspodek.com/guests/vincent-stanley http://joshuaspodek.com/guests/vincent-stanley. The culture was amazing -- friendly, productive, supportive. I asked a random employee to join me for lunch. Whatever I asked about company vision, culture, etc she knew. When I asked why they did this or that thing a certain way, she'd say things like "Person A saw a problem with how we were doing it before, but couldn't solve it. Person B figured out how to solve it but couldn't implement it. Person C implemented it." Critical to all their decisions, as I heard, were the environment, employees, suppliers' employees, and customers. In most places, Person A's recognition of a problem would lead to everyone else saying, "Well, what can you do?" and leave it. If by some chance person B solved it despite the inertia, people would respond, "But what about X or Y" or some edge case and leave it. Nearly any company could learn from Patagonia's culture.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
teachrdan 7y ago
Here's a quote from his amazing book, Let My People Go Surfing: "When I look at my business today, I realize one of the biggest challenges I have is combating complacency. I always say we're running Patagonia as if it's going to b e here a hundred years from now, but that doesn't mean we have a hundred years to get there! Our success and longevity lie in our ability to change quickly. Continuous change and innovation require maintaining a sense of urgency--a tall order, especially in Patagonia's seemingly laid-back corporate culture. In fact, one of the biggest mandates I have for managers at the company is to instigate change. It's the only way we're going to survive in the long run."
- davidw 7y ago
  > require maintaining a sense of urgency--a tall order, especially in Patagonia's seemingly laid-back corporate culture Interesting... so which is it? Is the "laid back" thing just marketing and they're running people around just like many other places, or do they things some other way?

splatcollision 7y ago

One thing that they do fantastically well is the repair program, which is also good for the world instead of their bottom line. Even years-old winter coats you can bring into a store and they will send it off for repair, instead of you having to buy a new one.

sebasmurphy 7y ago
+1
kmundnic 7y ago
The zipper of a down jacket I bought from them would get stuck. They repaired it twice for me, and the third time I took it for repair, they gave me a new one. This was 4 years after I bought it, no receipt needed. I would assume that the old jacket went into their recycling program. The new jacket came with a sturdier zipper, so it also showed that they acknowledged the design flaw. I've been using this jacket for the last 5 years, and it is still holding well (and never again had a problem with the zipper).
LMYahooTFY 7y ago
They also have a truck they tour around to various events to do on-site repairs. I've encountered it at 24 Hours of Horseshoe Hell (endurance rock climbing competition), it's very cool! https://www.patagonia.com/worn-wear.html https://www.patagonia.com/worn-wear.html
acdanger 7y ago
My puppy eviscerated the back of a merino wool sweater two days after I bought it. Patagonia repaired it for the cost of shipping.
wil421 7y ago
If you can go to one of their stores I highly recommend it. The associate walked a guy to a shoe repair shop and paid for a zipper on a backpack they no longer make. This was after offering him a new one but he liked the old style.

snowcrashover 7y ago

Good profile. I feel like the author was having a lot of fun with his thesaurus: "He has a lifelong habit of collecting garrulous friends and yet a tendency to induce some measure of taciturnity in all but the most voluble of them. His style of reticence is contagious."

johncalvinyoung 7y ago
haha, I guess I'm around a lot of bookish & verbal friends. That sentence didn't strike me as odd in the slightest.
- swamy_g 7y ago
  Your friends are probably very garrulous. :)
- mturmon 7y ago
  I'd suggest that it's not so much the particular words, it's that all the "oddball" words in the sentence are directly Latin-derived -- garrulous, taciturnity, voluble, reticence. This is what gives the sentence a somewhat forced tone - perhaps a good Anglo-Saxon term might provide a punch. Probably the stock phrases, "collecting friends", "some measure of X", "all but the most", "style is contagious", don't help either. The quoted words don't seem that well-crafted, but the content of the observation serves as a good character sketch.
vinhboy 7y ago
Every time I read a New Yorker article I feel like that. Here are four words I don't know in just the first paragraph: garrulous, taciturnity, voluble, reticence.
- airstrike 7y ago
  Really? Those words seem perfectly cromulent to me

jihadjihad 7y ago

I thoroughly enjoyed the NPR podcast "How I Built This" episode [0] on Yvon, it was really interesting hearing his story! [0] https://www.npr.org/2018/02/06/572558864/patagonia-yvon-chouinard https://www.npr.org/2018/02/06/572558864/patagonia-yvon-chou...

nerdb4itwascool 7y ago

I've done a lot of work with Patagonia, visited their HQ numerous times, and have become friends with a handful of their employees. They are not driven by profit, but by a will to do what is right in the world and for their customers. This all starts and ends with Yvon. This is how you build a culture. It should be studied for generations. I can't express how great they are to work with as a client -- smart people and everyone's heart is in the right place.

jschwartzi 7y ago

All of the gear I've bought from them has been better than the competition in some way that matters. For example I have a couple of sun hoodies from Columbia, and one from Patagonia, and the Patagonia ones cool actively even when there isn't a breeze while the Columbia ones require a light breeze for the cooling fabric to work. They're both great products but the Patagonia one is honestly worth the extra $20.00 or so.

zjaffee 7y ago

I saw him speak a few years back, and he called for radical ideas, like suggesting the entire concept of a publicly traded company as we know it allows companies to throw their hands in the air in regards to their ethics in regards to the environment. This extends into their repair program, and various other sustainability focused goals. Patagonia is certainly one of the rare examples of what a modern ethical company would look like (however this often includes the fact that their goods are much higher priced than what you find at walmart).

amalow 7y ago
Vote with your wallet, pay for good quality and ethical treatment of manufacturers.