What’s going on with Patagonia? You’ve probably heard Patagonia is going purpose instead of public. But what does that actually mean?

We’re in business to save our home planet

Patagonia has always been committed to protecting the planet. They use materials that cause less harm to the environment. Give away 1% of sales each year. Became a certified B Corp and a California benefit corporation. Wrote their values into their corporate charter so they would be preserved. In 2018, they even changed the company’s purpose to: We’re in business to save our home planet. When Yvon Chouinard – rock climber, environmentalists and founder of Patagonia, looked for company exits that align with everlasting climate goals, he realized there were none. So he decided to create his own. He is transferring his $3B clothing retailer to a pair of trusts dedicated to protecting Patagonia’s values and the planet.
Patagonia goes purpose

Here’s how the new ownership structure works:

• All the voting stock (2% of total) is transferred to Patagonia Purpose Trust, a specially designed trust overseen by the family to protect the company’s values.

• The remaining nonvoting stock (98% of total) is donated to Holdfast Collective, a non-profit that will use the company’s $100M annual profit to fight the climate crisis.

The only options previously available consisted in either:

• Selling the company and donating the profits, which might create a nice one-time cash flow benefit for climate but would put Patagonia’s social and environmental values at risk.

• Taking the company public, which would have meant prioritizing short-term gain at the expense of long-term vitality and responsibility.

Bygoing purposeinstead ofgoing public Patagonia is setting a precedent where people and planet are put over profit. At Climatize, we truly admire Chouinard’s work and support his decision.

Despite its immensity, the Earth’s resources are not infinite, and it’s clear we’ve exceeded its limits. But it’s also resilient. We can save our planet if we commit to it – Yvon Chouinard.

If you’d like to know more about this, we encourage you to readYvon Chouinard’s letter!Alba