{"id":1311,"date":"2019-01-10T15:27:10","date_gmt":"2019-01-10T15:27:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/events.sustainablebrands.com\/conferences\/sb19det\/good-life-case-study-a-dating-site-to-help-save-the-planet\/"},"modified":"2019-02-26T16:20:30","modified_gmt":"2019-02-26T16:20:30","slug":"good-life-case-study-a-dating-site-to-help-save-the-planet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/events.sustainablebrands.com\/conferences\/sb19det\/good-life-case-study-a-dating-site-to-help-save-the-planet\/","title":{"rendered":"Good Life Case Study: A \u201cDating Site\u201d To Help Save the Planet?"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Diane MacEachern, for Sustainable Brands<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Dating site?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s how Yvon Chouinard, the adventurous founder of Patagonia, describes Patagonia Action Works<\/a>, his company\u2019s new initiative that has nothing to do with outdoor clothing (or hooking up \u2013 in the romantic sense) but everything to do with protecting the outdoors (and hooking up \u2013 in the activist sense).<\/p>\n

The idea \u2013 to connect activists who want to help safeguard the environment with grassroots groups already doing so via an easy-to-use website – would not be out of place at an environmental NGO or in the HQ of a philanthropy like the Pew Charitable Trusts. But in an almost billion dollar corporation? That needs to make a profit to survive?<\/p>\n

For the Ventura, CA-based B Corp<\/a>, it\u2019s business as usual. \u201cPatagonia\u2019s reason for existence is to force governments and corporations to take action in solving our environmental problems,\u201d says Chouinard in a video<\/a> explaining how Patagonia Action Works works. In that light, selling clothing is the means to the end, but not the end itself.<\/p>\n

The new venture seems like a logical extension of the mission Chouinard embarked on over 40 years ago when he started his first company, one designed to reduce the destructive impact that mountain climbing equipment like pitons had on the rock face. Eventually those business interests morphed into Patagonia and the company started 1% for the Planet, a unique way to generate money to support environmental protection initiatives by dedicating one percent of the company\u2019s profits to causes like climate change prevention, wilderness protection, and forest restoration.<\/p>\n

By the time Donald Trump was elected president in November 2016, Patagonia had donated almost $90 million to groups through its 1% program while inspiring more than 2,000 other businesses to make similar commitments. But Trump\u2019s worrisome victory also helped Chouinard realize that more needed to be done.<\/p>\n

While many other companies tiptoed around Trump and a Congress that seems hell-bent on destroying national monuments and parks and polluting the planet, Patagonia wasted no time in fighting back. The November Black Friday following Trump\u2019s election, Patagonia committed to giving away not 1% of its profits but 100% of its sales. Normally, the company would sell $2-3 million on the day after Thanksgiving. On November 25, 2016, they racked up $10 million<\/a> \u2013 and gave it all away.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur customers were with us. They wanted to take action as well, and when they heard about our commitment, the response was overwhelming,\u201d says Lisa Pike Sheehy, the company\u2019s Vice President of Environmental Activism. \u00a0Any businesses looking for the guts to connect with their customers at more places than their shopping carts, take note.<\/p>\n

In addition to donating so much money, Patagonia breaks the mold in another way: by discouraging its customers to by more stuff. It famously took out an ad in the New York Times telling people, \u201cDon\u2019t Buy This Jacket\u201d<\/a> because the environmental costs were too high. The result? People bought more jackets.\u00a0 The company also launched its Worn Wear division<\/a>, whose motto is, \u201cIf It\u2019s Broke, Fix It!\u201d The program\u2019s website offers short tutorials in how to repair everything from a zipper to a tear in a shirt. Failing that, customers can trade in their clothes for credits they can apply to new purchases, while being encouraged to first buy used items that have been refurbished. The program is so successful that the company now operates the largest garment repair facility in the U.S., in Reno, Nevada. In 2017, they did 50,000 repairs.<\/p>\n

Patagonia also embraces its competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s exciting about our work,\u201d says Sheehy, \u201cis that it\u2019s no good if we do it alone. We have to bring others along on this journey. The outdoor industry has been an incredible industry to bring competitors together and take a stand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sheehy says this is particularly true in marshaling support to protect America\u2019s public lands and national monuments like Bears Ears in Utah<\/a>, which includes sacred tribal areas the Trump Administration wants to open to mining.<\/p>\n

Yvon Chouinard acknowledges that given how seriously the environment is under seige, \u201cIt\u2019s pretty easy to get depressed.\u201d<\/p>\n

But in the same breath, he says, \u201cI\u2019ve always known that the cure for depression is action.\u201d<\/p>\n

Desire for action is what makes Patagonia Action Works so exciting, says Sheehy. \u201cEnvironmental concerns and issues are under severe attack in the U.S.,\u201d she notes. \u201cBut groups are being responsive, creative, and nimble. Together, we are advancing an agenda we believe in as much as we\u2019re pushing back on things that are hard won. Action Works is the proactive answer to despair.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for how much money the company continues to donate, Sheehy simply explains that prioritizing profits to protect the planet is not seen as public relations. \u201cIt\u2019s part of the cost of doing business\u201d \u2013 and not just an acceptable cost, but an obligatory, even moral, one.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Patagonia Action Works is taking off, fueled by people\u2019s growing hyperlocal interests in connecting to the places where they work and live. On the site, users can identify the issues in their zip code that they care passionately about, then use Action Works to find groups they can support by volunteering, attending events, signing petitions, and donating.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo do good, you actually have to do something,\u201d Chouinard reflects.<\/p>\n

And it seems like that\u2019s exactly what Patagonia\u2019s customers want to do.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This article was originally published in April 2018 as part of a larger case studies series on the Good Life. We are reposting again in celebration of the fact that Carly Huey<\/strong>, HR Manager for Retail and Corporate Employees at Patagonia<\/strong>, will be speaking at SB’19 Detroit this June. To learn more about how the brand is Delivering the Good Life to its consumers, register today and sign up to join us! <\/em><\/div>\n

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