Patagonia Just Rewrote Brand Strategy Standards.
Never has there been a brand so true to its core values as Patagonia. World — let's take note.
Image by David Bole via. Unsplash
In a corporate world governed by growth, Patagonia is a slave to no master, convention, or norm. Patagonia stands again, alone on the mountain, leaving us all trail markers, showing us the way.
Patagonia has always been a case study as a brand that behaves in harmony with its corporate values, their latest move is truly inspirational.
The founder of Patagonia, Yvon Chouinard, and his family have given their private ownership of the company he created roughly fifty years ago to a trust and a non-profit that's focused on fighting our environmental crisis.
As he wrote in his open letter, Yvon Chouinard and his family considered selling the company and also going public, but in the end, decided again, to lead the world by example in its mission and core values:
Use business to protect nature — The challenges we face as a society require leadership. Once we identify a problem, we act. We embrace risk and act to protect and restore the stability, integrity and beauty of the web of life.
Not bound by convention — Our success — and much of the fun — lies in developing new ways to do things.
In an open letter posted on their website, Patagonia founder, Yvon Chouinard, writes:
Instead of “going public,” you could say we’re “going purpose.” Instead of extracting value from nature and transforming it into wealth for investors, we’ll use the wealth Patagonia creates to protect the source of all wealth.
Here’s how it works: 100% of the company’s voting stock transfers to the Patagonia Purpose Trust, created to protect the company’s values; and 100% of the nonvoting stock had been given to the Holdfast Collective, a nonprofit dedicated to fighting the environmental crisis and defending nature. The funding will come from Patagonia: Each year, the money we make after reinvesting in the business will be distributed as a dividend to help fight the crisis.
It’s been nearly 50 years since we began our experiment in responsible business, and we are just getting started. If we have any hope of a thriving planet — much less a thriving business — 50 years from now, it is going to take all of us doing what we can with the resources we have. This is another way we’ve found to do our part.
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
In a corporate world governed by economic growth, what a beautiful, stead-fast legacy Yvon has created.
This is a game-changer.
More posts in Brand Strategy —
About BrandWerks —
BrandWerks is a design resource company focused on advancing the practice of brand strategy.
We know that brand strategy can be a difficult beast to master. We create brand strategy templates and resources that help designers, agencies, and brand strategists master brand strategy.
Our tools are actionable and fully customizable and founded in a commercial approach that helps guide you and your clients through the process.