February 9th, 2008

Taking Responsibility

Yvon Chouinard, founder of the outdoor clothing company Patagonia, on planning for the long-term:

‘I mean, there’s no way I could do a plan for this company and say, “What’s this place going to be like by 2020?” I have no idea. I just know that since we’re running out of petroleum, we better stop being dependent on making polyester underwear out of virgin petroleum.

And so that’s why we’ve teamed up with some Japanese companies to, basically by 2010, make all our clothing out of recycled and recyclable fibers. And we’re going to accept ownership of our products from birth to birth. So if you buy a jacket from us, or a shirt ,or a pair of pants, when you’re done with it, you can give it back to us and we’ll make more shirts and pants out of it.

Which is a different idea about consuming. Right now the world runs on consuming and discarding, and we’re saying that we’re taking responsibility for our products from birth to birth. Can you imagine if a computer company said, “When you’re done with your computer, we’ll buy it back from you and make more computers out of it.” Instead, they sell you computer and you can’t even get service from them!

It’s a different way of accepting responsibility.’

I’m a fan of Patagonia for this simple reason: they take responsibility for their actions on this planet. And, if you haven’t read or heard of Yvon’s book Let my people go surfing, it is a wonderful book unlike any business book you’ve ever read. (It’s full of stuff like the quote above).

While I’m just a single person working alone at the moment, and like Yvon I don’t know what my future holds, I’m going to both keep a watch out for people who take this kind of responsibility as well as try to hold that mindset myself.

Life is too short, and the world is too beautiful, to accept anything less.

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Comments ( 4 Responses so far )

1. Steven Clark on February 9th, 2008 (Comment) #

William McDonough & Michael Braungart’s book Cradle to Cradle is a must read…

http://www.mcdonough.com/cradle_to_cradle.htm

A part of William’s presentation is on youtube too …

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoRjz8iTVoo

Their idea is that waste=food and we should be designing systems that feed themselves with out previous waste. That the problem is one of asking the wrong original design question in the first place. When we’re designing things we need to be designing for the whole experience of the thing rather than just as a mediator between component manufacturers and consumers.

They’ve worked for Ford, Nike and other large companies and are advising China on designing sustainable cradle to cradle cities.

Watch the video…

2. patagoniacommunity on February 9th, 2008 (Comment) #

Indeed, Patagonia is very well-known for its social responsibility and awareness. What helps to give them even more credibility is the fact that they also turn out a first-rate product with a lifetime guarantee. Sometimes companies spend more time on their causes than developing a top product. I have full confidence that what I buy from Patagonia is going to stand up to whatever I ask of it.

3. James Cherkoff on February 11th, 2008 (Comment) #

Well said.

4. Jake McKee on February 20th, 2008 (Comment) #

I like the idea that Patagonia promotes, but I have to tell the story about my first experience with them.

They were featured in ..uh… FastCompany? Wired? BusinessWeek? One of those I read regularly featured a cool sports jacket from Patagonia. I checked it out on the site, dug it and bookmarked it to buy at the end of the week.

But when I came back, the jacket was long gone, without any sign of it on the site. No sold out note, no explanation, not even a hint that the product ever existed. Odd, considering they’d just gotten it featured in a major publication.

But from what I read, yeah they seem to be doing a good job at the environmental gig otherwise.

Taking Responsibility

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