Tuesday, November 03, 2009

Environmentally-focused California clothing company: Patagonia


in the parking lot
Originally uploaded by nicolas.boullosa
Patagonia, Inc. is a Ventura, California-based clothing company, focusing mainly on outdoor clothing, says Wikipedia. The company is a member of several environmental movements and is considered a socially responsible company. It was founded by Yvon Chouinard in 1972.

Patagonia is a major contributor to environmental groups. Patagonia commits 1% of their total sales or 10% of their profit, whichever is more, to environmental groups. Since 1985, when the program was first started, Patagonia has donated $25 million to over 1,000 organizations.

Patagonia co-founded the alliance 1% For the Planet. This is an alliance of businesses who, like Patagonia, commit at least 1% of their total sales to the environment.

Patagonia often features their environmental campaigns in their catalogues and advertisements. Many of their recent campaigns include work with preventing oil drilling in the Alaska Wildlife Refuge, "Ocean As A Wilderness", and "Don't Dam Patagonia".