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From Yosemite to a Global Market: How Patagonia, Inc. Has Created Claremont Colleges Scholarship @ Claremont Pomona Senior Theses Pomona Student Scholarship 2017 From Yosemite to a Global Market: How Patagonia, Inc. has Created an Environmentally Sustainable and Socially Equitable Model of Supply-Chain Management Mary-Clare Bosco Pomona College Recommended Citation Bosco, Mary-Clare, "From Yosemite to a Global Market: How Patagonia, Inc. has Created an Environmentally Sustainable and Socially Equitable Model of Supply-Chain Management" (2017). Pomona Senior Theses. 178. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/pomona_theses/178 This Open Access Senior Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Pomona Student Scholarship at Scholarship @ Claremont. It has been accepted for inclusion in Pomona Senior Theses by an authorized administrator of Scholarship @ Claremont. For more information, please contact [email protected]. From Yosemite to a Global Market: How Patagonia, Inc. has Created an Environmentally Sustainable and Socially Equitable Model of Supply-Chain Management Mary-Clare Bosco In partial fulfillment of a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Environmental Analysis, 2016-17 academic year, Pomona College, Claremont, California Readers: Char Miller Bowman Cutter 1 Table of Contents Acknowledgements p. 3 Introduction p. 4 Chapter 1: The Birth of the Green Movement and Patagonia, Inc. p. 6 Patagonia, Inc.’s History p. 6 Fostering Counterculture p. 7 Chouinard Equipment p. 10 Expansion of the Mission p. 12 Environment and Social Climate of the ’70s p. 14 The advent of “Corporate Sustainability” p. 16 Chapter 2: What Makes Patagonia Different? p. 21 Patagonia’s Keys to Success p. 22 Product Development p. 23 Transparency of Supply Chain p. 26 Brand: Don’t Buy This Jacket p. 28 Commitment to Quality p. 31 Philanthropy p. 32 Activist Company p. 34 Chapter 3: Sustainable Supply-Chain Management p. 36 Supply-Chain Mismanagement p. 37 Supply-Chain Management à la Patagonia p. 43 Adapting to Supply Chain Complexities p. 45 Future Transition to Value Chain Index p. 47 Need for New Priorities p. 49 Closing the Production Loop p. 50 Chapter 4: Environmental Psychology and Consumer Behavior p. 57 Fast Fashion vs. Patagonia Style p. 57 Environmentally Significant Behavior p. 60 Environmental Psychology p. 63 Privilege of Environmentalism p. 65 Conclusion p. 67 References p. 69 2 Acknowledgments I would like to thank my readers, Char Miller and Bowman Cutter, for their gracious assistance and guidance throughout the writing process—without you both I would easily have been lost. I’d also like to thank my parents, Jennifer and Phil Bosco, for their support from the conceptualization of my thesis topic all the way through the editing process, in addition to giving me the opportunity to pursue an education at Pomona College. And last, but not least, my friends and siblings, who were emotional support through this beast of a project—your kind words of encouragement did not fall on deaf ears, and I truly appreciate your thoughtful inspiration along the way. 3 Introduction There is an urgent pressure of the time (2016) to re-evaluate our patterns of consumption to adapt to changing climates and reduce waste and pollution. With this pressure there often comes a wave of despair that sweeps across most minds when the realization occurs of just how immense an issue modern consumerism is. Because an immediate restructuring of global production strategies is not likely any time soon, industrial innovators are finding new ways of redesigning supply-chain management in efforts to move towards environmentally sustainable business in which all manufacturing practices are transparent. Companies like Patagonia, Inc., an outdoor apparel company, which comes from humble beginnings, are one such innovator that can be examined as a model for what corporate responsibility should look like. Through deeply rooted commitment to the natural environment, Patagonia has been able to adapt its business model so as not to sacrifice or squander the precious natural, wild lands and waters that we have left on our planet. The effects of Patagonia’s responsible commitment to the environment have seeped into all aspects of their corporate structure. This dedication to the precious natural lands of our planet, coupled with the company’s honest, trustworthy business practices have contributed to its positive reputation amongst consumers, which in turn gave Patagonia the sales success and influence across market sectors that it has today. 4 Patagonia is a testament to the often-debated question of economic value in green business practices, and this thesis acts as an outline as to how they arrived at such an impressive presence in the business world, grow financially, maintain global influence, while maintaining their environmental priorities. Through its transparent and environmentally conscious supply-chain management, Patagonia has effectively set the scene for other producers to follow its lead in a time where redesign and innovation is the only answer to depleting natural resources and the need to eliminate waste. The crucial connection that Patagonia maintains with its consumers can be examined through the inherent environmental psychological analysis of Patagonia’s mission to create the highest quality product while doing the least amount of harm to the environment. The consumers who are buying products to engage in outdoor recreation presumably attach high value to those natural lands and waters that they are venturing out into. Therefore, with this deep emotional significance comes motivation to protect the sanctity of those places on Earth, and support those organizations and businesses that are driven by this same passion. 5 Chapter 1: The Birth of the Green Movement and Patagonia, Inc. Patagonia, Inc.’s History My company, Patagonia, Inc., is an experiment. It exists to put into action those recommendations that all the doomsday books on the health of our planet say we must do immediately to avoid the certain destruction of nature and collapse of our civilization. Despite near-universal consensus among scientists that we are on the brink of an environmental collapse, our society lacks the will to take action. Patagonia exists to challenge conventional wisdom and present a new style of responsible business (Chouinard, 2005). The purpose of this chapter is to give narrative depth and background description to the birth and evolution of Patagonia, Inc. The roots of this company are vital to understanding its mission dedicated to sustainable business practices while protecting the natural world. Although Patagonia may be a household name, its modest beginnings are what gives it the character of minimalism that defines it, and also what make it essential in understanding how a business of its stature can be grown in an authentic, mindful, and grassroots way. Chouinard Equipment started out in the backyard of founder Yvon Chouinard’s parents’ home in Burbank, California in 1957 after he bought his first anvil and metal scraps from a nearby junkyard and started teaching himself how to blacksmith (Chouinard, 2005). Chouinard was a rock climber in a time when 6 the sport was really just taking off, especially in Yosemite Valley, California. Chouinard climbed with world-class climbers Tom Frost, Royal Robbins, and the rest of the Valley Cong climber gang that lived in Yosemite, often extending their two-week visitor pass issued by the Park Service so that they could climb the big walls and be amongst the counterculture innovators of the time in both recreation and society (Chouinard, 2005). Fostering counterculture The counterculture that grew out of Camp 4 in Yosemite Valley can be seen as the nesting grounds for the birth of multiple billion-dollar outdoor activity entrepreneurial companies (Kirk & Palmer, 2006), as well as a haven for valuing the Earth in their future entrepreneurial ventures that was not the norm for capitalistic practices of the time. Camp 4 is where the self-proclaimed ‘dirtbag’ climbers, attempting unprecedented assents on Yosemite’s grandest rock faces like El Capitan and Half Dome, were able to nurture their affection for the danger and beauty of nature (Coleman, 2011). With Camp 4 as their own version of “Edison’s laboratory” Chouinard, Robins, and Frost were able to “foster creativity, ethics, and American-capitalist know-how,” and gave birth to an entire genre of modern, outdoor, and environmentally minded recreation enthusiasts (Kirk & Palmer, 2006). In the words of Tom Frost, co-founder of Great Pacific Iron Works (the future parent company of Patagonia, Inc. and Chouinard Equipment) and 7 business partner of Chouinard Equipment: “our business activities mirrored our rock climbing philosophy that emphasized the style and purity of the activity. Keeping the products simple and pure with designs that came from nature and worked with nature drove our business model" (Kirk & Palmer, 2006). The environment that Chouinard was surrounded by during this time at Camp 4 is an essential point in the history of Patagonia, as well as historical context for the rise of companies like Royal Robbins, which makes travel and outdoor clothing for men and women. Together the dirtbag climber crew worked to innovate new products, not knowing the impact their lifestyle and passion would have on millions of people a few short years later. The men and women living at Camp 4 during the 1960s and 70s were outcasts and despised by the Yosemite park rangers at the time for there reclusive desire to overstay their two-week welcome as campers in the park, often stealth camping out of view of the rangers. When the climbers were not out on the rocks, they were back at the camp having their notoriously raucous parties (Kirk & Palmer, 2006). The prevailing culture narrative in regards to nature at this time was domination—not collaboration. The counterculture association brought a scope of responsibility to nature, and allowed for the ‘purity perspective’ and moral consciousness to gain relevance in humans’ interactions with nature (Inglis, Bone, & Wilkie, 2005).
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