Patagonia did something mildly insane.

[taiwan_girl]

The company does have a good reputation for making good products.

[Mik]

They do. It’s privately owned, so good on him for putting his money somewhere he cares about.

[jodi]

Good for them. They do make a good product. There is a outlet store in a little town south of here, we have lots of Patagonia stuff.

[Aqua Letifer]

@jodi said in Patagonia did something mildly insane.:

Good for them. They do make a good product. There is a outlet store in a little town south of here, we have lots of Patagonia stuff.

Some of it's ridiculously overpriced and unnecessary—they call it Padagucci for a reason.

But I can't deny that they still make great stuff that lasts and just works.

[Horace]

It signals intent to take certain goals seriously, but enforces next to nothing regarding behavior towards those goals. There is no reason to believe they are not serious, but this is really only a signal. As far as I’m aware, all the behaviors they care about could have been accomplished without the trust.

[Aqua Letifer]

@Horace said in Patagonia did something mildly insane.:

It signals intent to take certain goals seriously, but enforces next to nothing regarding behavior towards those goals. There is no reason to believe they are not serious, but this is really only a signal. As far as I’m aware, all the behaviors they care about could have been accomplished without the trust.

They're funneling the money in different ways. That's where I think this could be ineffective, but it's more than a signal when you throw money down.

Also, they use PrimaLoft for most of their insulated material, which is recycled material. Their shells, though, they make themselves, using a manufacturing process they designed to be environmentally friendly.

You can play around with data to illustrate how environmentally friendly they really are, but claims they only pay environmental lip service don't hold up.

[jon-nyc]

The framing is more innovative than the concept.

“Rich guy puts assets in a trust/foundation with specific goals defined for that entity” dates back to the elder Rockefeller.

[LuFins Dad]

Great… Let me see what the “costs of doing business” are. A lot of companies out there are making 2% profits while the execs are bringing home 8 figure annual incomes…

[Aqua Letifer]

@LuFins-Dad said in Patagonia did something mildly insane.:

Great… Let me see what the “costs of doing business” are. A lot of companies out there are making 2% profits while the execs are bringing home 8 figure annual incomes…

Patagonia's annual sales are about $1bn.

[xenon]

Sounds nice. I don't get it.