![]() That extends to a website called The Footprint Chronicles, books like Chouinard’s autobiography, and the tome The Responsible Company, and its catalogs and advertising campaigns.Īs far back as 1986, Patagonia began donating 10 percent of its profits to grassroots organizations. Setting a pioneering model in brand transparency, Patagonia has used its platform to raise awareness and advocacy for environmental issues. Chouinard’s climbing innovations live on today, sold under the label Black Diamond Equipment, after a group of former Chouinard employees bought the Chouinard Equipment Company in 1989.īut beyond the products consumers are buying, Patagonia’s greatest strength is informing them about what they’re buying into. Demand was so high that Chouinard decided to start making his own apparel (it still makes rugby shirts like the Sender today), and by 1973, Patagonia was established in the back of a meatpacking factory in Ventura, California, where the company headquarters remain today. He discovered them in Scotland and began importing them, not for their classic preppy appeal, but rather because the heavyweight fabric was durable to climb in, breathed better than the average Oxford shirt, and the collar was useful for preventing waist pack slings from digging into the neck. This era saw the beginnings of Patagonia, known more for its clothing and gear. Among the first apparel pieces Chouinard sold were rugby shirts. Its flagship product, the Realized Ultimate Reality Piton (RURP), is about the size of a postage stamp and was invented by Frost and Chouinard in 1959.Īlthough Patagonia has never done external collaborations, its consistency in focus, brand vision, and great product have given it an appeal in fashion and streetwear circles. They specialized in high-grade pitons - sharp metal spikes made to be hammered into rock faces as climbing aids. In 1964, he partnered with Tom Frost, an aeronautical engineer, on a company called Chouinard Equipment. So, at 19 years old, taking after his father, he began making it himself. But he couldn’t find any climbing equipment that he felt satisfied his needs. On the West Coast, Yvon Chouinard’s love for the outdoors and climbing only blossomed. They auctioned off most of their possessions, including furniture handmade by Gerard, and ended up in Burbank, California. He might have inherited his father’s tremendous work ethic, but Chouinard credits his adventurous nature to his mother, Yvonne, at whose behest the family moved to California in 1946. ![]() ![]() There, a young Yvon Chouinard purports to have “learned to climb before I could walk.” From an early age, he developed a passion for the outdoors, especially activities like fishing. Upon moving to Lisbon, Maine, home to a bustling French-Canadian community, he settled down for a time with his family. Chouinard’s father, Gerard, was a jack of all trades, a Québécois from a farming family that did everything from plumbing to plastering and carpentry, and was even an electrician. ![]()
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