Patagonia and environmentalism
Chouinard is most known for founding the clothing and gear company Patagonia. Chouinard started to sell clothes by chance as a way to support his moderately profitable equipment business.[8] In 1970 on a trip to Scotland, he purchased some rugby shirts and sold them with great success.[9] From this small start, the Patagonia company developed a wide selection of rugged technical clothing. According to Chouinard, the intent of Patagonia is to make clothes for people under the rugged, southern Andes/Cape Horn conditions of places like Patagonia.[10]
Recognizing that the financial success of the company provided the opportunity to also achieve personal goals, Chouinard committed the company to being an outstanding place to work, and to be an important resource for environmental activism. In 1984, Patagonia opened an on-site cafeteria offering "healthy, mostly vegetarian food," and started providing on-site child care.[11] In 1986, Chouinard committed the company to "tithing" for environmental activism, committing one percent of sales or ten percent of profits, whichever is the greater. The commitment included paying employees working on local environmental projects so they could commit their efforts full-time.
In the early 1990s, an environmental audit of Patagonia revealed the surprising result (at the time), that corporate cotton, although it was a natural material, had a heavy environmental footprint. In 1996, Chouinard committed the company to using all organic cotton.[12]
In 2002, Yvon Chouinard founded 1% for the Planet and Patagonia became the first business to commit 1% of annual sales to the environment.[13]
In 2014, Patagonia supported the advocacy documentary film DamNation, which is about changing attitudes in America towards its dams. Chouinard was the executive producer of the film, and he was also featured in the film commenting about dams.
In 2018, in acknowledgment that sustainability and responsible practices are core to Patagonia, Yvon Chouinard was recognized with the Sierra Club's top award, the John Muir Award.[14]
In 2022, Chouinard announced that he was donating ownership in Patagonia to a trust to ensure profits are used for addressing climate change.[15][16] Chouinard's family retains control of the company's voting stock through the Patagonia Purpose Trust.[17][18]
