ABSTRACT
PATAGONIA IS PERHAPS THE MOST frequently cited example of business sustainability. Let’s look at why. Annual revenues tripled between 2008 and 2012 up to 540 million.38 They employ about 1500
people.39 The company got its start in the 1970s supplying mountain climbers with reusable hardware so climbers could leave less of a trace on cliffs. It is founded on an imperative of minimizing the environmental
harm done from business. Its gross profi t margin is one of the highest in
FIGURE 15. Patagonia sustainability value chain activities
Corporate Governance/ Corporate Responsibility Workplace Code of Conduct
Accounting/Triple Bottom Line Accounting
Footprint Chronicles
Marketing & Sales/Eco-Labels Eco-Label Coalition and Customer Community
Procurement/Natural Resource Based Procurement
E-Fabrics
Operations/Life Cycle Analysis Workplace Process and No-Packaging
Logistics/Local Economies 1% for the Planet
Service/Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Redesign
Common Threads Recycling and Don’t Buy
Information Technology/ Green Buildings
LEED Gold Service Center and Historic Locations
Human Resources/ Work-Life Balance
Let My People Surf and Employee Internships
Research & Development/ Biomimicry
Recycled Fabrics
Corporate Governance/ Corporate Responsibility
From its early days, Patagonia aimed to be a model for other companies.
Their mission statement reads ‘Build the best product, cause no
