Challenge

The apparel industry is responsible for as much as 6.7% of the global GHG emitted in the world. Circularity is an important area of focus, as approximatively 85% of clothing ends up in landfills or incinerated each year. Patagonia, the outdoor clothing company, wanted not only to drastically reduce its emissions but also to shift the paradigm and change the mentality of its business, employees and customers towards more sustainable lifestyles.

Solution

Patagonia has engaged in several initiatives to put sustainability at the heart of its business.

First, in 2012, Patagonia became the first “benefit corporation”, prioritizing environmental and social concerns over turnover. In 2022, the company announced “going purpose” instead of “going public”. By transferring all assets to two legal entities, the owners ensured that every earning not reinvested into Patagonia would be paid as a dividend to a fund dedicated to financing environmental projects.

Patagonia also fosters a sustainability mindset within its people. Its Environmental Internship Program enables employees to take up to two months off work to engage in a fully paid internship for an environmental organization.

Finally, the company focuses on changing consumers’ mindset. Its “Worn Wear” programme acts as an incentive to share responsibility by extending the lifespan of clothes.

This initiative offers awareness and support for conscientious product maintenance, repair, reuse, resale and responsible end of life disposal.

Impact

Patagonia’s cultural shift strategy is already reaping rewards. Through its “going purpose” approach, it expects to pay out around $100 million of annual dividend to sustainable projects.

Its employee turnover is less than 4%, much lower than the industry average, and more than 1,000 employees have taken part in the Environmental Internship Program. This enabled the company to gain valuable sustainability insights, change internal mindsets and develop stronger relationships with sustainable organizations.

Finally, Patagonia’s circularity and consumer awareness strategy allowed it to extend the life of clothing by nine months. This reduced carbon, waste and water footprints by approximately 20–30% each. The company also resold more than 120,000 repurposed items, significantly cutting down on waste and emissions.

Featured in our paper "The “No-Excuse” Opportunities to Tackle Scope 3 Emissions in Manufacturing and Value Chains"