Patagonia's Fight for Public Lands: Brand Activism or a Marketing Play?

Patagonia, an American clothing company based in Ventura, California, that sold ‘sustainable’ outdoor clothing, was founded by an accredited rock climber Yvon Chouinard (Chouinard) in 1973. It started as “Chouinard Equipment”, a one-man operation run out of the back of Chouinard’s car, selling hand forged mountain climbing gear. In 1989, Chouinard Equipment was forced to file for bankruptcy after failing a series of lawsuits on safety issues, including one filed by the family of a climber who died in a fall after slipping out of Chouinard Equipment’s climbing harness. Soon, the company stopped making climbing gear and the liquidated assets of the climbing gear division were purchased by Chouinard’s longtime partner, Peter Metcalf. The division was re-organized as ‘Black Diamond Equipment’. Chouinard, however, retained the profitable clothing division of the company, which by then had been named “Patagonia”. Soon, Patagonia extended its product line to include apparel targeted at other sports like surfing, and apart from clothing, it also started selling other products such as backpacks and sleeping bags (Refer to Exhibit II for the products and services segmentation of Patagonia). ..