👕 The Brand Magic of... Patagonia
When you talk about sustainability, there is no getting around this outdoor fashion brand. What are 5 things we can learn from their success for our brands marketing?
➡️ You can also listen to this posting in my podcast 🎧
Hi 👋 I’m Florian Schleicher. This is the FutureStrategies newsletter of FUTURES. Thank you so much for reading along 💚 If you want to learn strategic marketing from me, then my Simple & Sustainable Marketing Academy is the perfect fit for you.
Whenever there is a ranking about the most sustainable brands, one is always up front: Patagonia.
But did you know that they once were considered to be an environmental villain?
How did the company become a champion of sustainability?
Well, they used capitalism to save the planet.
The brand has an estimated value of $3 billion. It sells more than $1 billion in outdoor clothing and gear and brings in $100 million in revenue a year.
So, today I want to take you on a short trip about:
🥇 Why is Patagonia so famous and what are they doing?
🌱 How did Patagonia end up where they are now?
🎓 5 things we can learn from their approach for our own marketing strategy?
Nowadays Patagonia is a brand I love to look to and learn from (and I really love their products).
Without further ado, let’s go…
🥇 Why is Patagonia so famous and what are they doing?
Patagonia is an American company that manufactures clothing and equipment for outdoor and adventure sports.
From the beginning (or almost), the company pursued a vision that went beyond mere profit: Their mission was to make products that had as little impact on the environment as possible while inspiring people to make a positive contribution to the environmental crisis.
Yes, they sell high end outdoor wear, but they are focused on building a more sustainable planet. They partner with other organisations that are also working on sustainability, as well as their customers, creating a true following of believers.
Their heart beats for sustainability and environmental protection, and these values became Patagonia's brand essence.
With the slogan "Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis," they codified their identity.
They don’t just talk about products, they talk about the importance of actions. The brand itself took a back seat, while the environment and the need to protect it came to the fore.
That is why they lead a lot of sustainability and purpose rankings, and why they were named a UN Champion of the Earth in 2019.
🌱 How did Patagonia end up where they are now?
To fully understand what makes them so famous and successful we first have to look into their history:
The company was founded by Yvon Chouinard, a passionate climber who loved being out in nature and was just not satisfied with current equipment, specifically the pitons (metal spikes that are driven into a crack or seam in the climbing surface using a climbing hammer, and which acts as an anchor).
So he started making his own gear and soon his friends wanted him to also supply them (which he did in his parents garage). Then in 1965, Yvon went into partnership with Tom Frost and started Chouinard Equipment.
They redesigned and improved climbing tools to create the best ones available adhering to an interesting guiding design principle:
In anything at all, perfection is finally attained not when there is no longer anything to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away, when a body has been stripped down to its nakedness.
Antoine de Saint Exupéry, the French aviator
As the current Patagonia Website states they then ran into a challenge: “By 1970, Chouinard Equipment had become the largest supplier of climbing hardware in the United States. It had also become an environmental villain because its gear was damaging the rock. The same fragile cracks had to endure repeated hammering of pitons during both placement and removal, and the disfiguring was severe.”
So the cofounders decided to minimise the harmful piton business.
Little did they know back then, that it would be the first big environmental step that would shape the company’s journey.
(You can check out their complete history here and also here.)
The next really interesting step was that during the early 1980s, when all outdoor products were in very simplistic colours, they drenched the Patagonia line in vivid color - a great symbol to be distinctive.
Their growth continued until the 1990ies (they even made fastest growing company one year) when they had to layoff a lot of their employees due to the recession.
But it was with that challenge that they started focussing on their values even more, giving employees more and more freedom (e.g. to go surfing during lunch breaks, they provided onsite child-care) and refocus on their purpose.
So when another crisis emerged, they already had a framework of thinking:
What we began to read—about global warming, the cutting and burning of tropical forests, the rapid loss of groundwater and topsoil, acid rain, the ruin of rivers and creeks from silting-over dams—reinforced what we saw with our eyes and smelled with our noses during our travels.
What began as an inquiry into stopping a dam development project to protect a surf-break, supported by Mark Capelli, a 25-year-old biology student become their environmental commitment:
They began to make regular donations to smaller groups working to save or restore habitat rather than give the money to NGOs with big staffs, overheads and corporate connections. They also started the 1% for the Planet movement (where you donate 1% of your annual sales and where my own marketing studio FutureS is now also a part of) in 2002 to make it easy for other companies to do the same.
Through that they raised more than $530 million with 6.500 environmental partners.
In 2011 they ran one of the greatest ads in (sustainability) advertising:
“Don’t buy this jacket.” - In the Black Friday edition of The New York Times, Patagonia published an audacious full-page ad telling viewers not to buy their jacket.
That was a massive step - not only to “do” sustainability but to ask consumers to change their behaviour too, stating:
It would be hypocritical for us to work for environmental change without encouraging customers to think before they buy. To reduce environmental damage, we all have to reduce consumption as well as make products in more environmentally sensitive, less harmful ways.
Why is that so big?
Because globally, consumers acquire 80 billion new items per year —a figure that’s up 400% from 20 years ago. In America, consumers buy about 68 new garments a year. And most people wear only 20% of their clothes. The rest just….sit there, as Rex Woodbury writes.
One year later Keith and Lauren Malloy started “Worn Wear” - Patagonia’s clothing and repair program. They envisioned a place for people to share stories about their favourite Patagonia products and the badges of honour—the rips, tears, patches and stains—that recall treasured outdoor memories. This inspired the organisation to expand its back-then minimalist repair service into what it is now: The largest garment repair facility in North America.
With sustainability now deeply integrated in their core business model, they were no no longer satisfied with lessening the brands impact on the planet.
They wanted to heal it.
And to be very clear:
They also wanted to benefit from a shifting economy. Because the second hand market is not just growing, but exploding:
Then in late 2018, Yvon Chouinard and CEO Rose Marcario changed Patagonia’s purpose statement to reflect their new strategic shift:
We’re in business to save our home planet.
And finally in 2022 they took it one step further - proclaiming “The Earth is now our only shareholder.”
Nearly 50 years after Chouinard began his experiment in responsible business, ownership of Patagonia was transferred to two new entities: The Patagonia Purpose Trust and the nonprofit Holdfast Collective. Every dollar that is not reinvested into Patagonia will be distributed as dividends to protect the planet.
Instead of extracting value from nature and transforming it into wealth, we are using the wealth Patagonia creates to protect the source. I am dead serious about saving this planet.
Yvon Chouinard
Which brings us to 2023 - Patagonia launches the warmest winterjacket yet - filled with plastic fished from our oceans.
That’s brand constistency.
🎓 5 things we can learn from their approach for our own marketing strategy?
So we have now seen what Patagonia has been doing and why so many people love their brand.
You might now realise, that you and your brand can’t simply become “the next Patagonia”. You have to be on a journey and so here are my five key takeaways for your marketing strategy:
Strategy is hard, but is the main source of long term growth
Love what you do and your target audience
Start small, focus and dream big to shape the market
Minimise environmental impact, authentically
Tell great stories in your marketing
1️⃣ Strategy is hard, but is the main source of long term growth
All of this is only possible because Patagonia integrated sustainability deeply into their strategy (read more about my process here).
They started with a sharp analysis creating their current approach in the diagnosis:
The apparel industry is responsible for as much as 6.7% of global greenhouse gases emitted in the world and releases 2–3.29 billion tons of CO₂e into our atmosphere every year.
The cleaning and disposal of garments (too often in the landfill) only adds to this impact, which is increasing as people buy more and more stuff. If we don’t change course—and soon—we will lock in catastrophic effects of climate change.
In their guiding principles they focus on a clear mission:
We protect our home planet.
We do this by building the best product, providing the best service and constantly improving everything we do.
The best product is useful, versatile, long-lasting, repairable and recyclable. Our ideal is to make products that give back to the Earth as much as they take.
This gives them a perfect guideline for their objectives - it serves like a destination postcard as Chip and Dan Heath in their book “Switch - How to change things when change is hard” mention:
Destination postcards show where you are headed and why the journey is worthwhile.
Chip & Dan Heath
And lastly their coherent actions are all aligned to get to their destination and achieve their mission. Their marketing messages resonate with the sort of environmentally conscious and upscale consumers that Patagonia sees as its target audience.
2️⃣ Love what you do and your target audience
Looking at their history one step followed the other and it all started with a love for nature and preserving the places they enjoy the most.
This feels authentic.
Because they did not have to reverse-engineer their strategy to fit some new mental model, but they always were connected with nature and their passions.
And with their target audience.
They have understood what makes them tick and drives them: These sorts of consumers like the idea of buying a product that is made by an environmentally friendly company in an environmentally friendly manner.
Patagonia has built a brand around their strategy, not the other way around:
Patagonia’s brand is about drastic measures to save the earth, such as suing the US government and rebuffing the very VCs that turned the brand into a west coast status symbol. These were tactical decisions made through the lens of the brand.
Jasmine Bina, Conceptbureau
Their actions, their marketing, their sustainability activities are all aligned and coherent.
And they walk the talk. As Emily Heyward writes in Obsessed:
When Patagonia began refusing to sell its fleece vests to corporations that don't prioritize the planet, it may have disappointed some Wall Street bros, but it augmented the love of its environmentally conscious audience, who felt even more connected to its values, and therefore more loyal to the brand. When people know what a brand stands for, and they agree with it, that creates an intimate bond.
This costs them money, but it also pays into their brand.
3️⃣ Start small, focus and dream big to shape the market
Every journey has its beginning.
Patagonia did not set out to become the champion of sustainability and outdoor wear.
They started with a small problem and created a solution for one small aspect: Climbing pitons.
From there they expanded to other climbing wear. Then to more gear.
And from the very beginning that led to them shaping their market: From colours to sustainability. They were not focussed on building the most profitable business, but the best and most beloved solutions for their target audience.
(Very similar to Apple, about whose brand story I wrote here)
Or as Yvon Chouinard put it:
You either grow strong or you grow fat."
They take it even further in educating their audience, when they say:
We’re teaching people to take care of the things they already have and reminding them why the jacket they already have is the best one for the planet.
4️⃣ Minimise environmental impact, authentically
Not even Patagonia is perfect.
But they are transparent about their progress.
As of 2023 91% of their fabrics are made with preferred materials.
86% of their products are made in a Fair Trade Certified factory.
There are a lot of good things you will find online, so I will spare you the fanboying - but I really love their authentic approach. Authenticity builds trust and trust creates sales as well as loyalty.
We follow our beliefs, our customers follow us, and positive change tends to follow that. People who believe in what we’re doing gravitate to our message. They become our advocates. That’s why our marketing philosophy is so simple: We tell people who we are and what we do. That’s it. Fiction is so much more difficult to write than nonfiction.
And as mentioned they are great at combining their sustainability approach with the shift of markets to a more circular business model.
5️⃣ Tell great stories in your marketing
I talked a lot about storytelling here already and Patagonia really masters this approach.
Be it on their own story hub or on their social media accounts.
The secret of their brand success lies in their ability to communicate their values and vision through powerful storytelling.
They tell stories about trailblazers and role models that inspire their customers and encourage them to take action for the environment as well. Their unique approach to sustainability appeals to an adventurous and environmentally conscious demographic that is willing to pay more for products that align with their values.
🌏 Patagonia is Planetary
Patagonia has proven that you can succeed as a brand by being authentic, transparent and committed. They are a beloved outdoors company for many reasons: its superior products and its sustainability strategy.
Their dedication to equity, sustainability, and environmental stewardship has not only inspired their target audience, but also created a strong brand love.
By putting their purpose above their profit, they have sparked a true revolution in the brand world and proven that brands can be a powerful force for positive change in the world.
They invest heavily into marketing.
And into sustainability as a business principle.
But as one of the godfathers of marketing, Bill Bernbach, founder of DDB put it:
It is not a principle until it costs you money.
With a global revenue of $100 Million per year, several multinational initiatives and a love brand I think that principle pays off.
Thanks for reading along!
PS: You can also read this posting in German.
👗Something good 🧤
As mentioned, there is massive growth in the secondhand clothing market.
The growth of the market for used clothing might even outpace fast fashion as more consumers become aware of the environmental, social, and economic benefits of thrift shopping.
The global secondhand apparel market is expected to grow 127% by 2026.
Driven by 45% of millennials and Gen-Z saying they refuse to buy from non-sustainable brands and retailers it is expected that the secondhand market will be 2x bigger (!) than fast fashion in 2030.
🌱