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Patagonia's Philosopher King (2016)

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Re: Patagonia's Philosopher King (2016)

#41

Post by nerdb4itwascool »

50208 wrote: post #30
spodek wrote: post #6

I toured Patagonia's headquarters last year after featuring Vincent Stanley, who has been with them since 1973, on my podcast http://joshuaspodek.com/guests/vincent-stanley . The culture was amazing -- friendly, productive, supportive. I asked a random employee to join me for lunch. Whatever I asked about company vision, culture, etc she knew. When I asked why they did this or that thing a certain way, she'd say thin…

I too was extremely lucky to visit the Ventura headquarters on a random trip to the area several years ago. I was going to get a "surf lesson" from Chipper (who I was half-jokingly told was the highest paid receptionist in the world) but he needed to reschedule. By happenstance, Yvon was there and he was going to hand forge a piton in the old tin shed ... the piton would be auctioned off (for the AAC I believe). Chip…

Great story, thanks for sharing. Chipper Bro is THE MAN, he deserves the pay he gets!

I have never been into an HQ as welcoming as Patagonia's. The cafeteria alone is worth a visit!

Re: Patagonia's Philosopher King (2016)

#42

Post by snowwrestler »

_kyran wrote: post #7
PhaseLockk wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the problem with companies offering sales?

No problem with companies putting something on sale. One of their values is that: "We know that our business activity—from lighting stores to dyeing shirts—is part of the problem. We work steadily to change our business practices and share what we’ve learned. But we recognize that this is not enough. We seek not only to do less harm, but more good." Running sales, just generates more impulse purchases and consumerism…

Patagonia runs sales partially for the same reason anyone else does, which is to clear out inventory that didn’t sell at full price.

But unlike most other companies, Patagonia also plans ahead for some inventory to go at sale prices, in order to serve dirtbag outdoors lifers who would never pay full price... the same sort of people who started Patagonia a long time ago.

This was explained to me by a Patagonia sales rep about 20 years ago when I worked retail. I assume it’s still true because their end of season sales still seem to have prime inventory in them.

Re: Patagonia's Philosopher King (2016)

#43

Post by swamy_g »

johncalvinyoung wrote: post #19
snowcrashover wrote: post #15

Good profile. I feel like the author was having a lot of fun with his thesaurus: "He has a lifelong habit of collecting garrulous friends and yet a tendency to induce some measure of taciturnity in all but the most voluble of them. His style of reticence is contagious."

haha, I guess I'm around a lot of bookish & verbal friends. That sentence didn't strike me as odd in the slightest.

Your friends are probably very garrulous. :)

Re: Patagonia's Philosopher King (2016)

#44

Post by vinhboy »

snowcrashover wrote: post #15

Good profile. I feel like the author was having a lot of fun with his thesaurus: "He has a lifelong habit of collecting garrulous friends and yet a tendency to induce some measure of taciturnity in all but the most voluble of them. His style of reticence is contagious."

Every time I read a New Yorker article I feel like that. Here are four words I don't know in just the first paragraph: garrulous, taciturnity, voluble, reticence.

Re: Patagonia's Philosopher King (2016)

#45

Post by jschwartzi »

All of the gear I've bought from them has been better than the competition in some way that matters. For example I have a couple of sun hoodies from Columbia, and one from Patagonia, and the Patagonia ones cool actively even when there isn't a breeze while the Columbia ones require a light breeze for the cooling fabric to work. They're both great products but the Patagonia one is honestly worth the extra $20.00 or so.

Re: Patagonia's Philosopher King (2016)

#46

Post by nerdb4itwascool »

_kyran wrote: post #4

Is Patagonia's marketing at heart not Greenwashing ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwashing ) ? I get that they source materials ethically and do things way better than 90% of other clothing companies. Surely if they truly wanted to minimise their impact on the planet, they would rid their stores of sales and cut back on the amount of new styles/designs that they release. Where I live there are around 3 patagonia…

Chouinard is quoted about this in the article:

“But I’ve become cynical about whether we can have any influence,” Chouinard said. “Everyone’s just greenwashing. The revolution isn’t going to happen with corporations. The elephant in the room is growth. Growth is the culprit.”

Re: Patagonia's Philosopher King (2016)

#47

Post by germinalphrase »

nerdb4itwascool wrote: post #46
_kyran wrote: post #4

Is Patagonia's marketing at heart not Greenwashing ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwashing ) ? I get that they source materials ethically and do things way better than 90% of other clothing companies. Surely if they truly wanted to minimise their impact on the planet, they would rid their stores of sales and cut back on the amount of new styles/designs that they release. Where I live there are around 3 patagonia…

Chouinard is quoted about this in the article: “But I’ve become cynical about whether we can have any influence,” Chouinard said. “Everyone’s just greenwashing. The revolution isn’t going to happen with corporations. The elephant in the room is growth. Growth is the culprit.”

Is there any theory/ideas about how a "post-growth" economy would/could function?

Re: Patagonia's Philosopher King (2016)

#48

Post by zjaffee »

I saw him speak a few years back, and he called for radical ideas, like suggesting the entire concept of a publicly traded company as we know it allows companies to throw their hands in the air in regards to their ethics in regards to the environment. This extends into their repair program, and various other sustainability focused goals.

Patagonia is certainly one of the rare examples of what a modern ethical company would look like (however this often includes the fact that their goods are much higher priced than what you find at walmart).

Re: Patagonia's Philosopher King (2016)

#49

Post by asdfgasd »

germinalphrase wrote: post #47
nerdb4itwascool wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Chouinard is quoted about this in the article: “But I’ve become cynical about whether we can have any influence,” Chouinard said. “Everyone’s just greenwashing. The revolution isn’t going to happen with corporations. The elephant in the room is growth. Growth is the culprit.”

Is there any theory/ideas about how a "post-growth" economy would/could function?

There are many, it's a very old, very well thought-out tradition. Try reading Kropotkin, or from a more modern perspective, Richard Wolff.

However, it doesn't align with the current vision of orthodox Western capitalism, so it isn't particularly popular in mainstream media or culture.

Re: Patagonia's Philosopher King (2016)

#50

Post by spodek »

50208 wrote: post #30
spodek wrote: post #6

I toured Patagonia's headquarters last year after featuring Vincent Stanley, who has been with them since 1973, on my podcast http://joshuaspodek.com/guests/vincent-stanley . The culture was amazing -- friendly, productive, supportive. I asked a random employee to join me for lunch. Whatever I asked about company vision, culture, etc she knew. When I asked why they did this or that thing a certain way, she'd say thin…

I too was extremely lucky to visit the Ventura headquarters on a random trip to the area several years ago. I was going to get a "surf lesson" from Chipper (who I was half-jokingly told was the highest paid receptionist in the world) but he needed to reschedule. By happenstance, Yvon was there and he was going to hand forge a piton in the old tin shed ... the piton would be auctioned off (for the AAC I believe). Chip…

I hung out with Chipper too, which was delightful. He took me out for a surfing lesson, but there were no waves that day. With my background in ultimate Frisbee and his freestyling, we had a great time tossing the disc instead.

As it turns out, I had stood next to Yvon in the cafeteria without realizing it. Chipper told him about me but this was November 2018 and there were huge nearby wildfires. Yvon said he had to help his community.

Chipper also took me to the tin shed and for the rest of my visit people treated my visiting it as a sign of honor so I took it that way. Since visiting it, I've noticed the phrase "tin shed" in a lot of their literature and now I know why.

Incidentally, I buy clothes almost only from thrift shops, which means no Patagonia. Their stuff doesn't make it to second-hand, which I conclude is a mix of their fixing policies and quality of manufacture.

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