PATAGONIA: CHANGING SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION

It’s encouraging to see the development in sustainable consumption recently. The founder of Patagonia, Yvon Chouinard, who is called a ‘rock climber’ in Wikipedia has announced he is giving away his company to create a charity. Is this the way forward for brands to embrace sustainability?

Well, it could be according to Mary Portas, who recently said the“hamster wheel of consumerism” is “turning faster and faster. Even the words we use to describe the products sound relentless: the must-have, must-buy, must-get bag/dress/coat of the moment. For the consumer, it’s about the pursuit, the thrill of the chase, then finally the catch. And, crucially, the prices have risen and risen as appetite has grown.”

Mary Portas has a firm belief that the “central tenet of rampant consumerism has been killing our planet. It has been exploiting vast numbers of people. It has been draining the only resources we will ever have. And, in its relentless drive to make us sate our anxiety by consuming more and more, it has been killing our collective wellbeing.”

Her words are so true so perhaps Yvon Chouinard could be starting something that could go on to grow and grow. Especially as Mary Portas also said that people, “have been shown the wrong ideas on how to live.” Believing that the present issues causing the climate crisis are potentially down to re-educating us all in a different way to live. A simple idea that needs far more than Chouinard’s bold move to make the change necessary for us to collectively make a difference.

When he announced his move to his staff at Patagonia and his customers he said, “Earth is now our only shareholder. Instead of ‘going public,’ you could say we’re ‘going purpose.’ Instead of extracting value from nature and transforming it into wealth for investors, we’ll use the wealth Patagonia creates to protect the source of all wealth.”

After such bold words, now it’s about who will be next to help transform the way businesses do business.

Image credit: Glenna Haug on Unsplash

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Stephen Moore FCIM, is a former Strategic Marketing Consultant and Marketing Director, currently living in beautiful Suffolk. He has been writing about marketing developments for 20 years with articles in The Metro, City AM, Fresh Business Thinking, AllWork, The Marketer and Marketing Week.

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