Explainer: Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard gives away company to fight climate crisis
By donating his entire company away, Yvon Chouinard, founder of apparel maker Patagonia and a reluctant billionaire, wants to start a new kind of capitalism that intends to help combat climate change and the environmental crisis.
Yvon Chouinard, the billionaire founder of the outdoor apparel brand Patagonia, said on September 14 he is giving away the company to a trust that will use its profit to fight the climate crisis. (Image: News18 Creative)
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By donating his entire company away, Yvon Chouinard, founder of apparel maker Patagonia and a reluctant billionaire, wants to start a new kind of capitalism that intends to help combat climate change and the environmental crisis. (Image: News18 Creative)
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The structure has been created to allow Patagonia to continue operating as a for-profit company and ensure all profits go to benefit environmental efforts. (Image: News18 Creative)
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Each year, the money Patagonia makes after reinvesting in the business will be distributed to the nonprofit to help fight the environmental crisis. (Image: News18 Creative)
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Chouinard, notably, hardly ever turns his cell phone on. He considers Apple to be a manufacturer of toys. (Image: News18 Creative)
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In 1972, a year before Patagonia’s official founding, Chouinard gave desk space to a young activist who fought to protect the Ventura River from a commercial development. (Image: News18 Creative)
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In 1989, Chouinard founded the Conservative Alliance, which collects membership dues from companies to distribute to grass-roots environmental organisations. (Image: News18 Creative)
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In 2011, he ran an ad in the New York Times urging readers, “Don’t Buy This Jacket” to bring attention to the company’s Common Threads Initiative, which allows consumers to buy or trade in used Patagonia clothing. (Image: News18 Creative)
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Released limited-edition shorts with the tag, “VOTE THE ASSHOLES OUT,” in 2020. They quickly sold out. He, however, pulled all ads from Facebook and Instagram and continues to boycott them for failing to “take sufficient steps to stop the spread of hateful lies and dangerous propaganda on its platform.” (Image: News18 Creative)
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In 2021, Chouinard donated $1 million to Black Voters Matter and the New Georgia Project to fight restrictive voting laws in Georgia. (Image: News18 Creative)
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“I was in Forbes magazine listed as a billionaire, which really, really pissed me off,” Chouinard had said. “I can sit down one on one with the president of any company, any time, anywhere, and convince them that growth is evil.” (Image: News18 Creative)
