Frost Loves Patagonia’s new initiative. Check it out below.
PATAGONIA ESTABLISHES A PARTNERSHIP WITH CUSTOMERS TO CONSUME LESS
AS PART OF THE COMMON THREADS INITIATIVE IN EUROPE.
THE INITIATIVE MUTUALLY PLEDGES WITH CUSTOMERS TO BUY AND USE CLOTHING MORE SUSTAINABLY AND FOCUSES ON 5 “R’S” –REDUCE, REPAIR, REUSE, RECYCLE AND REIMAGINE
Patagonia launches its Common Threads
Initiative focusing on the first “R”: REDUCE.
Today, Patagonia is the only apparel brand
to tell its consumers not to buy what they
don’t need. The picture on the following page
was published as an advertisement in the New
York Times by Patagonia on November 25th as consumption in the USA is reaching a peak just
after Thanksgiving.
In 2006, Patagonia was the very first apparel
brand to ask its consumer to RECYCLE with
our Capilene® Baselayers, when the Common
Threads Program was launched. Extended
season after season, Patagonia is now taking
back every Patagonia garment put on the
market, recycling what can be and keeping what can’t be recycled yet. By giving back, consumers pledge to keep
all this stuff out of the landfill and incinerator. But this “R” comes at the end. Recycling is what we do when we’re
out of options to avoid, repair, or reuse the product first.
Patagonia in turn commits, with its REPAIR “R”, to make products that last and help repair quickly anything
that breaks. Our policy is to get repairs unpacked, done and back in the mail to you within four weeks, including
transport. We pay for repairs that we’re responsible for and charge a fair price for repairs due to normal wear and
tear.
To help customers put back in circulation used clothes, and set up the REUSE “R”, Patagonia and eBay Inc.
have joined forces to launch a new marketplace for customers to buy and sell used Patagonia gear. Only available
for the US market for now, we are already thinking about a similar partnership for Europe. “eBay and
Patagonia have created this unique store to encourage customers to go into their closets, find the Patagonia
garments they don’t currently need, and list them on eBay to continue their useful life,” notes Rick Ridgeway,
Patagonia’s VP of Environmental Initiatives.
The goal is to get more and more pledges and therefore meet our fifth “R”, REIMAGINE. Reimagine a world where
we take only what nature can replace. At this point, 8,500 people already took the pledge. Our goal is to reach
50,000 a year.
We are now using the resources of one and a half planets on our one and only planet. The environmental
cost of everything we make is astonishing. Consider the R2® Jacket shown, one of our best sellers. To make it
required 135 litres of water, enough to meet the daily needs (three litres a day) of 45 people. Its journey from its
origin as 60% recycled polyester to our Reno warehouse generated nearly 20 pounds of carbon dioxide, 24 times
the weight of the finished product. This jacket left behind, on its way to Reno, two-thirds its weight in waste.
“The Common Threads Initiative addresses a significant part of today’s environmental problem – the footprint of our
stuff,” notes Yvon Chouinard, Patagonia’s Founder and Owner. “This initiative first asks customers to not buy
something if they don’t need it. If they do need it, we ask that they buy what will last a long time – and to repair
what breaks, reuse or resell whatever they don’t wear any more. And, finally, recycle whatever’s truly worn out. We
are the first company to ask customers to take a formal pledge and be partners in the effort to reduce consumption
and keep products out of the landfill or incinerator.”
To get more information and/or take the pledge visit www.patagonia.com/eu/enGB/common-threads
