Patagonia, Inc.

Patagonia commits 1% of its total sales to environmental groups,[18][19] through One Percent for the Planet, an organization of which Yvon Chouinard was a founding member. One Percent for the Planet encourages businesses to commit 1% of their annual net revenue to nonprofit charity organizations focused on conservation and sustainability.[20][21] In 2016, Patagonia took this initiative to the next level and pledged to contribute 100% of sales from Black Friday to environmental organizations, totaling $10m.[22]

In 2012, Patagonia became a Certified B Corporation,[23] making it a for profit company that meets “rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency”. The company was the first to be registered as a benefit corporation in the State of California, after the California Corporations Code were revised setting new specific requirements.[24]

In February 2017, Patagonia led a boycott of the Outdoor Retailer trade show, which traditionally took place in Salt Lake City, Utah, because of the Utah state legislature's introduction of legislation that would transfer federal lands to the state. Patagonia also opposed Utah Governor Gary Herbert's request that the Trump administration revoke the recently designated Bears Ears National Monument in southern Utah. After several companies joined the Patagonia-led boycott, event organizer Emerald Expositions said it would not accept a proposal from Utah to continue hosting the Outdoor Retailer trade show and would instead move the event to another state.[25]

On December 6, 2017, Patagonia sued the United States Government and President Donald Trump for his proclamations of reducing the protected land of Bears Ears National Monument by 85% and the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument by almost 50%. Patagonia is suing over the interpretation of the Property Clause of the U.S. Constitution in which the country vests Congress with the power to manage federal lands. The company's CEO, Rose Marcario, contends that when Congress passed the Antiquities Act of 1906, it did not give any president the power to reverse a prior president's monument designations.[26][27]

In June 2018, the company announced that it would donate the $10 million it received from President Trump's 2017 tax cuts to "groups committed to protecting air, land and water and finding solutions to the climate crisis."[28][29]

In July 2020, Patagonia suspended its advertising on Facebook and Facebook's photo-sharing app, Instagram, making it the latest company to enter a U.S. civil rights boycott movement. This was done as a part of the Stop Hate for Profit campaign, which was launched by several U.S. civil rights organizations who said the social network was doing too little to curb hate speech on its sites.[30]

In 2012, UK animal activist group Four Paws said that Patagonia used live-plucked down feathers and downs of force-fed geese.[31] In a statement on their website, Patagonia denied use of live-plucking but said it had used down procured from the foie-gras industry.[32] As of fall 2014, Patagonia said it was using 100% traceable down to ensure that birds were not force-fed or live-plucked and that down is not blended with down from unknown sources.[33]

In February 2005, Patagonia's sourcing of wool from Australia was criticized by PETA over the practice of mulesing. Patagonia has since moved its sourcing of wool from Australia to South America and the cooperative Ovis 21. However, in August 2015 PETA released new video footage showing how sheep were treated cruelly in Ovis 21 farms.[34] This led Patagonia to stop sourcing wool from Ovis 21.[35]

In June 2016, Patagonia released a set of new wool principles that guide the treatment of animals as well as land-use practices, and sustainability.[36][37]