Patagonia's Sustainable Initiatives

This morning I to opened my email to find that the Transworld Business Daily Update focused on Sustainability.  Transworld Business is a magazine publication dedicated to board and action sports and what goes on behind the scenes on the business side of the house.  

Earlier this week in class we had discussed the efforts of Patagonia to remove some of the informational barriers and opening their operations to the public in order to show that they are not perfect, but at least they are trying really hard and not lying about it.  I found that this interview with Jen Rapp really solidified that stance on being "Green" and taking active steps toward reducing the organizations impact on the Earth.  Something that was mentioned in the interview that really held some weight with me is the statement:

"Patagonia really believes there’s no steps that are too small."


I have noticed that in the action sports world there really aren't a whole lot of ways to reduce the damaging practices while continuing to provide the consumer/ athlete with the highest quality of performance good.  Certainly there are some practices that are completely unable to be "Green".  For example, Rapp states "There’s no such things as green neoprene."  But they will still continue to make their wet-suits.  I like that.  


The payoff of taking an honest approach to the question of how sustainable a business operation versus "greenwashing" results in greater consumer attitude toward the company as a whole. Patagonia has done an excellent job of sharing their hopes of reducing their impact and refining their practices to provide a product that is less harmful to the environment while still great for the end user.  Any step truly is a good step toward the end goal of being more responsible, even if it means taking a cut at the margin  during the time that it takes for the dynamic to shift.  For now being green may be more expensive, but once we all get on "board" we can bring down the cost of responsible and environmental manufacturing.

Full Article:  "Catching Up With: Patagonia’s Jenn Rapp On Environmental Intiatives | TransWorld Business "Patagonia really believes there’s no steps that are too small." http://bit.ly/aEGLjg