[or] Props to Patagonia!

The Product, Company and Philosophy

When hearing the word “Patagonia” some may think of the beautiful Argentinean and Chilean landscape of South America, known for its diverse pristine environment and amazing opportunity for rugged adventure. However, others may recall the high-quality (and somewhat high-cost) line of outdoor clothing, gear, and adventure-sport/active-wear, inspired by and named after the location. The latter will be the topic for this analysis of an ethical organization and/or company in the real world of commerce: based on my findings, Patagonia, Inc. is a very good example of such.

Patagonia, Inc. designs and manufactures clothing and gear which meets a self-imposed definition of high standard and supreme functionality, embodying a handful of their greatly esteemed qualities, as defined on their website. Such qualities include strength and reliability, versatility, ease of care, and having as minimal an environmental impact as they know how to follow, in the making of their products. But Patagonia not only makes long-lasting, comfortable, and high-tech outdoor clothing and gear, they do it with an ‘environmental conscience’ and an ethical philosophy, and they have a reputation for taking this philosophy much further than the clothing rack.

Ethical Issues & Exemplary Conduct

Being a high-producer of fine outdoor clothing and gear, Patagonia competes with other companies who produce more for less, but who make substantial sacrifices of quality in their employee working conditions and end-product. Since Patagonia’s mission statement is to “Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, and use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis,” they work diligently to uphold such high ideals and expectations (Stamas). Just one example of how Patagonia has had to change an aspect of their product or business to fulfill this mission statement happened just after the company’s inception (and before the mission statement was fully defined). One of their top-selling first products was a piton, a tool used for rock climbing, and by its nature and design it “was defacing many landmark climbs,” and this incited the founder of Patagonia, Yvon Chouinard, to make the “bold decision to back away from the piton business, replacing it with aluminum chocks [which] climbers could wedge by hand instead of by hammer” (Stamas). In doing this, Patagonia realized their first of many ethical, value-based, profitable outcomes: they “promote[d] the ethic behind their new product – ‘clean climbing,’” and soon the chocks outsold the pitons (Stamas).

Worldview and Ethical Orientation

Patagonia’s worldview could be said to be one in the Zen Mahāyāna Buddhism tradition, as the company’s founder Chouinard is quoted as saying: “Profit is not the goal, because, as the Zen master would say, profits happen when you do everything else right” (Stamas). In following through on such a maxim, Patagonia promotes what they term (and have trademarked): Leading the Examined Life™. This philosophy and practice involves examining their “life and habits as a company” and giving “[their] practices some air and thought … to change habits often played out on an industrial scale, with concomitant effects” (Patagonia – Environmentalism: Leading the Examined Life™). They have “been in business long enough to know that when [they] can reduce or eliminate a harm, other businesses will be eager to follow suit” (Patagonia – Environmentalism: Leading the Examined Life™). Patagonia is certainly known for their strong commitment to preserving and protecting the environment, but also for their dedication to social concerns.

As a corporation, Patagonia believes strongly in social responsibility, thus they do things such as staff “a full-time social responsibility manager” to enforce the “code of conduct [which is] posted in all [their] factories that lays out … expectations as to what [they] consider safe, fair, legal and humane working conditions” (Patagonia – Environmental Initiatives 2008, p.17). The corporation goes above and beyond the norm when it comes to Corporate Social Responsibility, defining it not only as the standard of being the “broad-based movement in business that encourages companies to take responsibility for the impact their activities have on customers, employees, communities and the environment …[and] an obligation to include international labor and human rights standards” but they extend this to include, “taking steps to improve the quality of life for [their] employees and their families as well as for the community and society at large”  (Patagonia – Corporate Social Responsibility).

There are pages upon pages of the official Patagonia Inc. website (www.patagonia.com) which illustrate and detail the many ways in which they practice and uphold their ethical principles and policies, on an organizational level. For instance, they extensively trace their overall “carbon footprint” and offer this information to their customers with the interactive Footprint Chronicles™ (at http://www.patagonia.com/ web/us/footprint/index.jsp). They also share their Paper Use and Procurement Policy (the direct document link is at http://www.patagonia.com/pdf/en_US/1549–patagonia_paper_procurement.pdf) and they share their Product Care Tips to assist customers in low-impact care of their products (http://www.patagonia.com/pdf/en_US/tips_garment_care5.pdf). As referenced earlier, they offer their annual publication Environmental Initiatives which lists their many Environmental Grants and describes their dedication to social responsibility, a dedication which has involved aiming for unprecedented levels of transparency in regard to producing and manufacturing their products (p.37). For instance, they conducted many on-camera interviews of “ workers, managers, owners, designers and auditors in an effort to identify both the good and bad of our manufacturing processes, which [they] then summarized on the site next to an image of the product itself” (Environmental Initiatives p.37). And if a consumer wants to get an idea of where their fleece pullover or jacket might have been made, he/she could look on the website at their published list of factories (http://www.patagonia.com/pdf/en_US/PatagoniaFactoryList.pdf).

In regard to environmentalism, Patagonia supports non-profits such as 1% For the Planet, by pledging “1% of [annual] sales to the preservation and restoration of the natural environment,” doing so since 1985 (Patagonia – 1% For the Planet). Through this program, Patagonia has given “more than $32 million in grants and in-kind donations to over a thousand organizations worldwide …[many who are] innovative groups working at the grassroots level, some too small or too in-your-face to get traditional corporate donations” (Environmental Initiatives, 2008). So Patagonia supports many grass-roots movements and organizations which share their fundamental environmental and socially-responsible ethics and concerns, which further the socially-conscious business ethic upon which Patagonia is built.

Doing all of this (and more) for the environment and in the name of social responsibility, Patagonia still remains profitable, and they have 35 years of healthy business history to prove that “good business can result from strong values” (Stamas, para. 6). As Rick Ridgeway, Patagonia’s VP of Environmental Initiatives and Special Media, said in speaking with the Rocky Mountain Institute’s business offices: “Do the right thing and it’s good for your business” (Stamas). Unlike some current businesses who are now trying to refresh and mask their previously questionable environmental ethics policies and practices, Patagonia is not just “green-washing” (SourceWatch.org), but rather – is being quite transparent. Ridgeway goes on to say, “We can market environmental initiatives without guilt, knowing that people will buy more of our stuff and we’ll be more successful — because the more successful we are, the more money we make to give back” (Stamas). Patagonia’s long-standing leadership in both areas of environmental preservation and socially-responsible practices are widely recognized by many in the environmental and scientific sectors, in business and education, as well as by marketing professionals.

Traditional Ethics Principles Applied

The corporation of Patagonia seems to embrace a deontological perspective, one that seems oriented in the categorical imperative theory, because based on what Patagonia has defined as their own “absolute moral truth” or imperative, they seem to believe their way could be applied to all (Shaw, p. 62). They seem to believe that as a company they must do what is right because it is right, (and encourage and inspire others to follow) but on the consequential side, because the results of an action are what seem to dictate what is right or wrong in the first place. (I.e., Patagonia believes hurting the environment is bad, so they change the design or manufacturing process of a product if that will then avoid hurting the environment.) There is also evidence that Patagonia has utilitarian leanings, because they seek to do the greatest good for the greatest number of people, but on the condition that it satisfies their environmental-protection agenda as well (Shaw, p.56-58). And of course, Patagonia’s efforts to be socially-responsible reflect Kant’s theory of “Humanity as an End, Never as Merely a Means,” especially in their attempt to have as responsible-as-possible working conditions for their employees and extended factory workers, illustrating their strong belief that as humans “[w]e must always act in a way that respects [the] humanity in others and in ourselves” (Patagonia; Environmental Initiatives 2008, p. 17 and Shaw, p. 64).

Conclusion

In reviewing Patagonia’s core values and mission statement, and seeing how they dedicate concerted time and resources to upholding that mission by being extremely transparent in their operations and going to great lengths to stay at the helm of environmental sustainability and social responsibility in business, it becomes easier to understand how and why Patagonia charges top-dollar for top-quality merchandise. The consumer pays more for the Patagonia product, because ultimately Patagonia gives back to the planet and the people we all need, know, and cherish. Since their humble beginnings until today, Patagonia has worked toward an ethically-strong, stable business, returning money and resources to its employees, its community, and to its planet. The Patagonia label is a mark of not only the highest in quality, but also the highest in moral standards.

References

Patagonia; corporate social responsibility. Retrieved February 8, 2009, from http://www.patagonia.com/web/us/patagonia.go?assetid=37492

Patagonia; environmental initiatives 2008. Retrieved February 8, 2009, from http://www.patagonia.com/pdf/en_US/Environmental_Grants_2008.pdf

Patagonia; environmentalism: leading the examined life. Retrieved February 8, 2009, from http://www.patagonia.com/web/us/contribution/patagonia.go?assetid=23429

Patagonia; 1% for the planet. Retrieved February 8, 2009, from http://www.patagonia.com/web/us/patagonia.go?assetid=1960&ln=32

Rarick, C. A. & Feldman, L. S. (2008). Patagonia: climbing to new highs with a smaller carbon footprint. Journal of the International Academy for Case Studies, Vol. 14 Issue 7, p121-124, 4p. Retrieved from Business Source Complete database (accession number 32513701).

Shaw, W.H., & Barry, V. (2007). Moral issues in business. United States: Thomson Wadsworth.

SourceWatch Encyclopedia. Retrieved February 8, 2009, from http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Greenwashing

Stamas, M. (2009). Weaving profits from values. Rocky Mountain Institute. Retrieved February 8, 2009, from http://www.rmi.org/sitepages/pid537.php

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CASE STUDY: THE ETHICAL ENTITY OF PATAGONIA, INC.
Prepared By Heather Rogers Thompson
Prepared For Personal Ethics in Organization
(For undergraduate class at Marylhurst University)
February 8, 2009