Falconry, Rock climbing, surfing, and blacksmithing. These are arguably 4 of the coolest, and most diverse activities for one man to do. They are not only ‘activities’, they are skills—they require a great deal of attention and respect. A young man from Maine moved to Southern California in the late 40’s where he became obsessed with the training of hunting falcons. In this obsession he found himself doing a lot of climbing and repelling after he was taught by one of his instructors, Don Prentice, at Southern California Falconry Club. His obsession with falconry quickly evolved into rock climbing. He and his friends began climbing viciously, whenever they weren’t surfing.
This man is Yvonne Chouinard, a weathered, free-spirit—“a conqueror of the useless” as he liked to say, who loves the earth and taking advantages of its natural adrenaline rushes. Yvonne called himself and other rock climbers and surfers because of the absence of reward. Nobody wins an award for climbing a mountain or riding a wave, its a revolution of the mind and soul. In his excessive climbing, Chouinard found that he needed a special metal tool called a ‘piton’, that was hammered in to vertical rock, to allow for a foothold to get to higher elevations. At the time he didn’t know much, other than the fact that he needed a lot of pitons. He bought a furnace and began dabbling in blacksmithing. Soon he developed a knack for it and his friends became interested. Thus, a company was born, Chouinard Equipment, Ltd. In between surfing and climbing, Yvonne sold his pitons out of the back of his car in Yosemite Valley. This was 1957, also known as the golden age of climbing and Yosemite valley’s, El Capitan was the climb of the century. In other words, Yvonne made a profit, at least, enough to make more pitons. So once again he set out to climb mountains and sell pitons. After traveling to across the United States and up into Canada, Yvonne needed to once again, evolve. He had to come up with a way to climb without damaging the mountain with pitons. After a few trials he created Hexentrics—chocks. Hexentrics (chocks) are options that do not require hammering or any damage to the rock, all one has to do is fit the rope attached to the metal hex bolt and push it into a crevice as far as it can go and pull straight back. This creates a wedge in the crevice, allowing for a rope to be secured to the rope loop attached to the chock. This idea spread like wildfire in the climbing community and soon Yvonne Chouinard didn’t have the time to fill all his orders so naturally he went in to business with Tom Frost, who was an aeronautical engineer, and they invested in a few machines to speed up Hexentric production.
By the year 1970 Yvonne Chouinard was the top climbing gear producer in the United States. Not long after this he started making clothing that lived up to the same standards as his equipment that suited all of his eccentric activities. By the 1980’s, the company had grown and multiple people contributed to the dream that is now one of the most sought after clothing manufacturers in the country; Chouinard Equipment, Ltd no longer properly represented everyone involved and a name change was at hand. Many names were considered for the renaming of Chouinard Equipment, Ltd but only one worked for the overall theme and goal for the company: Patagonia in Ventura, California 1973. It needed a signature—a mark that set it superior to its competitor. First, it was propylene but after some beta tests, the company made the switch to Capilene and Synchilla. Sales proliferated. After being named Inc. Magazine’s list of the fastest-growing privately held companies in 1991, Patagonia had to lay off 20% of its staff to pay off debts but since then has had no business hiccups and has only been involved in legal; trouble in one instance— that is Patagonia v. Donald Trump, although this was merely a rumor.
The company switched to solar power in 1996 cutting 60% of its greenhouse emissions and carbon footprint out. and has backed, donated and funded multiple foundations for safe and healthy environment progression. In the same year the company began making all of their clothes with 100% organic cotton, hemp, and wool. Since then, Patagonia and Yvonne Chouinard have been making 100% organic, natural sport clothing and gear for men, women, kids, and babies. It offers jackets, shirts, sweatshirts, sweaters, shorts, pants, base layers, hats, swimsuits, underwear, socks, shoes, wetsuits, waders, skirts, and dresses; gear and packs, such as messenger bags, laptop bags, suitcases, backpacks, duffel bags, and water bottles; and down jackets and vests, fleeces, rain jackets, used clothing and gear, and books. Patagonia also provides clothing and gear for hiking, skiing/snowboarding, traveling, rock & alpine climbing, fly fishing, surfing, and trail running needs. Its target market is athletes, travelers, sportsmen and adventurers of all kinds and Patagonia is available through its retail stores in Connecticut, California, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, Maine, Massachusetts, Montana, Nevada, New York, Texas, Oregon, Utah, and Washington, as well as online retailers. Its competitors include Doug Tompkins, The North Face, who is and always has been a great friend of Yvonne, as a matter of fact they scaled Monte Fitz Roy together which is the inspiration behind Patagonia’s logo which features the mountain set in a red, purple, and orange background. Other competitors include Woolwich, and Colombia.
Since 1996 the company has sworn to donate 1% of all profits to environmental protection causes and charities which today, adds up to $76 million dollars! The company has remained private throughout its entire life and intends to stay that way for its mission has always been and always will be freedom, respect, quality, and to conquer the useless. Yvonne Chouinard and what is now Patagonia, made what started out as a garage-based blacksmithing company in Ventura, California by a teenage falconer has, over the last 40 plus years, blossomed into a $210 million dollar outdoor clothing and equipment company that continues to fight for environmental purity and safety and will always produce a product thats reliable and worth buying.
The company is constantly innovating and evolving the new technologies of climbing, camping, and being outdoors. With over 2,000 employees the company hopes to delete greenhouse gasses in the manufacturing of clothing and equipment and believes that will continue to thrust them into further progression. Not only do they want their own facilities green, they want all of the businesses they work with to be green too. The environmental and social responsibility of the company is the catalyst of Patagonia’s existence. The ability to make something that lasts forever is amazing but it cant be possible if the earth doesn’t last forever so natural production means natural products in turn saving the grand producer: Mother Earth. Not only is Patagonia dead set on saving the planet, they have a vengeance with quality. They are constantly finding new ways to incorporate science into their clothes. Each year they try to release a new type of either clothing or equipment technology whether it be against the heat, the cold, rain, mud, and even fire. Sometimes they tweak already popular models to a little more up-to-date fabric or stitching. I personally own multiple articles of clothing from this company and I will surely be purchasing more in years to come and fortunately their clothes last a very very long time so I never have to worry about losing a discontinued line. Patagonia Inc. is the leader in outdoor apparel and equipment and they have proved for almost 5 decades that they are here to stay and they wont be held to a standard. They are the standard.