40-573: Yvon Chouinard (born November 9, 1938) is an American rock climber, environmentalist, and businessman. His company, Patagonia , sells outdoor products, outerwear, and food. He was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in 2023. Chouinard's father was a French-Canadian handyman, mechanic, and plumber. In 1947, Yvon and his family moved from Lewiston, Maine to Southern California. They were Catholic . His early climbing partners included Royal Robbins and Tom Frost . A Sierra Club member, in his youth he founded
80-579: A circular economy strategy in their product design . In 2021, Patagonia announced that it would no longer produce its clothing with added corporate logos to improve garment life-spans. In December 2021, the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights filed a criminal complaint in a Dutch court against Patagonia and other brands, alleging that they benefited from the use of forced Uyghur labor in Xinjiang , China . On 10 June 2023,
120-581: A Dutch investigative journalism platform, Follow the Money , published an article about Patagonia's use of the same factories that fast-fashion brands use such as Decathlon and Primark . Workers in these factories work in far worse conditions than the standard that Patagonia publicly set. In the MAS Holdings factories in Sri Lanka, it is not uncommon for them to work shifts of 14 hours. Patagonia uses
160-524: A big factor in the birth of big-wall climbing from 1957 to 1960 in Yosemite. The success of his pitons caused him to found Chouinard Equipment, Ltd. In the late 1960s, Chouinard and business partner Tom Frost began studying ice climbing equipment, and re-invented the basic tools ( crampons and ice axes) to perform on steeper ice. These new tools and his book Climbing Ice (1978) started the modern sport of ice climbing . Around 1970, he became aware that
200-755: A group of former company employees led by (now former CEO) Peter Metcalf, and a few outside investors. Metcalf moved the company and its 45 employees from Ventura, California to the Salt Lake City , Utah area in September 1991 to be closer to the climbing and skiing opportunities provided by the Wasatch Mountains . In 1996, Black Diamond Equipment Europe was established in Reinach , Switzerland, making Black Diamond products more widely available throughout Europe. In 2006, Black Diamond Equipment Asia
240-733: A method developed by the Anker Research Institute to determine the height of a livable wage. In these factories in Sri Lanka, the workers get paid less than half of this wage. According to Patagonia, they have no control over the wages and conditions in the factories, as they do not own them. In 2012, Patagonia created a new division called Patagonia Provisions to produce food products. This began with packaged salmon, but then expanded to tinned fish , dried fruits, jerkies, and other packaged goods popular with outdoors enthusiasts. Since 1985, Patagonia has committed 1% of its total sales to environmental groups through One Percent for
280-517: A small ice axe head called a Climaxe. In 1989, Chouinard Equipment, Ltd. filed for bankruptcy protection in order to protect it from liability lawsuits. The hard assets of Chouinard Equipment, Ltd. were acquired by its employees through the Chapter 11 process, and the company was reestablished as Black Diamond Equipment , Ltd. Chouinard is most known for founding the clothing and gear company Patagonia . Chouinard started to sell clothes by chance as
320-811: A son (Fletcher) and a daughter (Claire), both of whom work for Patagonia. In 2021, Yvon Chouinard received an honorary degree from Bates College . Other sources Patagonia (clothing) Patagonia, Inc. is an American retailer of outdoor recreation clothing, equipment, and food. It was founded by Yvon Chouinard in 1973 and is based in Ventura, California . Patagonia operates stores in more than 10 countries globally, as well as factories in 16 countries. Yvon Chouinard, an accomplished rock climber, began selling hand-forged mountain climbing gear in 1957 through his company Chouinard Equipment. He worked alone selling his gear until 1965, when he partnered with Tom Frost in order to improve his products and address
360-494: A way to support his moderately profitable equipment business. In 1970 on a trip to Scotland, he purchased some rugby shirts and sold them with great success. From this small start, the Patagonia company developed a wide selection of rugged technical clothing. According to Chouinard, the intent of Patagonia is to make clothes for people under the rugged, southern Andes/Cape Horn conditions of places like Patagonia. Recognizing that
400-507: Is a manufacturer of equipment for climbing, skiing, and mountain sports , based in Utah , United States. The company also has a global office in Innsbruck , Austria. The company is owned by Clarus Corporation, which also owns Pieps and ClimbOn! Skincare. Black Diamond Equipment's history dates from the late 1950s, when climber Yvon Chouinard began hand-forging pitons and selling them from
440-577: Is cleaned, repaired and sold on its "Worn Wear" website. In 2019, it launched a program named ReCrafted that creates and sells clothing made from scraps of fabric coming from used Patagonia gear. The program promotes longer life spans for their clothing by providing sewing videos and/or the help of professionals via events in both the United States and Europe. As of 2019, the firm aims to become carbon neutral by 2025. Patagonia provides lifetime product guarantees and offers repairs. It also uses
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#1732779630263480-456: Is the greater. The commitment included paying employees working on local environmental projects so they could commit their efforts full-time. In the early 1990s, an environmental audit of Patagonia revealed the surprising result (at the time), that corporate cotton , although it was a natural material, had a heavy environmental footprint. In 1996, Chouinard committed the company to using all organic cotton. In 2002, Yvon Chouinard founded 1% for
520-516: The Antiquities Act of 1906 , it did not give any president the power to reverse a prior president's monument designations. In July 2020, Patagonia suspended its advertising on Facebook and Facebook's photo-sharing app, Instagram , as part of the "Stop Hate for Profit" campaign, which some U.S. civil rights organizations launched because they believed the social networking company was doing too little to curb hate speech on its sites. In
560-690: 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 sued 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 then-CEO, Rose Marcario, contends that when Congress passed
600-531: 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 ." 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
640-576: The Patagonia Purpose Trust, a trust overseen by the Chouinard family and advisors. Chouinard's stated goal was for profits to be used to address climate change and protect land. All nonvoting stock was transferred to Holdfast Collective, a 501(c)(4) organization . The move allows Chouinard to avoid taxation on the gift of the nonvoting shares since it was to a nonprofit holding company, while effectively maintaining control of
680-570: The Planet and Patagonia became the first business to commit 1% of annual sales to the environment. In 2014, Patagonia supported the advocacy documentary film DamNation , which is about changing attitudes in America towards its dams. Chouinard was the executive producer of the film, and he was also featured in the film commenting about dams. In 2018, in acknowledgment that sustainability and responsible practices are core to Patagonia, Yvon Chouinard
720-435: The Planet , an organization of which Yvon Chouinard was a founding member. It has also used advertising campaigns to draw attention to the environmental impact of fashion , offers repairs on old products, and offers recycling or swapping . In 2016, Patagonia pledged to contribute 100% of sales from Black Friday to environmental organizations, totaling $ 10 million. In June 2018, the company announced that it would donate
760-488: The Southern California Falconry Club, and it was his investigations of falcon aeries that led him to rock climbing. To save money and to make adaptations for the way he was climbing, he decided to make his own climbing tools by teaching himself blacksmithing, and eventually started a business. Chouinard was one of the leading climbers of the "Golden Age of Yosemite Climbing." He was one of
800-668: The basis of modern rock climbing. In 1961, he visited Western Canada with Fred Beckey , and made several important first ascents, including the North Face of Mount Edith Cavell ( Rockies ), the Beckey-Chouinard Route on South Howser Tower in the Bugaboos ( Purcell Mountains ), and the North Face of Mount Sir Donald ( Selkirk Mountains ). These climbs opened his eyes to the idea of applying Yosemite big-wall climbing techniques to mountain climbing, and his advocacy
840-409: The company acknowledged it was aware of "widespread concerns" about its "association" with Clarus Corporation chief executive Warren Kanders , who also leads Safariland, the company which manufactured the tear gas widely used against protesters. Activists have called for a boycott of Black Diamond over these ties, which has been embraced by various climbing-related organizations. Safariland announced
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#1732779630263880-638: The company via the affiliated trust's ownership of the voting stock. A gift tax of $ 17 million was assessed on the transfer of the voting stock. In 2007 and 2011, internal audits revealed that factories in Patagonia's production supply chain in Taiwan were involved in human trafficking , leading to company efforts to address the labor abuses. It was found in 2011 that Patagonia used unnatural water repellants to make their outerwear able to repel water effectively. These repellants have been found to be carcinogenic, however Patagonia continued to use them. Since this
920-556: The company, despite cannibalizing the sales of pitons, formerly his most important product. They applied for a U.S. patent on Hexentrics in 1974, and it was granted on April 6, 1976. These are still manufactured by Black Diamond Equipment . In the latter 1960s, Chouinard attempted a number of significant technological and technique changes to ice climbing after trips to the Alps in Europe and Sierra Nevada ice gullies in autumn. He removed
960-590: The divestiture of its crowd control products divisions, including tear gas, on June 9, 2020. The Clarus Corporation also faced criticism for a lack of diversity from pension fund giant CalPERS, who recommended in June 2020 that Clarus shareholders vote against re-electing executive chairman and largest shareholder Warren Kanders and two other board members. CalPERS owns 52,000 shares out of approximately 29,759,000 outstanding shares, or 0.175 percent. On June 9, 2020, Warren Kanders and other board members were re-elected to
1000-510: The financial success of the company provided the opportunity to also achieve personal goals, Chouinard committed the company to being an outstanding place to work, and to be an important resource for environmental activism. In 1984, Patagonia opened an on-site cafeteria offering "healthy, mostly vegetarian food," and started providing on-site child care. In 1986, Chouinard committed the company to " tithing " for environmental activism, committing one percent of sales or ten percent of profits, whichever
1040-405: The flex from crampons, making them more rigid for front-pointing. He drew the taper of a rock hammer into a point for better ice purchase. He increased the cross section of ice screws while also using lighter materials. He experimented with pick and blade issues with ice axes. Prior to this, much of ice climbing was seen as mere step cutting. He attempted to replace hand ice picks (climbing type) with
1080-481: The gate, and a steel insert in the carabiner's nose for added security. As is common in safety-equipment industries, Black Diamond have issued many product recalls following safety concerns. When the Instagram page of Black Diamond posted a black page in solidarity with anti–police violence protesters on June 5, 2020, in which Black Diamond pledged $ 250,000 to support access to the outdoors by athletes of color,
1120-632: The growing supply and demand issue he faced. In 1970, Chouinard obtained rugby shirts from Scotland that he wore while climbing because the collar kept the climbing sling from hurting his neck. Great Pacific Iron Works, Patagonia's first store, opened in 1973 in the former Hobson meat-packing plant at Santa Clara St. in Ventura, near Chouinard's blacksmith shop. In 1981, Patagonia and Chouinard Equipment were incorporated within Great Pacific Iron Works. In 1984, Chouinard changed
1160-695: The lead-up to the 2020 United States elections , Patagonia began including labels in clothing with the message "Vote the Assholes Out", targeting politicians who endorse climate change denial . On April 5, 2021, Patagonia pledged $ 1 million to the activist groups Black Voters Matter and the New Georgia Project, regarding voter registration laws in Georgia . [REDACTED] Media related to Patagonia (company) at Wikimedia Commons Black Diamond Equipment Black Diamond Equipment
1200-610: The mountain) with Dick Dorworth, Chris Jones , Lito Tejada-Flores, and Douglas Tompkins . Chouinard has also traveled and climbed in the European Alps and in Pakistan. In 1957, he bought a second-hand coal-fired forge, and started making hardened steel pitons for use in Yosemite Valley. Between time spent surfing and climbing, he sold pitons out of the back of his car to support himself. The improved pitons were
1240-842: The name of Great Pacific Iron Works to Lost Arrow Corporation. Patagonia has expanded its product line to include apparel targeted towards other sports, such as surfing. In addition to clothing, they offer other related products, including camping food . Its profits grew to $ 750m by 2015. By the late 2010s, branded Patagonia fleece vests became known for their use by financial executives, and in 2019, Patagonia announced that its distribution of branded products would focus on firms committed to environmental, social, and corporate governance initiatives. In September 2020, Patagonia announced that Rose Marcario would step down as its chief executive officer and be succeeded by Ryan Gellert. In September 2022, Chouinard transferred ownership of Patagonia (all of its voting stock , about 2% of total stock) to
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1280-545: The protagonists of the film made about this era: Valley Uprising (2014). He participated in the first ascent of the North America Wall in 1964 (with Royal Robbins , Tom Frost , and Chuck Pratt ), using no fixed ropes. The next year, his and TM Herbert's ascent of the Muir Wall on El Capitan improved the style of previous first ascents. Chouinard became the most articulate advocate of the importance of style,
1320-579: The state. Patagonia opposed then 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. On December 6, 2017, Patagonia sued
1360-565: The trunk of his car in Yosemite Valley. Chouinard's pitons quickly gained a reputation for quality, and Chouinard Equipment Ltd. was born soon after in Ventura, California . In early 1989, after several product-liability lawsuits and a continued lack of profitability, Yvon Chouinard placed the company in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Black Diamond was founded on December 1, 1989, when the assets of Chouinard Equipment Ltd. were purchased by
1400-494: The use of steel pitons made by his company was causing significant damage to the cracks of Yosemite. These pitons composed 70 percent of his income. In 1971 and 1972, Chouinard and Frost introduced new aluminum chockstones, called Hexentrics and Stoppers, along with the less successful steel Crack-n-Ups, and committed the company to the advocacy of the new tools and a new style of climbing called " clean climbing ." This concept revolutionized rock climbing and led to further success of
1440-545: The years, Black Diamond has acquired and integrated several gear companies into its line, including Bibler tents (1997), Ascension climbing skins (1999), and Franklin climbing products (1998). In 2010, they acquired Gregory Mountain Products, a manufacturer of backpacks, but later sold it to luggage maker Samsonite in 2014. Notable Black Diamond products include spring-loaded camming devices called Camalot and Magnetron carabiners, auto-locking carabiners that use magnets in
1480-1192: Was established in Zhuhai, China to serve as both a secondary manufacturing facility, as well as a global distribution hub. In May 2010, Black Diamond Equipment was acquired for $ 90 million by Clarus Corporation. The resulting corporation was renamed and is now publicly traded on the NASDAQ under the name CLAR. In 2015, Black Diamond announced they would be expanding their Utah manufacturing facility. In 2016, they announced they would be moving their European headquarters from Reinach to Innsbruck in Austria. Black Diamond Equipment design and manufacture products for climbing, skiing, and mountain sports. Climbing products include carabiners , quickdraws , harnesses , active and passive climbing protection , belay devices , helmets , ice tools and piolets, crampons , ice screws , bouldering pads , and big wall equipment. They also produce skiing and avalanche safety equipment. The company's mountain products include tents and shelters, lighting, trekking poles , and backpacks . Over
1520-496: Was found Patagonia has now changed what they use as water repellants, now finding only trace amounts of the carcinogens. In June 2016, Patagonia released a set of principles for the treatment of animals used to manufacture wool garments, as well as land-use practices and sustainability . In 2017, Patagonia created a trade-in and exchange program called Worn Wear. Through this program, merchandise in good condition can be returned for new merchandise credits. The used merchandise
1560-488: Was important to modern, high-grade alpinism . Also in 1961, he visited Shawangunk Ridge for the first time, freeclimbing the first pitch of Matinee (the hardest free climb done at Shawangunk Ridge at the time); and introducing chrome-molybdenum steel pitons to the area, which revolutionized climbing protection. In 1968, he climbed Cerro Fitzroy in Patagonia by a new route (The Californian Route, 3rd overall ascent of
1600-605: Was recognized with the Sierra Club 's top award, the John Muir Award . In 2022, Chouinard announced that he was donating ownership in Patagonia to a trust to ensure profits are used for addressing climate change . Chouinard's family retains control of the company's voting stock through the Patagonia Purpose Trust. In 1971, Chouinard met and married his wife, Malinda Pennoyer, who was an art and home economics student at California State University, Fresno . They have
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