Yvon Chouinard has scaled new heights around the world from his announcement of Patagonia’s new ownership to a trust and a collective which will fight climate change. He stays on the Board, perhaps belaying this experiment.
Those of us in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties know him, his heart and the company well via the original Tin Shack where Yvon crafted new ‘clean-climbing’ aids and the main office next to the shack, Great Pacific Iron Works store in Ventura.
The Sept. 15 announcement became the most talked-about subject among business leaders, the media and social media.
“Locals welcomed the announcement though they weren't surprised. Patagonia has bucked tradition throughout its history and championed environmental causes in Ventura and beyond,” wrote the Ventura County Star, then quoting Assemblyman Steve Bennett D-Ventura).
"Their consistency in using their entrepreneur skills to improve the planet is and has inspired so many people that the ripple effect will go on for many generations," Bennett said. "From the beginning, they've had this vision that it's about more than making money. It's about what are you making money for? It's to protect this natural world we have that we're all dependent on."
"A cheer went up in the car," she was driving with colleagues, said Melissa Baffa, Executive Director of the Ventura Land Trust, which has accepted grants from Patagonia and other professional opportunities. "We just are definitely excited, thrilled. Patagonia has always been such a great model for doing well and doing good. We all looked at that as a really positive move by them and wish that other companies would follow suit."
Melinda and Yvon Chouinard and family transferred all ownership to two new entities: Patagonia Purpose Trust and the Holdfast Collective. Most significantly, every dollar that is not reinvested back into Patagonia will be distributed as dividends to protect the planet
Here’s what Yvon said:
“It’s been a half-century since we began our experiment in responsible business. If we have any hope of a thriving planet 50 years from now, it demands all of us doing all we can with the resources we have."
“As the business leader I never wanted to be, I am doing my part. Instead of extracting value from nature and transforming it into wealth, we are using the wealth Patagonia creates to protect the source. We’re making Earth our only shareholder. I am dead serious about saving this planet.”
Ryan Gellert, CEO of Patagonia said: “Two years ago, the Chouinard family challenged a few of us to develop a new structure with two central goals. They wanted us to both protect the purpose of the business and immediately and perpetually release more funding to fight the environmental crisis. We believe this new structure delivers on both and we hope it will inspire a new way of doing business that puts people and planet first.”
