The founder of outdoor clothing retailer Patagonia announced Wednesday that its profits would all go toward fighting climate change and conserving land.
Yvon Chouinard said the company was now in the Patagonia Purpose Trust and the Holdfast Collective, a nonprofit.
The trust will oversee operations of the company and its commitment to the environment and social cause.
The nonprofit will invest all of the company’s profits into environmental projects. Chouinard’s two children, Claire and Fletcher, will oversee the nonprofit.
????EXCLUSIVE: Yvon Chouinard, who founded the outdoor apparel maker Patagonia and became a reluctant billionaire with his unconventional spin on capitalism, has given away the company. All Patagonia’s profits will now be used to fight climate change.????https://t.co/22q91WK2Hz
— David Gelles (@dgelles) September 14, 2022
“Earth is now our only shareholder,” reads the company’s website.
In a letter posted on the Patagonia site, Chouinard writes he decided on this path after he considered selling the company and donating the all the money or taking the company public — both of which were deemed bad options.
“Instead of ‘going public,’ you could say we’re ‘going purpose.’ Instead of extracting value from nature and transforming it into wealth for investors, we’ll use the wealth Patagonia creates to protect the source of all wealth,” he writes.
Chouinard adds the planet needs others to follow suit to truly make a difference.
“If we have any hope of a thriving planet — much less a thriving business — 50 years from now, it is going to take all of us doing what we can with the resources we have.
“Despite its immensity, the Earth’s resources are not infinite, and it’s clear we’ve exceeded its limits. But it’s also resilient. We can save our planet if we commit to it.”
