What Is Patagonia Achieve Social Responsibility?

The primary purpose of this essay uses persuasive writing to get her point across. Informing the reader about the eco dangers of buying outsourced clothing material. Most people often want the cheaper alternative without going to the flea market or charity clothing banks. But all the clothes get worn down, shrink, fade or just deteriorate in the end because the fabric is unsustainable. Resulting in the t-shirts and jeans to be tossed away and put into a landfill. Where they have been found to transmite “more than three million tons of carbon dioxide emissions”. (Siegle, 7)

Patagonia’s diverse product line combined with an increase in the interest in sustainability will help retain current customers and acquire new ones. “Use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis” (Patagonia, 2017). From their mission statement, this provides a clear and concise message of the company’s intention. The “more down jackets and cotton fleeces the company sells, the more it can do for the planet” (The Drum,

Robert Swan once said “the greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.” Two companies that understand this concept are Patagonia and Nike. How they address these issues regarding sustainable business practice vary, however. Both have made it their mission to deliver excellence and make the best quality products within their industries, Patagonia focussing more on outdoor active wear, while Nike is more sports oriented. Part of this process has been developing products from sustainable sources. Patagonia, for example, actively took a stand against chemical intensive cotton in 1994, and has since switched to less harmful means of organic cotton within all their cotton-based products. They are even going the extra

80 billion clothing items are produced every year. About two million tons of clothes is thrown away every year. The clothes often cannot be resold due to lack of quality. Only about 10% of clothes are resold. ¾ of the clothing’s manifested from fast fashion labels will end up in a land fill after a year after it is put out for consumers to buy.

In this article, Barenblat outlines some of the key reasons as to why fast fashion is detrimental for women and the environment. The author supports her claim by suggesting fast fashion is expensive for the planet, encourages young women in poverty to work in sweatshops, and leads to million tons of landfill each year. This information in the article is useful because it provides relevant statistics on the damages caused by the clothing industry.

Nordstrom has continued to improve their dedication to the environment, steps such as: reducing carbon dioxide released into the air, using organic cottons and investing time and money into the discovery of more sustainable fabric clarification. Although many of these steps may seem like obvious choices so many large companies are still struggling to make the leap nordstrom has shown in these areas. The hunt for more sustainable fabrics is in hopes to lower the unlawfully logged forests and continue to encourage other brands, which they outsource from to be aware of how and where their fabric materials are made. The ethical decision to improve their own environmental practices and inspire other brands to do the same shows they care about the recent changes in society and are willing to form to these

In the book, Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion, Elizabeth Cline, a journalist and the author, writes about the lack of ability of disposal we currently possess for the massive amounts of textile waste. She wrote, “The rate of disposal is not keeping up with the availability of places to put everything that we're getting rid of and that's the problem." Millions of tons of textile waste are generated globally per year. There are many efforts to cut down the amount of waste by recycling, shredding, and exporting to developing nations. According to the United Nations, The US is the leading exporter of second-hand clothes. Very poor nations like India benefit greatly from imported second-hand clothing. These methods to cut back on textile waste are proven to work, but they don’t solve the problem, they just lessen it. Part of the problem with fast fashion and textile waste is that many of the clothes being mass produced are made out of cheap petroleum-based fibers. H&M received a lot of backlash for this, spurring them to release a more eco-friendly line of clothing, using organic cotton.

Patagonia’s value proposition is based on embedding environmental sustainability in every business decision it makes. Its core strategy is differentiation by focusing on durability and quality of products whilst minimising its carbon footprint and use of synthetic ingredients (what). The business model revolves around developing innovative technologies and influencing competitors and suppliers alike to adopt environmentally-friendly processes (how). Commitment to these causes while maintaining quality has allowed it to develop a loyal customer base amongst high income groups and athletes (who) and significantly increase customer’s willingness to pay.

I know what you’re thinking, because it's exactly what I thought: ‘How does fashion have anything to do with sustainability?’ It's easy to think that your sustainable just by putting your food scraps in the compost or recycling your plastics, but in reality it goes much further than that. It’s true that sustainability starts in the home but, all too often it slips our mind the impact our clothing has on the environment.

Finally is Part IV of the book, “My T-shirt Finally Encounters a Free Market.” This section deals with what happens to the clothes after they are discarded, usually through donation to Goodwill or The Salvation Army. In fact, American donations to these kinds of organizations have increased so much that they have begun exporting the recycled clothing, “nearly 7 billion pounds” (Rivoli 176), to other countries. The recycled industry has actually created jobs in Africa as America’s old clothes are

By recycling, people save half or more of the money they spend a year. An example is instead of buying a new case of water bottles every week, you can reuse them, which saves you more money that you can spend on things that you do need. In the article, the author stated, “Choosing sustainable materials for a product, streamlining the production process, and reducing the need for packaging all result in significant cost savings for the manufacturer.” This statement supports the fact that you should support recycling because it saves you money because the author explains that by recycling businesses save

Being a member company of several environmental organizations, Patagonia commits 1% of their total sales or 10% of their profit, whichever is more, to environmental groups. Patagonia often features their environmental campaigns in their catalogs and advertisements and encourages customers to stay away from their products by placing high price tags on them in attempt to save the environment. With the intent of Patagonia’s products to last upwards of ten years, Patagonia started a program called “Worn Wear”, in which customers can trade in old Patagonia clothing that is still in good condition and

Ultimately, my goal is to accomplish an innovative way to recycle my former clothing, become more environmentally friendly, and save money. My aim is to have a complete product by the end of the year. I plan to conduct the project at the comfort of my home. I wish to reduce my ecological footprint because it is vital that humans should be as sustainable as possible to keep the world running. I perceive this as a wise investment; this way I can invest by not consistently buying from expensive stores or brands that approve immoral practices, in example, child labor. I hope that I gain a greater appreciation for the world and the privileges it has given me.

Although their unconventional business approach can in no way be exactly measured to determine the effectiveness of it, the company succeeds at making the experience of purchasing one of their products special because the consumer knows they are getting a high quality product that was made in a environmentally friendly process. This unique positioning that Patagonia has in the outdoor apparel market, allows it to sell its products two to three times the average price of their competitors like Uniqlo. What differentiates Patagonia from its main competitors, The North Face Company and Columbia Sportswear, is that Patagonia has found and connected with a niche market that wants not only a high quality product but also a product that was made in an environmentally sustainable

Generations ahead of us only had a tiny wardrobe, where clothes were not washed every day. In our generation, fast fashion is in. It’s ok to have multiple shirts or shoes of the same color. It’s actually ok to throw away unwanted apparel. Apparel companies are beginning to focus on sustainable fashion, also known as eco fashion. Apparel, fashion, and textiles is the most polluting industry in the world. Every stage, that a garment goes through, uses up and threatens our resources.