Welcome to the 113th insertion of DEMUR®, an analytical series highlighting the intricacies of the artistic world and the minutiae lying within. In this episode we meet Yvon Chouinard, a man who vowed to change our perceptions of sustainability in fashion.
On Wednesday, news broke as Yvon Chouinard, the man who founded Patagonia half a century ago, sold his shares to combat the ever-nearing climate change crisis. For those that know Mr.Chouinard, this move was rather unsurprising, being just one of the many noble acts he’s presented to the world in pursuit of sustainability.
Here’s how it works; with uncertainty that a new owner wouldn’t abolish Patagonia’s core values in a future tense, Chouinard and his team have developed their own solution to a seemingly unsolvable problem. Coined the “Patagonia Purpose Trust”, 100% of the company’s voting stock will be transferred to this entity, void of any beneficiaries to preserve an untouched agenda.
In addition, the remaining non-voting stock has been given to the Holdfast collective, a recently founded nonprofit who shares the same heroic values. From here, after reinvestments have been made to upkeep Patagonia as a brand, profits, which sit among the $100 millions, will be distributed as dividends to further aid the fight.
The trust will be overseen by family members and the brand’s closest advisors, ensuring the label retains worker well-being and climate action ethos. In Yvon Chounard’s words, “Earth is now our only shareholder”, a long-awaited statement built on the back of laborious hours of negotiations.
The deal began in mid-2020 as Chuinard became increasingly eager to step back from the limelight, an ironic sentiment from a man without a laptop or cell phone. Nonetheless, Ryan Gellert, Patagonia’s chief-executive tells us, “One day he said to me, ‘Ryan, I swear to God, if you guys don’t start moving on this, I’m going to go get the Fortune magazine list of billionaires and start cold calling people”
Realizing he was serious, the team began looking to potential solutions in secret, now finally exempt from the $3 billion company.
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