Yvon Chouinard Biography

In the late 1950s, Yvon began in business by designing, manufacturing, and distributing rock climbing equipment and this led to an improved ice axe that introduced the French ice climbing technique and it is the basis for modern ice axe design. In 1964, he produced his first mail order cataloga one page mimeographed sheet containing advice not to expect fast delivery during climbing season in 1964. Business grew slowly until 1972 when Yvon added rugby shirts to his catalog and his clothing business took off. Patagonias success was such that Yvon considered early retirement in the late 1980s where he would have preferred to disappear into the South Pacific with his fly rod and surfboard. However, he decided to continue directing Patagonias course, in part to use the company to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis. Patagonia instituted an Earth Tax, pledging 1% of sales to the preservation and restoration of the natural environment as part of his goal. In 2001, Yvon, along with Craig Mathews, owner of West Yellowstones Blue Ribbon Flies, started One Percent For The Planet, an alliance of businesses that contribute at least 1 percent of their net annual sales to groups on a list of researched and approved environmental organizations. Recognizing that 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. Patagonia opened an on-site cafeteria offering healthy, mostly vegetarian food, and started providing on-site child care in 1984. The commitment included paying employees working on local environmental projects so they could commit their efforts full-time. The 1972 Chouinard catalog was influential in ushering in the clean climbing movement in North America. It was more of a collection of essays than a catalog, per se. In the early 1990s, an environmental audit of Patagonia revealed the surprising result that cotton was the worst product for the environment. Chouinard committed the company to using all pesticide-free cotton in 1994, and this demand created the organic cotton industry in California. Yvon spends most of his time outdoors and serving on the boards of numerous environmental groups. According to him, “I work every day of my life. My job is to be the outside man, studying lifestyles around the world, coming up with ideas for new products, new market trends, seeing that Patagonia stays relevant in a rapidly changing world.”

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