The biggest climate culture news this week was from my least written about sector of culture… fashion. Now, those of you who know me probably know the reason for this. Fashion isn’t really my thing haha. However, from a young age, I was taught to appreciate just one “fashion house” — Patagucci. While often out of my family’s price range (hence the nickname), we knew Patagonia was quality clothing with an even higher quality mission.
This week, Patagonia shocked the world when they rolled out a new ownership structure that both keeps the company private and ups their charitable giving to climate causes. In essence, they’ve created a legal structure that allows them to remain a for-profit company but pour all excess profits into charitable giving. As the website says, “Earth is now our only shareholder.”
This change rocked the world for good reason — Patagonia has some serious cash. Nevertheless, much remains to be seen about how the program will be implemented. Anyone who cares about climate knows that we have to be skeptical of relying on the richest among us for solutions, which can sometimes be greenwashed or out of touch. However, I remain optimistic and was excited to see that Patagonia is once again pushing the boundaries. This is going to change the global idea of what it means to be a sustainable business, and that’s something we can all be proud of.