By: AB G
Patagonia, a clothing company founded by the environmentalist Yvon Chouinard, will be under new management very soon. Chouinard has always had 1% of his profit going to environmentalist non-profits. Now that he is 83 years old, he wants to commit to his ideals even further and give away 98% of his company to the Holdfast Collective, an organization dedicated to ending global warming.
Yvon Chouinard is an American rock climber, environmentalist, philanthropist, and outdoor industry businessman. Chouinard has written articles about climbing problems, and other articles on mixing business and supporting the environment. Patagonia was the first company to give 1% of sales to an environmental company.
The Holdfast Collective is an organization that uses every single dollar they get to help support communities, fight global warming, and protect our world’s nature. Now that the Holdfast Collective owns 98% of Patagonia, the Patagonia Purpose Trust owns 2% of the company. This Patagonia Purpose Trust will be run by Chouinard’s family to make sure the company runs in the same way it normally does. The Holdfast Collective is getting 100% of the profit that Patagonia makes while the Patagonia Purpose trust will be controlling sales and new items.
“I feel a big relief that I’ve put my life in order,” Mr. Chouinard said. “Now I could die tomorrow and the company is going to continue doing the right thing for the next 50 years.”
Global warming is destroying our planet and we must make a movement quickly. Hotter temperatures, violent weather, wildfires, air pollution, and more have all made living on Earth even harder each day. Many children are getting effected by this, education will be interrupted because of these conditions. Even in the past two weeks, Hurricane Julia destroyed buildings including schools. Chouinard wants for our planet to be as safe and easy to live on as possible so donating his company will make a huge impact.
“Earth is now our only share holder. If we have any hope of a thriving planet- much less a business- it is going to take all of us doing what we can with the resources we have. This is what we can do,” wrote Yvon Chouinard.
Sources: https://www.patagonia.com/ownership/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yvon_Chouinard
https://newsforkids.net/articles/2022/09/15/owner-of-patagonia-gives-away-3-billion-company/