Host: Kinsey Grant
Guest: Ryan Gellert, CEO, Patagonia
Category: Biz & Tech | ♻️ Sustainability
Podcast’s Essential Bites:
[4:28] “The [sustainability] standards that exist at one point - we’ve gotta treat them as anything but static […]. And I think we’ve got a responsibility to […] continue to understand our footprint as an industry, as individual businesses. […] There is no endpoint in this movement towards lesser footprint or more sustainable business.”
[5:04] “So many companies throw out the term sustainable, either around the company or around individual initiatives. And I think that’s incredibly misleading. I think the reality for us is, after 47 years of doing everything we’ve known how to do to minimize our footprint, we’re still not a sustainable company. If anything, we’re a responsible one.”
[6:54] “I don’t think any of us (apparel companies) are there yet [in being truly sustainable]. But I do think it’s possible. I think it’s gonna require that we look at the footprint of the businesses we run, the people who are involved in making the product […], and I think ultimately, really committing to circular business processes. Not making product that people don’t need. Moving away from […] trying to trigger people to buy as entertainment - […] which I think is just fundamentally evil.”
[9:32] “Within the business, we have a really deep focus of building high quality multi-use product, using responsible and recycled materials and fair-trade certified sewing. We partner with our customers to help them keep and use our product longer, we have a lifetime guarantee on our product, we run America’s largest apparel repair center. [..] We give 1% of our revenue to small grassroots organizations. So, we are constantly just trying to figure out, how we can use our voice, our people, and all of the other resources we have to live up to our mission statement, which is: We’re in business to save our home planet.”
[12:29] “I don’t think that we want to build product, and take market share, and grow the business, just because we believe that we […] run our business more responsibly than our competitors. I think we really want to ensure that people that interact with Patagonia have a deeper sense of what we exist to do. And that they’re seeing themselves in partnership with that. And if that means or business gets smaller, then so be it.”
[22:30] “[Risking being environmentally irresponsible] is non-negotiable, [risking the longevity of the business] is. […] Patagonia from its very beginning has been an experiment in doing business differently.”
[24:11] “Proving that a business can do good, by doing well - I think that’s our biggest contribution so far.”
[28:04] “I think that the reasons [why there aren’t more companies like Patagonia], are two-fold. One is greed and the other is a lack of creativity.”
Rating: 🍎🍎🍎🍎
🎙️ Full Episode: Apple | Spotify
🕰️ 43 min | 🗓️ 12/17/2020
✅ Time saved: 41 min
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