If you want to fall in love with a corporate big-wig pick Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard.
On November 9, 1938, Yvon Chouinard was born into a French American family in Maine. In 1947 the family moved to Southern California. Chouinard was an avid rock and ice climber. And in 1957, the self-taught blacksmith bought a second-hand forge with which he made hardened steel pitons. These he sold out of the back of his car to finance his passion for climbing and surfing.
With a partner, Tom Frost (how apt), he founded Chouinard Equipment Ltd, which made various climbing tools. However, the bulk of the company's revenue, 70%, was generated by these steel pitons. But by 1970, it became clear that the pitons were damaging the rocks. And he discontinued production. It is the measure of the man that he valued the environment over profits.
After an early foray into the clothing business — he sold rugby shirts he had bought in Scotland — he founded Patagonia in May 1973. The company originally made clothes for climbers but it soon branched out until it supplied products for a range of outdoor activities.
From the get-go, Chouinard established Patagonia to be environmentally conscious and employee-friendly. By 1984 the company had established an on-site, mostly vegetarian, cafeteria. It also provided on-site child care.
Starting in 1986, Chouinard committed 1% of the company’s annual revenues or 10% of profits - whichever was more - to environmental activism. In 2002 he founded “1% for the Planet” to handle this commitment.
In 1996 after coming to understand the large environmental footprint of corporate cotton, the company opted to use more expensive but environmentally friendlier organic cotton.
Later the company established its “Wornwear” line. Customers could return any Patagonia product for company credit. The used clothes were refurbished, cleaned, and resold at a discount. The company also removed the corporate logo from its merchandise because it created a weak spot in the garments - shortening their lifespan
As he grew older - he is now 83 - he contemplated the future of the company. He did not want to sell it because he could not guarantee the new owners would maintain its activism. He did not want to take the company public, as chasing quarterly profits would compromise its goals. So he decided to donate the company, lock stock, and barrel to a climate-focused trust and a group of nonprofit organizations.
As he explained in a statement outlining his thinking,
Here’s how it works: 100% of the company’s voting stock transfers to the Patagonia Purpose Trust, created to protect the company’s values; and 100% of the nonvoting stock had been given to the Holdfast Collective, a nonprofit dedicated to fighting the environmental crisis and defending nature. The funding will come from Patagonia: Each year, the money we make after reinvesting in the business will be distributed as a dividend to help fight the crisis.
The estimated dividend is around $100 million a year.
There are relatively generous billionaires such as Bill Gates and his foundation. And there are rat bastards like Jeff “Scrooge McDuck’ Bezos. But this is the first time I have heard of a billionaire giving it all away. I am sure the family has a couple of dollars squirreled away, and his children will keep drawing a salary — but you know what I mean.
So here’s to you, Yvon. You are a good man.