The Modern CEO

By: Editor | November 04, 2008 | Profile

Yvon Chouinard
The Green Pioneer
Founder of Patagonia

Yvon Chouinard is one of the most influential members of the global environmental movement. Besides being the founder of outdoor apparel industry giant Patagonia, Chouinard has been an outspoken leader on a wide variety of issues ranging from business ethics to environmental activism. He is a first-rate rock climber, falconer, fisherman, writer and surfer.

Malibu Magazine: What is 180 South?
Yvon Chouinard: 180 South is a new film directed by Chris Malloy. In 1968, a bunch of my friends and I drove from California to the tip of South America. We surfed the entire Latin American coast, climbed volcanoes in Chile, pioneered a very difficult route in Argentina, and did a lot of environmental stuff along the way. About two years ago, Chris Malloy decided to duplicate the whole trip with some young guys, but instead of driving, they sailed down to Santiago, Chile, surfing and climbing along the way. Eventually Chris and the guys arrived at this large national park I’m involved with near Patagonia, and then I arrived and we all went surfing and rock climbing together. So, that’s the movie. They are still working on it.

What do you consider your greatest professional achievement at Patagonia.
When I think of achievements, I think of products. Patagonia has been in business since 1973, and I think the best product we ever produced is the wet suit. Right now, I would consider that our greatest achievement.

What motivates you every day to get up and continue working?
I have a responsibility. The whole planet is getting crapped on. It’s really going to hell in a hand basket. As an individual I feel pretty powerless, but as the owner of a very visible company, I have the ability to use the company to do something about it. If you just sit back and grumble and don’t do anything, I think you’ll end of up losing your soul. It would be like living in Nazi Germany and not plotting against the government.

Do you admire anyone in particular?
I’ve got a lot of heroes and they’ve all been explorers, pretty much anybody who did exploration in the 19th century. They were so far out compared to the people of today.

What can the average person do to help protect our environment?
I think the most important thing is, in this next election, that we make the decision to vote for the environment. Don’t vote for lower gas prices or any of that crap. Just make a decision that this is the right thing for the planet because we’re going to lose it if we don’t. There’s a direct relationship between how a politician votes on the environment and how honest he is. All the politicians are below 10 percent when voting for the environment. What does that say about the current system? They’re all crooks!

How often do you surf with your kids?
My daughter doesn’t really surf, she used to tandem surf. She was phenomenal at tandem, but now she doesn’t surf much. But my son, Fletcher, and I surf all the time.
How does it feel to incorporate your children into a company you founded more than 30 years ago?
I’m pretty proud of my kids. My daughter is one of our best designers, and my son is doing what I did with climbing hardware, but on the surfing side of things. Patagonia kind of reinvented every piece of climbing gear, and Fletcher is doing the same with surfboards. He’s using totally different materials than anyone else and making them stronger, lighter and nontoxic. I feel great about that. Both of my kids have really good eyes for what Patagonia is all about. They’re true guardians of our brand, and they call bullshit on any product that isn’t up to our standards.

Who is your favorite all-time athlete and why?
I don’t follow athletics.

What kind of music do you like?
I like a lot of different kinds of music. In the morning, I’ll check out the surf listening to Vivaldi. Every other kid is in his car listening to acid rock. I like some popular singers, but I’m very selective.

Patagonia is partially credited with creating the California organic cotton industry. How did that come to be?
It all happened during our environmental assessment years ago. We asked ourselves what we should be making clothes out of and what kind of fibers were the least damaging to the environment. At the time there were no books out on it, and we thought the worst cotton in the world had to be synthetic, but in reality, the worst was the industrially grown cotton because it used 25 percent of the world’s pesticides. We were under the impression that 100 percent cotton was better for the environment, but we were dead wrong. So, once we found that out, I gave the company 18 months to switch over to organic cotton. At the time, there was hardly any organic cotton and only a few people had tried it. Esprit had tried using organic cotton, but that failed. Vanity Fair tried it and they failed. A few more companies tried and failed, but we were absolutely committed. It wasn’t like, “Oh, let’s try it and if it doesn’t work, we can always go back.” We weren’t going back. Patagonia was putting 30 percent of our sales at risk if this didn’t work. So we worked with various organic farmers and suppliers, and we eventually pulled it off. It was a big deal, but we couldn’t have done it ourselves. We had to go into partnerships with a lot of different companies around the world to pull this off, but once we proved that it worked and that it was good for business then other companies started switching over by using some of these same suppliers. Now we have a thriving organic cotton industry. 

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