The Big Idea: We’re here for the long-term. That means we need to treat everyone well and make quality, long-lasting clothing.

• I started Patagonia to make better quality climbing gear for myself. Our profit margins were about 1%
• Patagonia branched out into clothing when I wore some local clothing and people started asking me where I got them. It was much more profitable.
• I make product decisions based on intuition, not data.
• “If you wait for the customer to tell you what to do, you’re too late.”
• We had to slow down growth because we wanted to grow only out of retained profits.
• I hated laying people off during one of our early recessions.
• Our earliest mistake was growing too fast.
• We fixed things by slowing things down and putting ourselves on a growth plan that aimed to make sure we were in business 100 years from now.
• Our advertising budget is tiny. Because we are private, we can grow as much or as little as we think is right.
• “There are two kinds of growth. One is where you grow stronger. The other is where you grow fatter.”
• We have the largest garment repair facility in North America. We’ll repair any Patagonia clothing forever. So that incentivizes us to make clothing that lasts (or can be easily repaired.)
• I studied Japanese and Scandinavian business and management models in search of a better way of doing business.
• Ant colonies don’t have bosses. Every ant knows what to do. We hire motivated, young, independent people and leave them alone.
• “Let my people go surfing.” I don’t care when you work as long as the job is done.
• Our employees are so independent they are almost unemployable anywhere else.
• We started a childcare and learning center at the company for employees. Why not?
• We’re not going to sell the company. We’re not going public.
• We’re here for the long-term. That means we need to treat everyone well and make quality, long-lasting clothing.
• You’re not going to beat Coca-Cola at their own game.
• But if you play a different game, you can win. Pick a game where there is little competition. Be creative. Break the rules.
• I never took a penny of investment. I still own 100% of the company.
• Patagonia reportedly did $750mm in sales last year.

https://one.npr.org/?sharedMediaId=504852483:505017995