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Sport clothing firm works to sustain environment
4:45 p.m., March 13, 2007--Jill Dumain, director of environmental analysis at Patagonia, a sport clothing company, lectured on “Patagonia's Journey toward Environmental Sustainability,” Monday evening, March 13, in Clayton Hall. Dumain's lecture, part of UD's Department of Fashion and Apparel Studies “Fashioning Social Responsibility” lecture series, addressed Patagonia's efforts to maintain both the environment and the quality of its clothing. Dumain said Patagonia wants its clients to focus on their own performance and not on the performance of the clothing. “To do that, it takes a lot of coatings, a lot of finishes, a lot of chemicals and a lot of processing,” Dumain said. “And that's really our journey toward sustainability. It's 'How do we manage all this in an environmental way that's not being a detriment to the Earth?' That's a really huge statement. As a company and business, everything we do has an impact, and we need to work to minimize that.” Using a slideshow, Dumain showed the audience pictures of her recent trip to Chile with other Patagonia employees. Dumain said the company recently partnered with a nonprofit in the Patagonia region in Chile to combine former sheep ranching land and two national reserves into a national park. In Chile, Dumain and her colleagues tore down fences and collected and planted the seeds of indigenous plants to encourage native growth. Dumain said her trip was part of an internship program Patagonia offers its employees to encourage activism. The company will pay an employees' salary up to two months to work for a nonprofit that benefits the environment. Patagonia began in California in the 1960s when Yvon Chouinard borrowed $825.25 from his parents to buy blacksmith equipment. Passionate about climbing, Chouinard began making and selling rock climbing equipment in the 1970s but changed his approach after realizing its destructive effect on the rocks, Dumain said, adding Chouinard's concern for the environment is still evident in the company's own business methods. “Everything [Chouinard] had been selling up to that point, he suddenly took a step back and said there's a different way that we can do things, still without compromising quality but having a better impact on the environment,” she said. “That is an important strength that builds the foundation of Patagonia and who we are and how we build clothing.” Dumain said her work is mostly focused on the company's “ecological footprint.” Its campaign “Getting Our House in Order” explains to customers the company's efforts to minimize its impact on the environment by putting facts in a context their clients will understand in hopes of inspiring change. Dumain said Patagonia does its part for the environment by operating on wind power in California and at a few national retail stores. Ten percent of the company's corporate headquarters is run by solar power and employees are given rebates when they purchase hybrid cars. She said Patagonia's customer service center in Reno, Nev., was recently awarded Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) gold certification, meaning the building is recognized for sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality. Dumain said the company's products also reflect its dedication to the environment. Patagonia began making polyester out of recycled soda bottles, Dumain said, and while the company orginially could only make lime-green clothing with this process, a chemical recycling process later allowed for more colors and water repellent to be applied to the clothing. Patagonia also began recycling both its own clothing and the clothing of other companies to make new clothing and has calculated the energy saved using these processes. Since 1996, Patagonia has used organic cotton in its clothing. Dumain said she began talking to farmers and realized the company's decision to use organic cotton would have an impact on their health and economic security as well as an environmental impact. “It's extremely motivating as you start to get to know these people and understand their stories and the impact that you have sitting in a desk somewhere in an office,” she said. “You can make a decision that really impacts these people's lives.” Hemp, organic wool and Tagua Nut buttons were environmentally conscious but not financially successful endeavors, Dumain said, and the company uses its catalog to explain its choices, its impact on the environment and to gauge consumer response. Since 1985, Dumain said the company has donated $25 million out of its $260 million profit to environmental causes and educational campaigns, which is significant due to the relative size of the company. Its current campaigns, such as “Oceans as Wilderness,” can anger customers who want more focus on the clothing, Dumain said, but the company employees enjoy the passion the campaigns incite. “That's a big part of our mission statement,” she said. “We want to inspire activists. We want people to get involved in environmental endeavors. Clothing just happens to be the way that we do it.” The lecture was cosponsored by UD's Lerner College of Business and Economics. Article by Julia Parmley, AS '07 |
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