Design Stories
A Patagonia advanced R&D designer takes to the Swedish alpine to test out a new pack prototype—and a bold idea for rethinking multiday trail travel.
Perfluorinated chemicals, or PFAS, made for great waterproofing but are also a lasting, pervasive threat to our health. That’s why we spent nearly 15 years finding a way to make our gear without them that didn't compromise performance. For Spring 2025 and beyond, all our new styles are made without intentionally added PFAS.
What’s the secret to a really good pair of jeans? Comics journalist Sarah Mirk tells us what to look for and how to keep them in play longer.
When it comes to making more responsible jeans, our work is never done. And, of course, we leave the really dirty work to you.
6,000 words about dressing for alpine climbing you didn’t know you needed to know.
85% of Patagonia’s polyester this season is recycled. Using recycled polyester, rather than virgin petroleum polyester, reduced our seasonal carbon emissions by over 5,600 metric tons of CO₂e.
Eighty percent of the down we're using this season is recycled. The new down is Advanced GTDS Certified.
Patagonia has 73 styles using hemp this season. Cultivation of hemp replenishes vital soil nutrients, prevents erosion and requires no synthetic fertilizer.
There’s nothing more important than having waves a few minutes away.
What if we could wear our garbage? That’s the idea behind ReCrafted, our line of clothing made from the scraps of used garments collected at our Worn Wear facility in Reno. It’s premium, Patagonia, upcycled. A second life for products that might not otherwise get one. ReCrafted was created by Kourtney Morgan—the designer behind some…
She went to Italy to see how recycled wool is made and discovered that everything has an impact, including recycled.
Patagonia Designers on the ‘Celebrating Public Lands’ Collection
At Fletcher Chouinard Designs, the focus is on durable, high-performing equipment that lets you have fun no matter what the ocean is doing. There are never enough hours in a day for Fletcher Chouinard. As a surfer, shaper, kiteboarder and new father, he was really doing the dance. Then along came foilboarding, which has made…
It’s hard not to notice the hype around hemp today. Pick up any lifestyle magazine, enter a pharmacy, talk to a health-food store employee or just the person next to you in yoga class—at some point you’ll learn about its miraculous powers. In particular, near-unbelievable claims swirl around cannabidiol, or CBD, oil derived from hemp:…
Before we could challenge the snow industry to move to recycled materials, we had to change our thinking, too. There are a number of ways to reduce a garment’s impact, but none more significant than making it out of recycled fabric. Doing so keeps material out of landfills and cuts demand for the petroleum used…
Three years ago, we set out to make a new fleece fabric using natural fibers that were light on the land. Our inspiration came from an old sweater, a weather-beaten merino pullover worn by founder Yvon Chouinard in Patagonia’s early days. It had all the properties that have made wool a staple for centuries of…
To celebrate over three decades of Baggies Shorts, we dug through our archives so we could share the stories behind a few iconic photos.
When I think about climbing, I don’t think about summits. I see serrated ridgelines rising and falling between earth and sky, and sunlight slipping between spires, casting the shadows of giants onto rubble-strewn rivers of ice below, curving, moving, bending with the passage of time. I remember my partners and I, roped together with no…
At Patagonia, our best ideas come from being in the field. But sometimes simple problems inspire complex solutions. That’s been the case with the development of insulation. Down gets wet and loses its heat-trapping loft, and synthetics never quite achieve the same warmth, lightness or compressibility as down plumes. We’ve tried everything from treated down…
“For us, the tide is the boss,” says Adam James of Hama Hama Oysters, a fifth-generation, family-run shellfish farm on Washington’s Puget Sound. “In late August and September, we’ll be out there on the beach harvesting at 3 or 4 a.m., and when the sun finally comes up you can’t help but pause. It reminds…
Miles Johnson, our senior creative director, oversees the work of all our designers in both technical and sportswear categories, as well as the product development and textile, graphics and color teams. We caught up with Miles recently at the picnic tables outside our child care center to ask him about his life and work and…
It didn’t take long for Ben Wilkinson to figure out that there was freedom to be had in working for himself—and that freedom was the first requirement if he wanted to go surfing whenever the waves got huge. “I left home when I was 16,” he remembers, “which was old enough in my eyes. But…
Patagonia is an unusual workplace in many ways, and the fact that employees are encouraged to incorporate environmental activism into their daily work is just one of the characteristics that sets our company apart. The realities of running a business are important, but we’re always aware that our business has to serve the more pressing…
Forty-five years ago, the old school North American outdoor uniform was basically colored in khaki, denim blue and olive green. Not only were the colors monotonous, but the dyes used were mostly petroleum based. Imagine no Craft Pink as vivid as the beavertail cactus flower. No Galah Green as bright as the waters off the…
Almost a decade ago, I’d heard stories of mystical right points peeling forever without another soul in sight. What surfer addicted to logging wouldn’t crave to check it out, even though it meant ignoring travel warnings and venturing into a region suffering from civil unrest? Young, naive and most probably foolish, I set off on…
At Patagonia, we believe making great products, earning a profit and protecting our planet are not mutually exclusive objectives. That’s why, in 2013, we launched an investment fund to help like-minded start-ups on a similar mission. Today, we’re announcing a new name for the fund: Tin Shed Ventures (formally $20 Million & Change). We will…
We are now third and fourth generation surfers. We have the confidence to leave the stereotypes behind. We’re the scroungiest dirtbags one day and then return to the urban environment as activists for change the next. Two time periods epitomize the style and sensibility of what we are working to create in the coming years.…
TAKE ACTION! Ask Congress to pass the Industrial Hemp Farming Act, allowing American farmers to freely grow this commercially and environmentally important crop. Sign the petition at Change.org Industrial hemp is a crop that has the potential to lower the environmental impacts of textile production, empower small-scale farmers and create jobs in a wide variety…
Living and designing sustainably in Southern Chile with Bureo co-founder Ben Kneppers.
“… after some thinking, I’d say I’d rather be a functioning cog in some great machinery, serving something beyond me.” –Robin Pecknold of Fleet Foxes, “Helplessness Blues” On a far from average Wednesday, we arrived to work at Patagonia Seattle for a morning meeting led by brand responsibility analysts, Paul…
This holiday season, I have an early New Year’s resolution for the sake of Planet Earth: let’s all become radical environmentalists. This sounds like a big leap—but it’s not. All you need is a sewing kit and a set of repair instructions. As individual consumers, the single best thing we can do for the planet…
Editor’s note: Today we’re happy to share an excerpt from Living & Breathing: 20 Years of Patagonia in New York City, a commemorative book about our double-decade relationship with the Big Apple. Grab a printed copy at one of our four NYC stores or check out the digital version at the end of this post.…
DWR coatings are a crucial part of outdoor gear. They’re extremely effective at repelling water but carry an environmental cost.
“It starts as rain or snow falling on Scotland’s highest mountain—Ben Nevis. Either as rain or melting snow it percolates the thin layer of peat soil until it reaches the granite rock and unable to penetrate it, runs under the surface until emerging in Coire Leish or Coire na Ciste. The outflows from these two…
Please refer to the updated version of this post for the most recent information about Patagonia’s work to improve chemical safety in our supply chain. Patagonia—as well as other high-quality outdoor outerwear suppliers—for years relied on a Durable Water Repellent (DWR) of a certain chemistry (described below) to bead up, then disperse, surface moisture from…
I’ve found my favorite yoga and bodywork prop. Not only is it made of wood, but it’s perfectly portable, fits into the side of any backpack or duffel bag, and takes up next to no space in a van. It works kind of like other massage canes would (but it’s not plastic, is way cheaper, and you…
Joe Curren shares childhood memories of his dad, legendary waterman Pat Curren, and the unique boat that traveled with them to Baja.
![Tenkara with Yvon Chouinard and Patagonia [Updated with Video]](https://www.patagonia.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/6a00d8341d07fd53ef019b04b4e343970d.jpg.webp)
My watch battery died within ten minutes of setting foot on the plane about to whisk me out of Great Falls, Montana. I should have realized it for what it was: a sign things were about to change. I had left behind an increasingly weird existence on the Missouri River front and hopped a plane…
Even the most tender-footed outdoor enthusiasts amongst us are familiar with the scenario. You are walking back to camp from a quick creek swim, or perhaps making your way home after a day spent chasing the hollow insides of pitching lumps of salt water, and your trusty flip-flops decide to blow out. Maybe the strap…
Update: In 2013, we launched $20 Million & Change, an internal investment fund to help like-minded, responsible start-up companies that use business to address environmental problems. After investing well over $20 million, the fund was renamed Tin Shed Ventures, honoring the tin shed in which Yvon Chouinard started Patagonia. Please visit tinshedventures.com to learn more…
Editor’s note: The creation of our new Encapsil™ Down Belay Parka is a big deal for all of us at Patagonia. In the midst of getting everything ready for launch, we asked our friend Ethan Stewart to tell the story of how Encapsil down and the parka came to be. Though he handled the writing…
We have some great benefits at Patagonia. But none is better than the opportunity to volunteer with environmental groups through our internship program. During my 15 years working as an editor here at our headquarters in Ventura, I’ve gotten to follow wild buffalo in West Yellowstone, see the effects of industrial forestry in Chile, learn…
We are still in the earliest stages of learning how what we do for a living both threatens nature and fails to meet our deepest human needs. The impoverishment of our world and the devaluing of the priceless undermine our physical and economic well-being. Yet the depth and breadth of technological innovation of the past…
When I moved into the house in Dhaka where I lived in 1993, I noticed there was no wastebasket in my room. On my first trip to the market, I bought one – and soon discovered that throwing things “away” meant something different in the capital of Bangladesh than back home. What I threw into…
The first time I entered the hallowed doors of my local surf shop – Mitch’s on La Jolla’s Pearl Street – it felt like a rite of passage. As a 10-year-old grommet, I was in awe of all the cool surf and skate gear crammed on the store’s narrow, cluttered walls. I stood there, paralyzed,…
by Lisa Polley As an employee of Patagonia for the past 12 years, I’ve had the opportunity to work on many projects. Some of these have been interesting, some just a necessary part of my job. Never have I experienced a project with such a direct impact on the company, on its employees and on…
A few years ago I bought a cheap portable radio for $4.99 to listen to the news while I walk to work. Soon after, one of the earphone buds broke. No problem, I thought – I’ll just fix it using parts from my drawer of other broken electronics. No such luck: the whole radio, including…
About once a week, one of our stores or our customer service receives a question about the manufacturing of Patagonia clothing: Where do you make your clothes? Are they made in China? Why? Why don’t make you make them here in the United States? What are the conditions inside your factories? We thought it would…
Want to know what’s up with this ad? Continue reading to learn why we don’t use bamboo fabrics in our wetsuits.ON BAMBOO AND RAYON Bamboo Becomes Rayon Bamboo is the fastest-growing woody plant in the world, capable of growing up to four feet a day. Most of it is grown organically (though very little is…
Following up on Monday’s recap of the Dirksen Derby, here’s the latest edition to the Patagonia Video Gallery featuring snowboard ambassador Josh Dirksen and snowsports designer Glen Morden. The guys were testing designs for next fall on this particular trip.
This story was first published in December 2011. In April 2011, we posted here a report on problems we’ve experienced sourcing down for our down clothing. As we mentioned, quality is not the problem. We’re proud of the down clothing we make. The designs are simple and beautiful, the fabrics are strong and lightweight, and…
Our friends on the Patagonia Books team are proud to announce a new title by Mickey Muñoz called No Bad Waves. The book was a collaboration between Mickey, who recorded the stories in a series of interviews, Jeff Divine, who culled through Mickey's extensive photo archives, John Dutton, who massaged the transcripts into shape, and…
Today’s post – about one of the simplest pieces of gear we’ve ever made – comes from Patagonia’s founder, Yvon Chouinard. It originally appeared in the 1980 Chouinard Equipment Catalog. When I was at a ski show recently, walking by the booth of one of the largest pack manufacturers, a salesman/designer insisted I come in…
As the sun heated up our little apartment, I drifted out of my dream and awoke to a bizarre scene: people sprawled all over the floor, futon and tiny twin beds…I could hear chatter in half a dozen languages, clinking plates and glasses… the faint smell of tobacco, espresso and butter… a marching band playing…
When he's not in the office developing Patagonia wetsuits and surf gear, you'll find Billy Smith and his crew carving the hills around Ventura and Santa Barbara on their skateboards. In fact, they're pretty hard to miss. Billy and his brother Nick are the creators of the Sporting-Sail, a parachute-style speed break that was originally…
The proof is on the pocket bags.
Building an environmentally conscious hiking boot that’s also a top performer is no easy task. Design and construction are complex; so is the supply chain. As Backpacker magazine put it: “Boots are the most complex gear in our kit, with numerous components – fabrics, leathers, soles, shanks, glues, padding, laces, hardware – plus myriad sewing…
Nobody likes to wear booties when they surf, but there are some places where the water is so cold it can’t be avoided. What happens then when you forget your booties after hiking in to surf beautiful head-high waves in 30-degree water? You get creative. So, I’ve long been a fan of Patagonia products. However,…
Patagonia has been working with Wolverine World Wide (WWW) for four years to build a successful line of hiking boots, lifestyle and multi-sport shoes, sandals and more. We rely heavily on WWW’s experience making footwear – an extremely complicated process – but stay involved in every step of the process. That’s why members of Patagonia’s…
We test our gear on a variety of levels. Our Athletes & Ambassadors are responsible for putting the latest designs and fabrics through the paces before we'll add a new product to our lineup. But just because something reaches our shelves doesn't mean testing is over. Once a new item shows up in our catalogs,…
We posted some pictures on Flickr a few weeks back of a surfboard that Stru built during some of his off hours. We got such a reaction to the pics that we decided a Q&A with Dr. Strukenstein was in order. This interview was conducted over a three-week period, during which there were some highs…
We test our gear on a variety of levels. Our Athletes & Ambassadors are responsible for putting the latest designs and fabrics through the paces before we'll add a new product to our lineup. But just because something reaches our shelves doesn't mean testing is over. Once a new item shows up in our catalogs,…
FCD Board Report – The first thing I noticed about the 5’7″ Fish was how lightweight it was, making it a lot easier to throw around in the surf. I usually ride smaller Fish, somewhere around 5’4″, so i didn’t really know what to expect. The extra few inches made it way easier to paddle…
How do you get to work in morning? Are you stuffed into a sweltering New York subway car? Crammed fender-to-fender along LA’s mind-numbing 405? Either way, our morning commute to work was way more stressful than yours. I promise. We chased the sun across the Inca Lake in Portillo… Editor's note: Freelance writer Greg Fitzsimmons…
We test our gear on a variety of levels. Our Field Report: Climbing El Cap, Yosemite Valley, early October 2010Conditions: Kinda like rock climbing, kinda like paddling whitewater.Products Tested: Nano Storm, M10 Jacket, R1 Hoody, Rain Shadow JacketTested By: Dave Campbell, Patagonia Pro Sales There’s a saying in China: If you’re ‘one in a million’,…
It was just a couple weeks ago that our friends down in Patagonia's Ventura offices were wishing summer a fond farewell. Maybe it's this week's return to splitter blue skies and warm breezes, maybe it's the certainty of winter's descent when the snows finally come, but our Reno-based tribe has been a bit more reluctant…
For the past nine weeks I’ve been taking a course in fiction writing. As part of the class, we write short stories and critique each other’s finished works. The other night we critiqued a classmate’s story about a woman who worked for a corporation that took extreme measures – from forcing employees to sign far-reaching…
We test our gear on a variety of levels. Our Athletes & Ambassadors are responsible for putting the latest designs and fabrics through the paces before we'll add a new product to our lineup. But just because something reaches our shelves doesn't mean testing is over. Once a new item shows up in our catalogs,…
We test our gear on a variety of levels. Our Athletes & Ambassadors are responsible for putting the latest designs and fabrics through the paces before we'll add a new product to our lineup. But just because something reaches our shelves doesn't mean testing is over. Once a new item shows up in our catalogs,…
[Original artwork, like this painting by AD Maddox, was on display alongside Patagonia clothing and gear inside Great Pacific Iron Works. Photo: Dave Kanarek] Back in April, Patagonia T-shirt artists were featured in a “Meet the Artist” reception at Great Pacific Iron Works, the original Patagonia retail store in Ventura, California. As a participant of…
We test our gear on a variety of levels. Our athletes and ambassadors are responsible for putting the latest designs and fabrics through the paces before we'll add a new product to our lineup. But just because something reaches our shelves doesn't mean testing is over. Once a new item shows up in our catalogs,…
Join us at GPIW Patagonia Ventura for an artist reception and show on Saturday, April 17. We’ll be featuring the work of professional artists from around the country who produce designs for our T-shirts. From classic to contemporary, their work will be on display at Patagonia throughout the ArtWalk weekend and beyond. Meet them at…
It's been said that if you remember the 60s then you weren’t there. But if, like me, you grew up in the 60s and 70s and were into backpacking or climbing, there is actually a whole lot to remember. Like many of us, I got my start backpacking in the Boy Scouts. I remember our…
We test our gear on a variety of levels. Our athletes and Products Tested: Capilene 2 Bottoms, Shelled Insulator Pants, Simple Guide Pants, Windproof Gloves, Socks, Nano Puff, Alpine Wind Jacket, R2 Jacket, Integral Jacket Activity: Cool Weather Cycling in and around the high desert Average temperatures: 20 – 30ºF Testers: Jim A. & Suzanne K.,…
It’s rare when industry competitors get together to collaborate. It’s even more unusual when they get together to discuss ways they can lessen their environmental impact. Yet that’s what happened as a result of our relationship with bluesign® technologies, an independent third party that screens the dyeing and finishing of textiles. We recently met with…
We test our gear on a variety of levels. Our athletes and ambassadors are responsible for putting the latest designs and fabrics through the paces before we'll add a new product to our lineup. But just because something reaches our shelves doesn't mean testing is over. Once a new item shows up in our catalogs,…
We test our gear on avariety of levels. Our athletes and ambassadors are responsible for putting thelatest designs and fabrics through the paces before we'll add a new product toour lineup. But just because something reaches our shelves doesn't mean testingis over. Once a new item shows up in our catalogs, our Customer Service staffgets…
Last week we mentioned an alaia shaping class at Patagonia Cardiff. Store manager Devon Howard sent some photos from the event and a brief recap for those of us who couldn’t make the trek down south. Thanks to Cyrus Sutton of Korduroy.tv for getting us stoked on providing free alaia shaping classes with Jon Wegener…
Great things are happening over at our sibling surf site Fletcher Chouinard Designs (FCD). Besides hand-shaping some of the lightest and strongest surfboards in the water, they're blogging on their homepage, sharing photos at Flickr and publicly answering customer questions about all the boards in the FCD quiver. While not quite as intimate as working…
We test our gear on a variety of levels. Our Product Report: Synchilla Marsupial, “O” Web Belt, Women's Sender Capris, Kids’ Sky Serpent T-shirt, BabySynchilla Cardigan, Baby Puffer Vest and Kids’ Trucker HatActivity: Camping and Whale Watching, Northern CaliforniaTested by: Michelle L., Patagonia Web Team As I’ve gotten older my lack of sanity manifests itselfin…
Series intro: The “My Footprint” series shares the stories of Patagonia friends and employees who have been inspired by There's a side to skiing in the United States that many American skiers would just as soon not talk about. For all of its inspiring outdoor elements, the industry as we know it is uniquely dependent…
We test our gear on a variety of levels. Our athletes and ambassadors are responsible for putting the latest designs and fabrics through the paces before we'll add a new product to our lineup. But just because something reaches our shelves doesn't mean testing is over. Once a new item shows up in our catalogs,…
We're pleased share this announcement of a local gallery exhibit of the works of Phyllis Shafer. Ms. Shafer is an artist from Lake Tahoe whose work has appeared on one of our more popular t-shirts (image below). Fans of vivid, dynamic landscape imagery will thoroughly enjoy immersing themselves in her work. Please read on for…
As we gear up for the New Year and some backyard adventure stories (there’s still time to submit yours) we present a bicycle-loving couple whose adventure took them as far from their own backyard as possible. In the fall of 2007, Leslie Kehmeier and her husband Chris began a 14-month journey of a lifetime. Their…
We test our gear on a variety of levels. Our athletes and ambassadors are responsible for putting the latest designs and fabrics through the paces before we’ll add a new product to our lineup. But just because something reaches our shelves doesn’t mean testing is over. Once a new item shows up in our catalogs,…
Earlier this year, I was introduced via email to Austrian ultra long-distance walker, Gregor Sieböck. An interesting individual, an even more interesting pursuit; what exactly is ultra long-distance walking? I came to discover that it’s not a competitive sport, but more a way of life for Gregor and a vehicle to carry his message of…
We test our gear on a variety of levels. Our athletes and ambassadors are responsible for putting the latest designs and fabrics through the paces before we’ll add a new product to our lineup. But just because something reaches our shelves doesn’t mean testing is over. Once a new item shows up in our catalogs,…
We test our gear on a variety of levels. Our athletes and ambassadors are responsible for putting the latest designs and fabrics through the paces before we’ll add a new product to our lineup. But just because something reaches our shelves doesn’t mean testing is over. Once a new item shows up in our catalogs,…
Our Customer Service Representatives (CSRs) are our front line of communication with Patagonia fanatics far and wide. The crew here at our Call Center in Reno, NV are at it seven days a week, taking orders, helping with returns, and most importantly, answering the astonishing range of questions our customers fire at us. Like flocks…
We test our gear on a variety of levels. Our athletes and ambassadors are responsible for putting the latest designs and fabrics through the paces before we’ll add a new product to our lineup. But just because something reaches our shelves doesn’t mean testing is over. Once a new item shows up in our catalogs,…
We test our gear on a variety of levels. Our athletes and ambassadors are responsible for putting the latest designs and fabrics through the paces before we’ll add a new product to our lineup. But just because something reaches our shelves doesn’t mean testing is over. Once a new item shows up in our catalogs,…
We test our gear on a variety of levels. Our athletes and ambassadors are responsible for putting the latest designs and fabrics through the paces before we’ll add a new product to our lineup. But just because something reaches our shelves doesn’t mean testing is over. Once a new item shows up in our catalogs,…
Our board shorts line has a new addition with a long history. The Patagonia Organic Cotton Canvas Boardshorts, or Palaka shorts as they were originally known, come with a special heritage in not only the surf world but old Hawaii as well. When I started surfing in the late 1950s, Palaka shorts were one of…
Zack Smith is a ninja, a master of all climbing styles, a bona fide climbing badass, and if you haven’t heard about him, it’s likely because he prefers it that way. From Patagonia, to Pakistan, to every crag within a six-hour drive of his Moab residence, Zack’s been stealthily pushing rock and alpine climbing standards…
We test our gear on a variety of levels. Our athletes and ambassadors are responsible for putting the latest designs and fabrics through the paces before we’ll add a new product to our lineup. But just because something reaches our shelves doesn’t mean testing is over. Once a new item shows up in our catalogs,…
