Monday, December 5, 2011

Give back this holiday season with Patagonia

Patagonia has always been a leader in environmental issues and since 2005, the Common Threads Garment Recycling Program has been a large component of Patagonia's identity.

Through the Common Threads Program, Patagonia has been collecting old, worn Patagonia Capilene base layer garments from their customers in order to recycle them to make new polyester. This is your way of giving back and limiting the waste of old garments so instead of sitting in a landfill, it becomes a new jacket.

This past Black Friday, Patagonia published a full page ad in the New York Times inviting shoppers to contribute less waste by not purchasing anything on that popular shopping day. The ad seen below begins with "It's Black Friday, the day in the year retail turns from red to black and starts to make real money. But Black Friday, and the culture of consumption it reflects, puts the economy of natural systems that support all life firmly in the red. We're now using the resources of one-and-a-half planets on our one and only planet. Because Patagonia wants to be in business for a good long time- and leave a world inhabitable for our kids- we want to do the opposite of every other business today. We ask you to buy less and to reflect before you spend a dime on this jacket or anything else."

The copy goes on to explain the process in making a jacket as the Patagonia one itself featured in the ad.



"Don't buy what you don't need. Think twice before you buy anything." Seems like while Patagonia is in the business of selling, it is promoting its corporate responsibility by reassuring their customers that they will recycle, repair and reuse your Patagonia gear.

It's not too late to take the pledge. Patagonia's year goal is to reach 50,000 pledges and you can do so on their Common Threads page. http://www.patagonia.com/us/common-threads#

Make sure to take a look at their video as well, inspiring a call to action to save our planet's resources.



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