The New Yorker recently ran an interesting article entitled Patagonia’s Anti-Growth Strategy. Patagonia is a certified B corporation and a California benefit corporation.

As a customer, Patagonia is my favorite company for casual/outdoor clothing, and one of my favorite companies in any industry. Initially, I thought Patagonia's clothes were insanely expensive, but their clothes have been much cheaper on a “cost-per-wear” basis than any other clothes I have bought. In an age of cheap products and rampant consumerism, Patagonia is striking a chord with those who wish to buy fewer, quality products.

A taste of the article follows, but go read the entire thing.

The company’s anti-materialistic stance ramped up on Black Friday, 2011, with a memorable full-page advertisement in the Times that read, “Don’t Buy This Jacket.” The ad’s text broke down the environmental costs of the company’s top-selling R2 fleece sweater and asked consumers to think twice before buying it or any other product. The attention the ad received helped to bump Patagonia’s 2012 sales significantly. . . . Patagonia is trying second-hand-clothing sales at its shop in Portland, Oregon, and has made product repair and recycling a growing part of its business model. It recently invested in Yerdle—a Web startup whose stated mission is to reduce new-product purchases by twenty-five per cent—as a way for people, and even the company itself, to swap or give away used Patagonia gear.

Despite being a customer for about two decades, I haven’t needed the Patagonia repair services yet, but I love the idea.  

As the article above mentions, “[a]ll of this would be jet fuel for the engines of modern cynicism, if not for the fact that Patagonia, a privately owned corporation now in its fifth decade, has a distinguished record of environmental philanthropy and investment.” Patagonia may eventually experience mission drift, but the trust they have created with their customers is invaluable. While Patagonia’s anti-consumerism stance may seem to be against the firm's self-interest, “anti-consumerism is clearly helping to build the Patagonia brand. Indeed, the company is seeing double-digit annual growth.”

Patagonia’s founder Yvon Chouinard has two books worth reading by those interested in social business: Let My People Go Surfing and The Responsible Company.