Green brands: Patagonia

Patagonia is an outdoor clothing retailer that prides itself on its approach to sustainability. 

Its message has certainly got to its shoppers - 82% of those who had recently bought from the brand told us they considered it a sustainable choice in our survey. 

Which? carried out a survey in February 2023 into our members' perceptions of how sustainable certain brands are. We asked them tell us which brands they'd bought from in the last two years, rate how sustainable they thought that brand was, and give us their reasons why. 

We then took a further look behind the scenes at some of these companies to see whether the reality lives up to peoples' high expectations.*

The top reasons given for Patagonia’s sustainable status were that it contributes to sustainability initiatives/projects using its profits (61%), that its products are durable and long lasting (41%) and that it uses environmentally friendly materials and non-toxic chemicals (35%).

Read on to find out more about Patagonia and whether it lives up to people’s perceptions, as well as more on the sustainability issues we should be worrying about in the clothing industry.

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Why worry about the impact of our outdoor clothing on the environment?

The fashion industry generally has a huge impact on our planet. It is estimated to be responsible for 10% of our annual carbon emissions.

Wearing your clothes for many years, repairing them and buying second hand are all good ways of reducing your personal impact. 

But if you do need to buy new items, it’s worth considering retailers who take their impact seriously and are taking steps to reduce it.

Different textiles all have different impacts. This might be the water required in the manufacturing process, the hazardous chemicals used in producing clothes, the microplastics found in many synthetic fabrics that will end up in landfill or the natural environment. 

What's 'good' and 'bad' isn't a simple equation. Natural materials, though they may feel inherently a more virtuous choice, aren't necessarily always the answer. Leather, for example, has a large environmental cost and is associated with deforestation. According to Our World in Data, cattle rearing is responsible for 41% of global deforestation – mostly in Brazil. And leather's production can use hazardous chemicals that pollute waterways and damage workers’ health.

Some plant-based fibres come with environmental concerns, too. Cotton is a very thirsty crop and needs a huge amount of water to keep it growing, in often dry climates. Non-organic cotton is grown with the aid of significant amounts of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. 

Outdoor clothing comes with its own particular environmental worries too: the chemicals used to make items – particularly jackets – waterproof.

PFAS (also known as PFCs) are a category of synthetic chemical that are very good at waterproofing. Its what makes water bead on the surface of the fabric and roll off, rather than soaking in. But once in our soils and water, these chemicals are around ‘forever’ or as good as. The production processes involved in manufacturing waterproof clothing can mean lots of these chemicals are released from factories into the atmosphere and waterways. Some have proven links to serious human health issues, the impact of others isn’t fully known.

Some brands have never used them, or have phased out PFAS from their ranges. Others are currently looking for alternatives. A Europe-wide ban on all PFAS/PFCs looks likely in the future.

For more on PFAS/PFCs and the brands' commitments, read our article on where to shop to avoid the forever chemicals in waterproof clothing.

Patagonia: In summary

It's worth bearing in mind that despite all brands having some inevitable shortcomings, the companies featured in this green brands guide have been selected by members as being more sustainable within their markets. 

These are generally brands doing significantly better than average in their sector and should be recognised as such.

Who owns Patagonia?

The answer to this question is interesting. Patagonia was founded in 1973 in California by Yvon Chouinard. It remained in his ownership until September 2022, at which point he gave 98% of his company to a newly created non-profit organisation called the Holdfast Collective. 

The funds received from the company’s profits will be used to combat climate change. The remaining 2% has been kept by the Patagonia Purpose Trust which will be overseen by members of the family to make sure Patagonia sticks to its commitments.

Patagonia and its environmental commitment

Since 1985, Patagonia has pledged 1% of its sales revenue to grassroots environmental non-profit groups.

But the 2022 decision to give the company to a non-profit means that now all Patagonia’s profits will be given as a dividend to the Holdfast Collective for its environmental work. ‘Earth is now our only shareholder’ Chouinard said at the time.

Patagonia itself continues to be a for-profit business so that it can provide funds for the Holdfast Collective.

Patagonia and durability

Patagonia’s Ironclad guarantee means that you can return most items for repair for free if they can’t be fixed simply at home. Most items will be repaired within 6 weeks. If your item can’t be repaired, you can choose to have it sent back to you or ask Patagonia to recycle it.

The brand also has a wide range of videos on its website giving guidance on how to perform simple fixes at home and sometimes offers repair events in its retail stores.

Patagonia's materials and chemical use

Patagonia isn’t PFAS/PFC-free yet, but it working to rid its collections of these chemicals by 2024. 66% of the volume of its Spring 2023 water-repellent collection is PFC-free and products that are PFC-free are clearly signposted on its website. For its Winter 2023 season, 92% of fabric volume is PFC-free.

By the end of 2024, the brand will be fully PFAS/PFC-free.

All the cotton that Patagonia uses is organic. Organic cotton is better environmentally than conventional cotton because it uses less water (healthier soil requires less irrigation) and doesn’t use pesticides that damage waterways and surrounding areas. Conventional non-organic cotton uses huge amounts of water and insecticides.

It is also piloting Regenerative Organic Certified cotton. This is an even higher standard, and puts more emphasis on soil health as well as other factors.

 Around 35% of its cotton is recycled.

Patagonia’s down feathers are all 100% traceable. It also uses some recycled down. It offers synthetic down for those who want to avoid down altogether.

Its virgin wool is all responsible wool standard (RWS) certified and it uses some recycled wool. Cashmere is always recycled.

It does use a number of synthetic materials too, such as polyester and nylon. It has goals to move away from using virgin materials like this by 2025. It has a ‘preferred materials’ list which it aims to be using fully by then - these are recycled or certified materials.

Viscose-based materials or MMCFs are manufactured using closed loop systems like Tencel, which reduces their environmental harm significantly, as chemicals needed for the production process are captured and reused.

Other sustainability information

Patagonia has targets to reduce its emissions, but acknowledges the challenges of its supply chain. It says it can’t just demand changes of its suppliers, it must invest in them to make the changes financially viable for suppliers.

The brand has an Environmental Profit & Loss metric for every product to assess whether each is worth its environmental cost.

Our research 

*The brands that survey respondents could answer on were preselected based on a previous Which? survey carried out in November 2022 asking members to highlight brands they considered sustainable. 

Other clothing brands rated highly by members in our survey were BAM (Bamboo Clothing) (91%), Paramo (84%) and Seasalt (63%)

Find out more about what supermarkets are doing about the environment, how to buy second-hand online, or what makes a green energy supplier.