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Owner gives company to the planet - 31st October 2022
Yvon Chouinard's company, Patagonia, sells clothes for climbing and other sports. Recently, the owner surprised the business world by giving Patagonia away. His aim is to help the environment.
The Chouinard family set up a special organisation for this to happen. Now, the "Holdfast Collective" will make sure that nearly all Patagonia's money is spent on environmental projects.
The environment's always been important to the 50-year-old clothes business. Since the 1980s, Patagonia's given away one percent of its money to protect the planet.
In 2011, one of its advertisements said, "Don't buy this jacket". Instead of buying new clothes, Patagonia encouraged customers to fix their old ones.
Chouinard, now 83, never planned to become a businessman. Before Patagonia, he used to live in a van. That way he could climb mountains whenever he wanted.
The company began after he started selling climbing equipment to friends and it grew from there. Years later, when one magazine called him 'a billionaire', he was upset. He and his family had simple lives.
The Holdfast Collective's the first of its kind. And Chouinard's example's an exciting one. There's hope for the planet when huge businesses put the environment first.
