In An Age Of Fast Fashion, Patagonia Is Going Slow

For shoppers who crave new purchases — the thrill can be palpable. There’s a high emotive rush associated with buying something new. It doesn’t matter if it’s a new blouse, a pair of blue jeans, or a jacket. With the advent of fast fashion, runway trends make it to stores quicker than ever, and in turn, customers are buying twice as much compared to the past, leading to enormous numbers in textile waste. Over the past 20 years, Americans have discarded 14 million tons of clothing — a 50 percent increase since the ’90s. For more than 40 years, it has been the mission of the heritage brand Patagonia to combat this type of environmental harm, to build the best products, and to use its business as a platform to inspire creative solutions. “We have always considered Patagonia an experiment in doing business in unconventional ways. None of us were certain it was going to be successful, but we did know that we were not interested in doing ‘business as usual,’” says Yvon Chouinard, founder and owner of Patagonia, in his book, Let My People Go Surfing. Read more at Yahoo Style.