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Patagonia struggles to reduce its impact on the environment
Author(s) -
Hartman Harvey,
Haas Erika J.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
environmental quality management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.249
H-Index - 27
eISSN - 1520-6483
pISSN - 1088-1913
DOI - 10.1002/tqem.3310050102
Subject(s) - clothing , work (physics) , affect (linguistics) , work environment , business , quality (philosophy) , marketing , environmental quality , environmental resource management , engineering , sociology , geography , political science , economics , archaeology , law , mechanical engineering , philosophy , communication , epistemology
Patagonia designs and distributes clothing for active use in the outdoors, and many of the people who work for Patagonia are avid climbers, skiers, surfers, and hikers. If the environment is destroyed, there will be no place for Patagonia's customers and employees to use its products. The types of products Patagonia makes and the personal commitment to the environment of its founder and employees make it unique. In the past few years, Patagonia has been systematically reviewing how the company's products and operations affect the environment. This article shows that even with Patagonia's unusual connection to the environment, the company is still finding that total quality environmental management is not easy. It takes analysis, planning, follow‐through, and measurement; and even then, not all environmental efforts are successful.