I learned about Patagonia
at a course at UCLA Extension called Strategic Social Impact with Prof. Misha
Kouzeh. In one of the classes about companies purpose and practices, Patagonia
came up as one of the companies doing a lot for the environment and that caught
my attention. I never had any favorite apparel brand, but Patagonia became mine
after all I learned about them. I even bought a couple of shirt at their
historic store in San Francisco near the fisherman’s' wharf. There was where I
saw this book for the first time. I thought it was so interesting a clothing
store selling books. Since I love books, that store became my favorite one
instantly.
But I didn’t buy the book at
that time right away. I had spent my whole budget with the shirts so I didn't
want to spend more, and I was already reading many other books, most on my
Kindle and on the iPad, so I didn't want to get another one. I only got back to
this book when I enrolled in another class with Misha, Global Business
Practices in Sustainability. Then was when I searched for this book at the UCLA
Library when I had access to their system and I was borrowing all the books I
could from them since they had everything there, and if not they could order
from another linked library at the U.S. University network. In fact, I got this
book at the Young Research Library (YRL) on campus, one of the coolest library
at UCLA, behind only of the Rosenfeld Library / Management library.
Anyway, I read almost the whole
book in two days going to the library. It's not a large book, there are a lot
of pictures and everything, the pages are thick like a magazine, it's a
beautiful book, it worth it buying it. It is similar to the previous one I
posted here about the "Responsible Company" about Patagonia, but more
personal about Chouinard's life. It is like his biography. He tells his story
from when he came from Canada driving with his whole family, and how they liked
to train falcons to hunt small rodents and everything and how he grew up in the
nature playing outside in the open air. That was why he created Patagonia, when
he was practicing climbing and he wanted to create equipment that would not
damage the rocks. Soon enough the word got out and he was selling a lot and he
had to hire his friends and family to grow the business. After that, they
started selling clothes and the rest is history.
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