Patagonia: quality is a way of doing business

Patagonia has a reputation for functional and durable products but its passion for quality embraces far more than a button on a shirt – it’s a whole way of doing business, says its European marketing director. 

“Focusing on quality in whatever we do means quality in the way we take care of our people and our customers,” Tyler LaMotte told the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. “It also means quality in the way we advocate for the causes we believe in, quality in the way we accomplish our mission in restoring the planet.” 

Why it matters

One of the company’s sayings is, “If you want your products to have a good reputation, you focus on quality. If you want your company to have a good reputation, you focus on taking care of your people and building something that will last.” Both Patagonia and its products have a good reputation.

Quality standards are also applied to the stories the brand tells, where it’s clearly understood that creativity and storytelling are “a powerful mechanism for building awareness and urgency towards the environmental crisis”. 

Takeaways

• Traditional marketing tactics and playbooks are not the focus at Patagonia and nor is ROI necessarily a measure of success. “We focus on the long-term success of the unmeasurable, which we say is our reputation, our credibility and our purpose in saving our own planet,” said LaMotte. 
• Patagonia maintains that repair is a radical act. “We continue to believe that the most responsible thing we can do as a company is to make high-quality gear that lasts for years and can be repaired along the way so you don’t have to buy more,” he added.
• Patagonia is celebrating 50 years and its ongoing What’s Next▶ campaign is based around simplicity (products and ethos), being human-powered (core sports that connect the brand to its various communities), and resilience (the brand as activist). 

The big idea 

Fundamentally, businesses are primarily responsible to their resource base. “Without a healthy environment, there are no shareholders, there are no employees, there are no customers and there is no business,” LaMotte observed.

BEC

Image: Patagonia Bristol