Prior to coming to the Mason School of Business MBA program, I had never heard of Patagonia, a Ventura, CA based clothing company specializing in outdoor apparel and gear. As the president of the Luxury and Retail Club at the Mason School of Business, Patagonia is one company, with which business students should become acquainted. What’s even more exciting is that W&M students will have the opportunity to interact with the company on October 26, 2011.

I heard about Patagonia while learning about sustainability in Professor Ram Ganeshan’s class on Design/Control of the Operations Function (BUAD560). He presented Patagonia as an example of a company that was using its business as a tool for global good. More importantly, he showed us how people can be successful by simply pursuing their passions.

Patagonia was founded by Yvon Chouinard in 1972. Not your ordinary entrepreneur, Mr. Chouinard simply started the company as a way to fund his passion for activities such as mountain climbing and surfing. At the outset of what was to become a globally admired company, Mr. Chouinard simply made gear for himself and his friends. As such, the utmost attention to quality and functionality was woven and hammered into every piece of equipment he made. Over time he had to hire staff because his products were in high demand. Today Patagonia is the foremost expert in the development of equipment for silent sports such as alpine climbing, fly fishing, hiking/trekking, rock climbing, ski/snowboarding, surfing, trail running, travel, and yoga. In each of these sports, “reward comes in the form of hard-won grace and moments of connection between us [the user] and nature” (Patagonia.com).

In April, 2011, I traveled to Harvard Business School to attend their annual Retail and Luxury Conference. There were several panel discussions highlighting modern issues in retail and luxury, but one of the most exciting and somewhat counterintuitive experiences came from attending the “Success in Social Enterprise” panel. Among the panelists was Tetsuya O’ Hara, Director of Advanced Research and Development at Patagonia.

He discussed many issues including the company’s role in influencing other companies to adopt sustainable practices; Patagonia’s public acknowledgement of its effects on the environment; and its efforts at educating its customers to consume with consideration for the planet. In hearing him speak, you could tell he lived the Patagonia’s mission every day, in every way:

Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis.

Some facts that really baffled me are:

• Patagonia is the only company (which I know of) that encourages customers to buy less of its products because of the effects unnecessary consumption can have on the environment;
• The company does not want to grow fast. Unlike what most academic literature will espouse as good financial performance, Patagonia does not want to grow its business more than 5-7 percent a year. They believe that growing too fast does not afford them the ability to offset some of the damage that its products would cause to the environment; and
• Since 1985, Patagonia has pledged 1% of sales to the preservation and restoration of the natural environment. This certainly would not appeal to many investors in today’s business environment. However, this company is free to pursue its own agenda because it is 100% privately owned.

As an MBA student with sales and marketing experience in the hospitality industry Patagonia intrigues me because its sustainability practices can actually do more to drive demand for its product and cause its brand to become a fashion “must have”. After listening to Mr. O’ Hara, I wanted to hear more about Patagonia, and so I invited him to speak to students at William and Mary, who are passionate about businesses that embrace the ideal of community in every way possible.

On October 26, 2011, the Luxury and Retail Club at the Mason School of Business will have the esteem pleasure of entertaining Tetsuya O’ Hara, Director of Advanced Research and Development at Patagonia. He will deliver a presentation entitled “Sustainable Competitive Advantage” in Brinkley Commons of Miller Hall, from 12:30pm till 2pm. As our collaborators from the Net Impact Club have stated, “it is guaranteed to share cutting-edge strategic insight that budding leaders can’t afford to miss”. See you there.