Patagonia

Patagonia's origins can be traced to Yvon Chouinard, an accomplished climber who began selling handmade climbing equipment in 1957 through his company, called Chouinard Equipment. Chouinard worked alone until he became a partner of Tom Frost in 1965 to improve the quality of his products and meet the growing demand. Great Pacific Iron Works, Patagonia's first store, opened in 1973 on Santa Clara St. in Ventura. Patagonia has expanded its product line to include clothing aimed at other sports, such as surfing. In addition to clothing, they offer other products such as sports equipment, backpacks, sleeping bags and camping gear. Patagonia also has a good condition merchandise policy, each Patagonia garment can be returned for new merchandise credits. The used goods are cleaned, repaired and resold "Worn Wear". In 2019, he launched a program called ReCrafted that creates and sells clothes made from fabric scraps sourced from used Patagonia gear.