Yvon Chouinard
A donné Patagonia à la Terre.
A climber and self-taught blacksmith who began by forging pitons, Yvon Chouinard founded Patagonia in 1973 and turned the outdoor apparel brand into a laboratory for responsible business: recycled materials, repair services and 1 percent of sales donated to environmental causes. In 2022 he transferred ownership of the company, valued at around 3 billion dollars, to a trust and a non-profit dedicated to fighting climate change. Author of Let My People Go Surfing, he has inspired a generation of purpose-driven entrepreneurs.
His 2022 decision redefined what a founder can do with success; for fifty years he has shown that environmental commitment and commercial performance can go hand in hand.
Share this selection
Square 1080 × 1080 image for Instagram and Facebook, 1200 × 627 image for LinkedIn, vector badge for an email signature, and embed code for a website.
The embed code uses the web version of the badge (1200 × 630), which links back to this page.