Patagonia Lauded for Working Conditions, Environmentalism

Environmental activism, good working conditions in overseas factories and innovative day care are a few reasons Patagonia has won a prestigious apparel industry award.

The Ventura-based outdoor clothing company will receive Apparel Industry Magazine’s All-Star Award this week in New York.

The award recognizes clothing companies that influence the industry, said Andree Conrad, editor of the magazine. Past winners include Calvin Klein, Hugo Boss and Jones New York.

Conrad said scandals such as the revelation that clothing sold under Kathie Lee Gifford’s label was manufactured with child labor have given the industry a bad name.

“That image is ill-placed,” she said. “There’s quite a number of companies that are doing well, investing in employees and doing things to make employees’ lives better.”

Holly Welling, a writer for the magazine, researched overseas factories where some of Patagonia’s clothes are made. She was impressed by how the company oversees foreign contractors.

“They have third-party auditors who go in and can say, ‘Yes, these contractors are doing things correctly,’ ” she said. “They make sure their workers are safe, that contractors maintain minimum-age standards and those standards are maintained at all their plants throughout the world.”

Welling said the company’s low-key corporate culture is “the wave of the future,” especially its on-site day-care center.

“They said this is absolutely the best retention tool they could come up with,” she said. “People don’t think they have to quit their job to be an involved parent.”

Conrad said the award also recognizes Patagonia’s environmental activism. She noted that the company risked a drop in sales when it switched to organically grown cotton, which is more costly to produce than conventionally grown cotton.

Lu Setnicka of Patagonia said the company made the switch to save pesticides from damaging the San Joaquin Valley’s ecosystem.

“Organic cotton is the same fiber, it’s just grown differently,” she said. “The drawback is cost.”

Patagonia charges $2 to $10 more per garment since it switched to organic cotton. “They still have managed to make a profit using a philosophy that other companies might consider cost prohibitive,” Conrad said.

Setnicka said her company hopes to influence other manufacturers to go organic.

“We’re not saying everyone has to go 100% organic,” she said. “Some companies have a blending program. Nike is using 3% organic cotton in their T-shirts. It’s a way for them to support sustainable agriculture through that choice.”

Four other companies will receive the All-Star Award this year, Conrad said. They are M.J. Soffe, Kellwood, Alba-Waldensian and Brooks Bros.