10 Unusual Facts About Patagonia Founder Yvon Chouinard

“Earth is now our only shareholder” - Yvon Chouinard

There’s been a lot of hype about Yvon Chouinard, the Patagonia founder and unlikely (and unenthusiastic) billionaire, over the last few months. And, it’s with good reason. In September he and his family forfeited ownership of the company he founded 49 years ago, mostly to an ecological trust that was very intentionally designed to fight climate change.

Most entrepreneurs dream of the day they reach the Forbes richest lists, Chouinard viewed it as a sort-of personal failure, and shortly after the bold decision was made to release ownership, stating “Earth is now our only shareholder”.

Self-proclaimed “existential dirtbag”, who reached billionaire status almost completely unintentionally, Yvon is definitely a fascinating subject of conversation. Rock climber, environmentalist, philanthropist and founder of a multi-billion dollar global clothing company, Chouinard has paved the way for purpose-led entrepreneurs, proving that you can have both profit and purpose.

We could be here all day with things to say about Chouinard. So, as a sort of celebratory post (although he’d probably hate that) we’ve collated 10 of the weirdest and most wonderful facts about the purpose-driven non-businessman that we could possibly find on the internet and put them together in a convenient list for you, so you don’t have to (don’t say we never give you anything):

1) He detests being called a ‘businessman’ and was upset when he found out he was on the Forbes list of the world's wealthiest people. He claims not to even own a savings account so perhaps he was right to be “really, really pissed off”. So pissed off, in fact, that he gave his entire fortune away.

2) He gave away his world-renowned company Patagonia after feeling like he failed his mission to help fellow climbers and make the world a better and fairer place. Well, that’s not entirely true. He didn’t give up on it entirely, he gifted it to the Patagonia Purpose Trust and the Holdfast Collective, a nonprofit dedicated to fighting the environmental crisis and defending nature. He’s still dedicated to fighting for nature and using “the wealth Patagonia creates to protect the source of all wealth.” Anyone else standing up and clapping at their laptop right now or just me?

3) Having made the Forbes list of the world’s richest people, (it’s believed he makes around $209m a year), you’d think Chouinard would drive a fancy car (or five). He doesn’t. He drives a beat-up old Subaru with a surfboard that clings mercilessly to the roof. And, he and his wife still even sometimes sleep overnight in it (he’s 83), “My wife does it too. My wife and I are pretty small so we can both sleep in the back of my Subaru.” He claimed in an exclusive interview with Superfolk. He doesn’t even own a computer or a cell phone, apparently.

4) He likes being called a dirtbag. In fact, he insists. But he says he had parents that would make him clean up his room, and that’s why he believes he managed to remain quite the respectable dirtbag.

5) Chouinard’s indescribable journey into entrepreneurship began in 1957 in a chicken coop (!!) where he set up shop as a self-taught blacksmith in his parents’ backyard. He spent his time making pitons for other climbers and occasionally packing all of his tools up with him to journey with him on his surfing expeditions across the US - making a living selling climbing gear from the back of his car. Patagonia came later in the 70s, after extreme success selling climbing gear. Chouinard would wear a regulation-team rugby shirt to climb, because of its functionality on the mountain, his climber friends started asking where they could get one.

6) He once lived in a literal beach shack in San Blas, Mexico for a month in 1957. He spent his time “eating fish and tropical fruit, swatting mosquitoes, and scorpions, and waxing our surfboards with votive candles from the local church” (words from Let My People Go Surfing).

7) He pioneered working from home long before the Pandemic. In a speech given at the University of California, he announced “We don’t care when you work, as long as the work gets done,” he always considered his company an “experiment in doing business in unconventional ways,” with employees actually excited to come to work, skipping up the stairs two at a time and being able to wear whatever clothes they wanted, even some barefoot. They famously took time out to go surfing whenever the conditions were good.

8)The name for his company, Patagonia, was originally called Chouinard Experiment but he decided against it after a transformative experience in the South American region with one of his closest friends, Doug Tomkins, who went on to found rival clothing brand, The North Face. Patagonia’s success is clear just by taking one quick Google search, the first thing that pops up isn’t a Wikipedia link full of facts about the gargantuan geographical region that engulfs the better part of southern South America, no, you Google “Patagonia” and you’ll find jackets, hats and hiking boots.

9) He spent 18 days in jail on a charge of loitering. While most people spend their 20s in college or starting a career, Chouinard roamed. He travelled to Yosemite, the Canadian Rockies, the Shawangunk Mountains in New York, the Peak District in England and the Alps. During his wandering days, he spent 18 days in an Arizona jail on a charge of “wandering around aimlessly with no apparent means of support.”

10) He’s written and contributed to around 30 books, including his own (and most popular) “Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman” which details the behind-the-scenes process of Chouinard’s life and how Patagonia came to be, inspiring many entrepreneurs to follow their passion and believe in what they do.

All in all a pretty special, remarkable dirtbag and businesses all over the world could learn a lot from him. Chouinard is walking proof that you can make money AND stand for something. You can have purpose and financial success. You can take care of yourself, do the things that you love, and work towards professional fulfilment, too.

“How you climb a mountain is more important than reaching the top.”

- Yvon Chouinard

The key? Ask yourself what Chouinard asked his team when they went through their biggest financial crisis during the 1990s recession, “What are we in business for, anyway?”

That’s probably one of the best questions you can keep coming back to in everything you do

What’s the point of all this?

That’s pretty much exactly what we’re doing here at TIB. Permanently asking ourselves, our contributors, our clients, our communities: why? What’s the point? What does it mean? How is it making something better?