Once You Educate Yourself, You're Left With

When I Die And Go To Hell, The Devil Is Going To Make Me The Marketing Director For A Cola Company. I’ll Be In Charge Of Trying To Sell A Product That No One Needs, Is Identical To Its Competition, And Can’t Be Sold On Its Merits. I’d Be Competing Head-on In The Cola Wars, On Price, Distribution, Advertising, And Promotion, Which Would Indeed Be Hell For Me. Remember, I’m The Kid Who Couldn’t Play Competitive Games. I’d Much Rather Design And Sell Products So Good And Unique That They Have No Competition.

We Grow By Letting The Customer Tell Us. So When The Customer Tells Us That They're Frustrated, That They Just Got Their Catalogue And We're Already Out Of A Product They Wanted, Then It Tells Me That We're Not Making Enough. We Let The Customer Tell Us Instead Of Creating An Artificial Demand For Our Products. Any Time You're Making Products That People Don't Need, You're At The Mercy Of The Economy, You're At The Mercy Of Whatever Is Going On. So We Tried To Avoid That Situation.

Mainly, My Job Is To Be On The Outside And Bring Ideas Into The Company And Forge Change. Most People Hate Change—it’s Threatening. I Thrive On It.

Everything We Personally Own That’s Made, Sold, Shipped, Stored, Cleaned, And Ultimately Thrown Away Does Some Environmental Harm Every Step Of The Way, Harm That We’re Either Directly Responsible For Or Is Done On Our Behalf.

I've Always Thought Of Myself As An 80 Percenter. I Like To Throw Myself Passionately Into A Sport Or Activity Until I Reach About An 80 Percent Proficiency Level. To Go Beyond That Requires An Obsession That Doesn't Appeal To Me. Once I Reach 80 Percent Level I Like To Go Off And Do Something Totally Different; That Probably Explains The Diversity Of The Patagonia Product Like - And Why Our Versatile, Multifaceted Clothes Are The Most Successful.