Elly Hansen, Natalie Spetter, Alison Engelhardt, & Jake Krischel Consumer Behavior Group Project- Summary

Patagonia- “Don’t Buy This Jacket”

Patagonia, an industry leader in sportswear and outdoor apparel, prides themselves on

being an eco-friendly alternative to other major name brands. This resonates closely with their

mission statement, “Build the best Product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire

and implement solutions to the environmental crisis.” Upon their humble beginnings as a

mountain climbing company, founder Yvon Chouinard believed in supplying quality products to

his customer base, while urging them to not over indulge in their purchases. Though it was an

unorthodox approach, Patagonia has withstood the sands of time and has proven successful since

their start in 1973.

In 2011 Patagonia featured a Black Friday, NY Times ad urging customers to avoid

purchasing their newly released R2 jacket. Instead, the company referenced their non-profit

campaign, the “Common Threads Initiative” prompting customers to recycle their used clothing.

Surprisingly, this promotion yielded a 40% increase in revenue from 2011 to 2013, even after

Patagonia’s contradictory message. Since 2013, this promotion has evolved into the “Worn

Wear” campaign where customers can participate with the brand by Tweeting, Instagraming and

Pinning pictures and stories involving their used Patagonia gear. In addition, the company

implemented a “Mobile Repair Crew,” that tours the U.S. repairing clothing and educating others

on sustainable practices for their clothing. Though the promotion has involved to a more hands

on approach, the consistent message has been “[Not to] buy unless you need it, and buy a durable

product to reduce waste.”

The initial 2011 ad has proven successful due to the referenced 40% revenue increase.

We believe this unusual method was successful through strategic product differentiation. Since

the R2 jacket being advertised is made of environmentally friendly material, the message

conveyed by Patagonia resonated closely with its eco-conscious customer base. Additionally,

the connection with the Common Threads Initiative was a prime example of Cause Related

Marketing. Since no other competitors at the time connected their marketing materials to a

specific cause, this tactic captured a large portion of the market.

Competitors have since then spiraled off this idea. REI created the “Opt Outside”

campaign where they will shut down their store and website on Black Friday 2015; instead, they

encourage customers to go outside and spend time with family and friends. Currently, over

800,000 people have taken the “Opt Outside” pledge and that number is still rising.

Since Patagonia’s original “Worn Wear” campaign was so successful, we recommended

that they continue on with it; however, they should reach out to other businesses and encourage

them to join in on the campaign. This will eventually create a continuous circle of innovation.

Our next recommendation was to provide customers with incentives for recycling old clothing.

For example, if a customer brings back an old item to be recycled into something new, they can

receive a discount on a new purchase. Our last recommendation is to respond to REI’s closing on

Black Friday and join them in this movement to discourage mass consumerism. All around, we

suggest that all of Patagonia’s advertisements should stay consistent with their environmental

values and not veer towards just getting customers into the store to purchase more clothing.