Patagonia- The Company and the Countryside
The region of Argentina and Chile known as Patagonia has always intrigued me. The lakes, rivers, glaciers and wildlife of the region are on a bucket list of mine of places to visit if I ever have an unlimited supply of money to spend. The clothing company of the same name has quite a few attributes about it that I like as well. It’s a company I would love to buy clothes from not only because of their quality but also because of their environmental principles like their Common Threads Initiative.
With the arrival of the 7th billion baby on earth I think it’s extra important to support companies like Patagonia. Their Common Threads Initiative focuses on the mantra, Reduce, Repair, Reuse, Recycle." They are a company after my own heart because I do everything in my power to reduce, repair, reuse and recycle in my daily life.
I have a difficult time throwing even the smallest items into the garbage and practically never throw any clothing item away. If the kids have grown their clothing then it is packaged and brought to town to someone who can use them or to the Thrift Shop. If it can no longer be worn as clothing then it becomes a cleaning rag or finds some other use somewhere else. According to Patagonia’s website the average US citizen throws away 68 pounds of clothing annually and the USA discards 11.9 million tons of clothing, shoes and textiles per year. I find these statistics almost unbelievable because I can’t imagine anyone throwing clothing into a garbage.
Patagonia allows people who purchase their items to send them back to be repaired or to be recycled. They have even entered into a partnership with Ebay to help promote the re-selling of their clothing. Through their Common Threads Initiative they are encouraging people to not buy what they don’t need, fix what they can, sell or pass it along to someone who can use it and keep your stuff out of the landfill. You can be a part of it too, just visit theirwebsite and sign the pledge today.