The Footprint Chronicles® examines Patagonia’s life and habits as a company. The goal is to use transparency about our supply chain to help us reduce our adverse social and environmental impacts – and on an industrial scale. We’ve been in business long enough to know that when we can reduce or eliminate a harm, other businesses will be eager to follow suit.
We used to ship our products made in Asia to the Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach, then bring them to our distribution center in Ventura, Calif., by truck. In 1997, we moved our distribution center to Reno, Nevada, but kept shipping everything into LA. In 2011, we took a long overdue look at our transportation network and discovered a simple way to save money and carbon emissions, and become more efficient.
Before we started producing clothing and gear, Patagonia made climbing hardware. So working with Trupart – a metal shop – is kind of a return to our roots. Our founder, Yvon Chouinard, searched out the factory himself to produce his invention – the River Crampon. He knows his way around a metal shop and is a stickler for quality. Trupart measures up.