Patagonia Whistle Blew on their own Scandal

It is not uncommon for the famous brands in the fashion industry to be involved in human rights scandal. In 2011, one of Patagonia’s manufacturing chains in Taiwan was involved in a human rights scandal by hiring illegal immigrants to work at low wages.  What makes Patagonia different is that it whistle blew on its own scandal. Instead of covering up the scandal, Patagonia made sure that its partners in the supply chain understood the values and costs of doing business responsibly. Towards the end of 2014, Patagonia drafted a migrant worker standard to be adopted by its entire supply chain. This standard will help set the bar for how clothing manufacturers should operate and end modern day slavery in manufacturing. In addition, this will inspire further-reaching change on social and environmental responsibility.

http://www.trulydeeply.com.au/madly/2015/06/17/patagonia-a-purpose-driven-brand-brand-agency-melbourne/

Stella McCartney sues Steve Madden over Handbag knock-off

Steve Madden has filed a complaint against Steve Madden accusing the lower-priced brand of knocking off one of their most "well-known and enormously popular" handbag styles. Although this lawsuit does not come as a surprise for Madden, the timing for Stella McCartney is rather unfortunate due to the increased attention around vegan fashion items and whether or not vegan was just another word for 'fake' or 'not real'.

There are actually two issues involved in this handbag knock-off: Firstly this handbag knock-off is likely to damage Stella McCartney reputation and result in loss of sale as a result of confusion among customers. Secondly is that Steve Madden knock-off handbag used materials that were harmful to environment, creating a product that goes against everything that Stella McCartney stands for.

Where or not this lawsuit has any leg to stand on, is a debate for another day.

 In my opinion this knock-off brand will raise questions among the Stella McCartney's customers of where or not this high-end vegan bag actually lived up to its promise in the first place. The media attention around Stella McCartney Falabella collection of bags, will also cause customers to take a closer look at other fashion items belonging to the brand. How they handle this media attention can either be harmful or beneficial to the brand especially with the increased focus around vegan fashion. This maybe a platform for Stella McCartney to educate its customers on vegan fashion and its commitment in  protecting the environment.


For more information on this article and vegan fashion:
1. http://fashionista.com/2015/10/stella-mccartney-steve-madden-lawsuit
2. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-vegan-fashion-20150205-story.html
3.http://www.refinery29.com/2014/07/70664/stella-mccartney-vegan-leather

Scope, Consciousness and the ripple effect : From Patagonia to Noah

While this post might stretch what "related" means I think it captures a lot of the things covered both in class discussions but perhaps more so when we consider Patagonia's story. 

Supreme to the uninvited is the perhaps most important street wear brand in existence, much so to the credit of former creative director Brendon Babenzian. 

In the linked article Babenzian talks about leaving Supreme to set up his own brand Noah. While his anti-consumption is interesting enough and echoes Yvon Chouinard's views it becomes truly relevant in the following paragraph:

 "There's something else that's worrying me, and it's something I don't know if I'll ever be able to fix. I don't know what to do about it." He shook his head. "I recently found out that PETA had outed Patagonia for buying wool from a company with farms where the sheep were being treated horribly. I mean, I watched the video and I was holding back tears. It was just brutal. It was atrocious. And, to their credit, Patagonia responded within a day. They dropped that company. But upon further research, I found that this sort of treatment could be common practice in the wool industry. And, I mean, Patagonia has the resources and the buying power to change their suppliers' practices, but for me, I'm too small. So, at the moment, I have no idea where my wool is coming from. I'm like, Do I not sell wool? I love wool. So I'm going to have to find suppliers who treat their animals in a reasonable way, or, you know, take it on the chin."

He thought for a second and added, "I'm not a vegan. I'm not going to stop eating meat. I would just like for animals to be treated in a reasonable way. We don't have to torture them."

I think this speaks volumes to how the perceptions are changing within the industry itself, an perhaps more importantly how this is on the agenda far beyond Patagonia and Stella McCartney . Also Noah seems pretty cool. 

Read the full story - Click here

Problem between Patagonia and PETA

I found an interesting article about a problem between Patagonia and PETA. It seems that PETA discovered that one of Patagonia's wool supplier has been cruel to sheep:

http://www.peta.org/blog/read-petas-response-to-patagonias-reaction-to-horrifying-investigation-of-its-sustainable-wool-supplier/

Although it seems that PETA is right about its claims, I find PETA's reaction and statements very exaggerated. PETA was expecting that Patagonia react immediately, without any previous investigation, and cut any ties with that supplier.

In my opinion, Patagonia is handling the situation properly. This incident only points out that there is still much to do regarding certification and implementation of the Value Chain Index framework.

Patagonia launches sustainable jeans "Patagonia Denim"

The jeanswear fashion often pollute the environment during their manufacturing process, and the Patagonia brand is looking to change that with its new collection of sustainable jeans. Comprising 100% organic cotton grown without synthetic fertilizers, pesticides or herbicides, the relaunched "Patagonia Denim" line uses environmentally sensitive dyes that attach more readily in the fiber, and uses 84% less water and 30% less power than the means conventional.

It would be great if the jeans industry could copy this example.

Patagonia and Stella McCartney playing different roles

Patagonia's most recent move is to release a documentary "Jumbo Wild" about protecting wilderness and originality of nature in Jumbo Valley. To be short, Jumbo Valley is a backcountry area in British Columbia, which is renowned among skiers for its natural environment and wilderness. The movement Patagonia involved with local conservatives, nature lover and skiers, is to resist a large-scale resort developing scheme.
I would also like to mention Patagonia's Tools Conference, a four-day intensive meeting of activists who will receive Patagonia's guidance about how to organize so that they can reach goals without encountering internal disorder.

These two presses are on their website, click through: http://www.patagoniaworks.com/press

These moves are quite impressive, in that they are not related to Patagonia's business, not very closely at least, yet through which I recognize that sustainability has been integrated into Patagonia's core value and vision deeply. Their don't aim at only making business sustainable. Moreover, they have ambition of support sustainability through whatever measures they got.

I also quickly searched about Stella McCartney. They are devoting in leading top fashion without hurting animals. Likewise, they realize about the cruelty existing in supply chain and workers. Recycling project is on running. Their moves deserve applause as well. But comparing with Patagonia, I sense the difference between integrated sustainable mindset and sustainable business.

KPMG report says that

51% of energy CEOs are worried about environmental regulation. #CEOoutlook http://bit.ly/1PJ4jdu