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… — Yvon Chouinard Copy Share
I never wanted to be a businessman; I was a craftsman and good at working with my hands. At some point, I… — Yvon Chouinard Copy Share Image
...there's no such thing as sustainability. There are just levels of it. It's a process, not a real goal. All you can… — Yvon Chouinard Copy Share Image
A real capitalist knows that $10 given today does a lot more good than $100 given 10 years from now. — Yvon Chouinard Copy Share Image
Doing risk sports had taught me another important lesson: never exceed your limits. You push the envelope and you live for those moments when you’re right on the edge, but you don’t go over. You have to be true to yourself; you have to know your strengths and limitations and live within your means. The same is true for a… — Yvon Chouinard Copy Share
But I'm really trying to run this company like it is going to be here a hundred years from now. That's what's important. — Yvon Chouinard Copy Share Image
Who are businesses really responsible to? Their customers? Shareholders? Employees? We would argue that it’s none of the above. Fundamentally, businesses are responsible to… — Yvon Chouinard Copy Share Image
It's okay to be eccentric if you're rich; otherwise you're just crazy. — Yvon Chouinard Copy Share Image
Evil doesn’t have to be an overt act; it can be merely the absence of good. If you have the ability, the resources, and… — Yvon Chouinard Copy Share Image
The whole purpose of climbing something like Everest is to effect some sort of spiritual and physical gain. But if you compromise the process… — Yvon Chouinard Copy Share Image
At Patagonia, making a profit is not the goal because the Zen master would say profits happen 'when you do everything else right'. — Yvon Chouinard Copy Share Image
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… — Yvon Chouinard Copy Share Image
We've teamed up with some Japanese companies to, basically by 2010, make all our clothing out of recycled and recyclable fibers. And we're going to accept ownership of our products from birth to birth. So if you buy a jacket from us, or a shirt ,or a pair of pants, when you're done with it, you can give it back… — Yvon Chouinard Copy Share
