Patagonia uses capitalism to save the planet with the Holdfast Collective
Source: https://www.fastcompany.com/90850251/holdfast-collective-patagonia-chouinard-earth
Author: Kristin Toussaint
In 1993, Patagonia made its first fleece jacket from recycled soda bottles. It would take awhile for other companies to start to see the same potential in transforming recycled materials into new goods, but we’ve stad to see large, name-brand companies start to embrace the potential in reinventing reclaimed plastic for fresh production. Dell, the major computer manufacturer and a company with a deserved reputation for supply chain prowess, introduced monitors and desktops that incorporate recycled plastic in 2014. The company, which has been recycling components inside of its computers since 2007, then partnered with the not-for-profit Lonely Whale in 2017 to create NextWave Plastics, a cross-industry initiative whose goal is to build and grow a commercial supply chain for ocean-bound plastics. In its 2021 annual report (its most recent as of February 2023), the organization repod that it had dived more than 2,200 metric tons of plastic from the ocean in four years, and more than 337 products were made from this waste, from the likes of Herman Miller, Ikea, Shinola, and more. Adidas made a splash with its first ocean plastic sneakers in 2015, a demonstration produced in just six days for Earth Day. In partnership with Parley for the Oceans, the athletic apparel giant scaled production to 1 million pairs of shoes made with Parley Ocean Plastic in 2017.