Outside: Yvon Chouinard No Longer Owns Patagonia.

Effective immediately, 100 percent of Patagonia’s earnings not reinvested in the business will be distributed to the Holdfast Collective to help “protect nature and biodiversity, support thriving communities, and fight the environmental crisis,” according to a press release. The company has for years donated 1 percent of its sales to grassroots and environmental causes, but this shift will increase that figure dramatically. The estimated charitable outlay of the new company will be roughly $100 million a year.

Yvon Chouinard:

“One option was to sell Patagonia and donate all the money,” he wrote. “But we couldn’t be sure a new owner would maintain our values or keep our team of people around the world employed. Another path was to take the company public. What a disaster that would have been. Even public companies with good intentions are under too much pressure to create short-term gain at the expense of long-term vitality and responsibility. Truth be told, there were no good options available. So, we created our own.”

Yvon Chouinard is quite a character, and I've always liked him. Patagonia's products were always a bit more pricy, but the quality is amazing and their commitment to the environment more than makes up for it.

I've you've not already watch Valley Uprising, you should. It's a great film about rock climbing in Yosemite and Chouinard plays a key part in it. He's a legend.