The garments are made over seas to boost profit. After pressing the issue I got what seemed to be a form letter response about how making their products in China and other countries left a smaller carbon footprint. I contact Patagonia with my concerns and they didn’t address them in the initial response. My next Patagonia catalog came and I noticed that everything in the catalog is now imported except the T shirts. I am willing to pay a premium for made in a America and try to avoid products made in China. I went back and started looking at all of my old pieces that I have collected over the decades and noted that every single one was made in America. Called Patagonia and of course they fixed it. What? The price was certainly still premium. Then the zipper failed and I looked over the jacket closely and noted it was made in China. I got my wife one of those down sweater/jacket deals that look great and function well. My last purchase from them was two or three years ago. Quality often comes at a premium and Patagonia’s eco friendly business model is easy to support. While I have supported the company I would not consider myself a fanatic as I pick and choose items as needed. I have shopped at Patagonia for about three decades and still have almost every item I have purchased from them. Patagonia also commissioned my buddy Foster Huntington to shoot a Legacy collection look book. This video from Patagonia sheds more light on the inspiration of the collection. The original down jacket on the far left, with two new versions.Ī Patagonia fleece from the archive that helped inspire Legacy. Vintage on the left the new All-Wear Down Jackets center and right. These Stand Up Pants were inspired by the ironworker pants that were beloved by early American climbers on the West Coast. Vintage raincoat on the left, the new Legacy Cagoule on the right. An archival quilted pullover on the left and the new Legacy Diamond Quilt Snap-T Pullover on the right.Ībove, the archival backpack and the new version from the Legacy collection. The prices for the line range from $99 for the Summit Pack to $349 for the Post Foamback Cagoule (rain poncho). Everything is made to be fully functional and it is an honest update to the originals. The legacy collection, which is, as mentioned, a small offering, freshens up classic items from the company’s history. The visit, for me, was as much about the culture as the clothes. It’s there when you walk in the door, when you see the children of the employees at the on-site company day care, when you talk with sponsored athletes coming by to swap out surfing gear and everywhere in between. This “vibe” is evident in so many of the moments at Patagonia. It seems about as low stress as it gets, an especially intriguing attribute for a company its size. Yvon Chouinard has instilled a deep commitment to the environment, the community and to the people who work at the company that can be seen and felt in every aspect of the place. Just walking around the company’s unimposing offices illustrate this point. I’m told occasionally Yvon will still work in this shop as a blacksmith. The shop remains completely intact and is still fully functional.

The foundry where Yvon Chouinard first started blacksmithing metal climbing instruments under the Great Pacific Iron Works name that is still on the front of the building. The Legacy collection is a subtle and steady take on the already great items from the Patagonia’s past.

I learned at that preview, and also later in Ventura, that heavy-handed is not Patagonia’s M.O. The last thing we want is some heavy-handed re-interpretation for no good reason. Often times, these types of historically slanted collections can be tricky and scary to the purists.

I was, admittedly, pretty nervous going in to see it. The scale of the company has grown over the past four decades, but the mission and the core values remain intact, much like the building in which it all started.īefore I made the trip to California, I saw the Legacy collection at a small preview in New York. Launching this September, the Patagonia Legacy collection is a small ten-piece capsule of product that traces back to the original items from the forty years of Patagonia. The point of my journey to Patagonia the company wasn’t to tour historic parking lots, it was the see a new collection of clothing that was inspired by the early and important Patagonia clothing that Yvon Chouinard created in that very same spot. A few months ago I made the trip to Ventura, California and stood in the parking lot where Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard embarked on one of his first climbing trips to Argentina.

Tailored grey patagonia pullover