Why Patagonia encourages its employees to vote for the planet

Ahead of the election, we’re talking to companies that use their brands and their employees to push policies and candidates, as well as organizations that try to dial down the political temperature by promoting constructive dialog. Today, as part of our “Office Politics” series, we hear from a consumer brand that wants its position known to the world: It’s for the environment and against climate change.

Corley Kenna is vice president of communications and public policy at the outdoor clothing and gear brand Patagonia. She spoke with “Marketplace Morning Report” host David Brancaccio. The following is an edited transcript of their conversation.

David Brancaccio: Why not be apolitical, a keep-your-head-down kind of company that doesn’t start trouble?

Corley Kenna: So at Patagonia, our purpose is we’re in business to save our home planet, and we’re really serious about that. And we also feel we need to use all the tools in the toolbox to save our home planet, and that includes electing leaders who share our sense of urgency in addressing this crisis.

Brancaccio: I mean, you invite customers in on that campaign. I was watching a video the company put out last year on the 50th anniversary of Patagonia. It embraces a kind of activism in the name of resilience. And if you watch the video carefully, it lingers for a couple frames on a button that an activist might wear that reads, “Vote the jerks out.” But it didn’t say jerks; it’s a word that begins with “a” and ends in “holes.” But I think that line was sewn into some of your clothing. That is a call to political activism on things like climate change.

Kenna: It is. We certainly recognize that we need our entire community to join us in this very difficult journey in addressing our planetary crisis. But look, when the company was only five years old, our founders at the time took out an ad in the local paper here in Ventura asking the community to vote in favor of candidates and ballot measures that would improve environmental protections. Almost since the company was founded, we’ve been supporting small, grassroots environmental nonprofits, because we thought that was a necessary part of how we might protect our planet. In the past 20 years, we’ve been very active on getting our community out to vote and volunteer. And it’s never been about politics per se, it’s always been about voting for the planet. It’s with that one lens that we use to ask our community, “Join us in electing climate leaders.”

Brancaccio: But you might alienate some customers. Now, I will say there weren’t a lot of comments listed on the version of the Patagonia 50th video that I saw, but the very first comment makes the risk to a company like Patagonia clear: It reads, “I’m done with Patagonia now.” Obviously, they’re trying to tell people what party to vote for. You sell clothing. Who I vote for is none of your business. I mean, if he acts on that, you lose some money.

Kenna: Look, we worry any time we turn off our customers. That’s something we take very seriously. But we advocate for the planet because it is our one and only home, and we want to see it protected. Also, our business depends on it. We’re a company that was founded by a group of surfers and rock climbers who spent all their free time outdoors, and they witnessed the effects of the climate crisis, the environmental crisis firsthand. We continue to be led by people who also enjoy nature and our community likes spending time in nature. What doesn’t work is when companies take their communities by surprise with a position. But we’ve been pretty clear for 50 years that our position is our planet is worth saving.

Brancaccio: Now, you’ve been in the business world a good while, and Patagonia is a privately held company, not listed on the stock exchange. You must thank your lucky stars often that you’re not publicly traded, because it would make taking these positions, I would assume, harder.

Kenna: Look, it helps that our board and our leadership team are very clear-eyed on our purpose, and they are very disciplined to it. But I also think sometimes it can be a convenient excuse for public companies to say that living up to their values isn’t possible because they’re a public company. But it does help that we have founders and leaders who are very clear-eyed on the problem and want us to be a part of solving for it.

Brancaccio: Especially serious subject I wanted to bring up: There is potential friction with customers, but possibly conflict with internal stakeholders. Your employees are unlikely to be a complete monoculture, and I saw shortly after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Patagonia announced it would bail out employees arrested for participating in peaceful protests advocating for abortion rights. Your own employees might have felt marginalized by this position. What was the thinking? And was there internal blowback?

Kenna: Yeah, that bail policy is actually a policy we’ve had in place for decades. Our founder, Yvon Chouinard, has felt that participation in civil society and that right to vote, right to protest were really important, foundational elements that we should see protected and think about as a business how we support, right? And so we support our employees going out to protest, and if they have been trained in nonviolent direct action and they’ve gone through that training, if they get arrested when they are protesting, we will bail them out — that’s our company policy. But you’re right that providing context to our colleagues is important on why we take the stands that we do. Ahead of the elections in November, we’ll share a lot about various positions candidates are taking on the issues that matter to us, encourage them to take time to learn their ballot, we’ll bring in speakers to share about that — all of that, which really helps, I think, our colleagues sort of understand why we’re doing what we’re doing, and to help them take meaningful action and join us.

Brancaccio: All right, so, at the very least, one takeaway here is that, as a company, you’re not keeping your head down in an election year for fear of being labeled a “woke company” or anything.

Kenna: We are not taking this year off. I think our planet, it’s in a real state of crisis, and the crisis is urgent. This is not the year to take off, and we will be very active in getting our community out, starting with our colleagues out to vote and to volunteer also.