It’s no secret that Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard and The North Face founder Doug Tompkins were lifelong friends all the way up to Tompkins’ death in a kayaking accident in 2015. The Patagonia logo, in fact, is based on the silhouette of Mount Fitzroy in, you guessed it, Patagonia, where Chouinard and Tompkins journeyed in 1968.
Despite the friendship between the two founders and the similarity in products, however, Patagonia and The North Face are two very different companies when it comes to their approach towards sales and environmental conservation. While Patagonia seeks partnerships with non-profits and works to defend land from oil companies, The North Face partners up with massive luxury brands like Gucci (that’s not to say The North Face doesn’t put any effort into conservation, but it’s certainly less than Patagonia). So how did these companies end up so incredibly different? What took one down the path to seek out conservation efforts, and the other down the path to seek out massive sales? Future Proof released this video back in December, and it explains it all.
Image Credit: Future Proof via YouTube
