Patagonia is the outdoor brand that transferred its entire ownership to the planet — and still makes ski shells that backcountry riders genuinely want to wear. Founded on 9 May 1973 in Ventura, California by Yvon Chouinard, the company has grown from a climber’s clothing sideline into a $1.5 billion revenue business with 3,000 employees operating in over 10 countries. That growth has come alongside a level of environmental commitment that no competitor in the snow sports industry has matched.
The Founder
Yvon Chouinard was born on 9 November 1938 in Lewiston, Maine. His family relocated to Southern California in 1947. By 1957, the teenage Chouinard was hand-forging steel pitons from a second-hand coal forge and selling them to fellow climbers for $1.50 each. Chouinard Equipment became a major force in American climbing hardware through the 1960s, with Chouinard himself making notable first ascents on El Capitan including the North America Wall (1964) and the Muir Wall (1965).
Around 1970, Chouinard recognised that the pitons his company manufactured were damaging the rock they were hammered into. He pivoted the entire business toward “clean climbing” alternatives — removable chocks and hexentrics that left no trace. It was an early signal of the principle that would define everything that followed: if the product harms the environment it operates in, redesign the product.
The clothing side of the business began with rugby shirts sold to climbers who needed something tougher than cotton. That sideline became Patagonia in 1973, named to evoke the remote landscapes of southern South America — a word that worked across languages and captured the brand’s wilderness orientation.
Earth as Shareholder
In September 2022, the Chouinard family did something unprecedented in corporate history: they gave Patagonia away. The company, valued at approximately $3 billion, was transferred to two entities. The Patagonia Purpose Trust received 2% of the company (all voting stock) to protect the brand’s values. The Holdfast Collective, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, received 98% (all nonvoting stock), with dividends funding environmental work.
“Earth is now our only shareholder,” the company announced.
The numbers since that transfer are concrete. Patagonia has given $180 million to the Holdfast Collective in the three years since restructuring. The company’s total environmental donations now exceed $240 million. That’s funded by actual margin on actual product sales — the environmental commitment is structurally embedded in the business model, not dependent on a marketing budget line item.
Chouinard was named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in 2023 for the ownership transfer. The company is now led by CEO Ryan Gellert, who took the role in September 2020.
The Snow Sports Range
Patagonia’s ski-specific line is built around the SnowDrifter shell and the Powder Town pants system, with the brand’s layering pieces — the Nano-Air and R1 families — providing the thermal architecture underneath. The approach is backcountry-first: lightweight, breathable, and designed for people who earn their turns rather than ride chairlifts.
SnowDrifter Jacket — $449 (Men’s and Women’s)
The SnowDrifter is Patagonia’s flagship ski shell. The specs: a 3-layer H2No Performance Standard construction using 4.3-oz 50-denier 100% recycled polyester stretch plain weave. Waterproof rating is 20,000mm. Weight is 21.87oz in a men’s medium. The DWR finish is PFC-free. Sizes run XS to 3XL.
GearJunkie called it “stretchy, light, wind- and waterproof, packable, and steazy — the perfect backcountry companion.” The breathability scores high marks thanks to the H2No membrane, a moisture-wicking soft knit backer, and pit zips. The stretch fabric allows unrestricted movement on the skin track, and the helmet-compatible hood fits snugly to keep snow out.
Where the SnowDrifter shows its limitations is in sustained heavy rain and extreme cold. Reviewers note that the H2No membrane, while excellent in dry snow conditions, doesn’t feel as impervious as Gore-Tex equivalents in prolonged wet weather. It’s also an uninsulated shell — designed for active skiing where body heat provides the warmth, not for standing at the top of a lift queue in January.
The SnowDrifter is available in both men’s and women’s versions.
Nano-Air Hoody
The Nano-Air is Patagonia’s answer to the insulated midlayer problem for ski touring. The FullRange synthetic insulation maintains loft when damp — critical in mountain conditions where down collapses — and the air-permeable construction breathes during high-effort skinning without the overheating that standard insulated midlayers create.
R1 Air Crew
The R1 family has been a Patagonia mainstay for over two decades. The Polartec Power Grid fleece construction delivers warmth-to-weight that synthetic alternatives still struggle to match, with a surface texture engineered for moisture management during activity.
The Ambassador Philosophy
Patagonia selects snow sports ambassadors based on values alignment, not podium rankings. The roster includes:
- Kye Petersen — big-mountain skier who specialises in remote mountaineering-accessed descents worldwide
- Caroline Gleich — ski mountaineer and environmental advocate, the first skier to become a Blue Climate and Oceans Project ambassador
- Marie-France Roy — one of the most versatile riders in snowboarding, recipient of the 2015 Protect Our Winters Climate Activist Award
- Max Hammer — backcountry specialist who combines athleticism with an artistic approach to remote terrain
- Leah Evans — professional skier who runs Girls Do Ski camps to help women reach their potential on snow
The athletes serve as environmental storytellers as much as product testers. It’s a sponsorship model that reflects the brand’s core position: performance in the mountains is inseparable from protecting those mountains.
Worn Wear
Patagonia’s Worn Wear programme is the most developed repair and resale initiative in the outdoor industry. The numbers: 110 repair centres globally, approximately 30,000 garments repaired in Europe alone during 2024, with a target of 100,000 repairs per year by 2028. The brand’s largest repair facility operates in Reno, Nevada.
According to WRAP research cited in Worn Wear’s reporting, extending a garment’s lifespan by just nine months reduces its carbon footprint, water consumption, and waste production by 20–30%.
The ReCrafted programme, launched in 2019, goes further — creating new clothing from fabric scraps of used Patagonia gear. Mobile repair teams travel to events across Europe, and fixed repair centres operate in partnership with the United Repair Centre in Amsterdam and London.
For ski outerwear, this has a direct practical benefit: a SnowDrifter purchased through Worn Wear has been inspected, repaired, and certified to perform. It’s Patagonia-quality kit at a reduced price, with the environmental benefit of keeping a functional jacket out of landfill.
The Wider Environmental Record
The company’s environmental commitments are structural, not seasonal:
- 1% for the Planet: Patagonia has donated 1% of total sales (or 10% of profits, whichever is greater) to environmental organisations since 1986. Chouinard formalised this into the 1% for the Planet organisation in 2002.
- Organic cotton: The entire cotton line transitioned to organic in 1996 — years before sustainability became a mainstream marketing angle.
- Black Friday 2016: Patagonia donated its entire $10 million Black Friday revenue to environmental organisations.
- Corporate logos removed (2021): Patagonia stopped adding corporate logos to garments to extend their useful life beyond any single company’s tenure.
The Honest Assessment
Patagonia’s premium pricing reflects genuine cost. The environmental standards, the organic and recycled materials, the Worn Wear infrastructure, the 1% donation — all of these add real expense to the supply chain. A SnowDrifter at $449 costs more than DTC alternatives like Dope Snow’s Adept at £183 or Montec’s Fury at a similar price point, and the spec sheet won’t always justify the gap in pure technical terms.
What justifies it is the total proposition: a backcountry shell built from recycled materials, backed by a lifetime repair guarantee, sold by a company that has given $240 million to environmental causes and transferred its entire ownership to the planet. For riders who care about what their money funds as much as what it buys, Patagonia’s position is unmatched.
The H2No membrane is not Gore-Tex. The SnowDrifter won’t outperform a dedicated storm shell in the worst weather. But for backcountry touring in the conditions where most riders spend most of their days, the SnowDrifter is an excellent piece of kit from a company whose environmental credibility no competitor can touch.