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190 • Green Project Management

Patagonia
One of the companies that immediately comes to mind when we think
of green is Patagonia. Patagonia is a $316 million-a-year, privately owned
company based in Ventura, California. We’ve worn their “plastic” fleeces
for many years. But it’s certainly not all about recycling with Patagonia.
Their mission statement says: “Build the best product, cause no unneces-
sary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environ-
mental crisis.” That mission statement tells only part of Patagonia’s story.
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Principle 4 of the Natural Step states that in response to the conditions
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that undermine the capacity of people to meet their needs, companies
need to eliminate their contribution to those conditions. As an example,
companies must eliminate unsafe working conditions.Through their social
responsibility manager, presently Nicolle Bassett, Patagonia does just that.
In an industry know for unsavory practices like subpar wages, extremely
long workweeks, unsafe working conditions, and even child labor (does
the word sweatshop come to mind?), Patagonia has seized the initiative
and instituted its own set of rules.

Fair Labor Association is a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending
sweatshop conditions in factories worldwide. Their mission is to pro-
tect workers’ rights and improve working conditions.

In the late 1990s, Patagonia instituted social auditing, where third-party
auditors under the direction of the social responsibility manager audit
Patagonia’s foreign and domestic production facilities to assure compli-
ance with the Fair Labor Association’s recommendations. Their code of
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conduct requires their contractors to comply with local law, but even if
the local law allows, they will work with no factory that employs work-
ers under 15, the minimum age acceptable to the International Labor
Organization. Patagonia even goes as far as to publish their list of factories
so that they can be scrutinized by any agency, stakeholder, or customer
who wants information.
It is clear that environmentalism is in Patagonia’s DNA just as it should
be in a project manager’s DNA. Using some of the methods that Patagonia
uses can enhance the project manager’s ability to view their projects