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Patagonia has made major waves this past week with the release of its first-ever "Work in Progress" impact report, a document that's being hailed as refreshingly honest in an industry notorious for greenwashing. Released by the Ventura-based outdoor retailer, the report breaks sharply from traditional corporate sustainability messaging by centering on the company's biggest unresolved challenges rather than polished achievements.

The report opens with a blunt statement: "Nothing we do is sustainable." CEO Ryan Gellert elaborated on this paradox, noting that while Patagonia's charter mandates socially and environmentally responsible practices, every product the company makes consumes irreplaceable planetary resources. He emphasized that this tension is not lost on leadership. Founder Yvon Chouinard, now 87 and working harder than he expected after giving the company away in 2022, contributed his own foreword warning that threats to planetary health are accelerating and that extractive capitalism has become government doctrine.

The report's data reveals mixed progress. On the positive side, 84 percent of fabric and trims are now "preferred materials" with reduced environmental impact, and the company has eliminated PFAS from all new products. The popular Worn Wear resale program generated thirteen million dollars in revenue while reselling 212,000 products. However, emissions rose two percent in fiscal 2025, driven largely by a shift toward more carbon-intensive packs and duffels. The company has abandoned its carbon-neutral targets in favor of a more aggressive net-zero commitment by 2040, which requires roughly ten percent annual emission reductions.

The document has gone viral on social media, with hundreds praising Patagonia's radical transparency and willingness to publicly acknowledge what it hasn't figured out. Users highlighted how the report creates space for honest conversations about messy progress. However, some ESG professionals have criticized the hundred-page report for lacking detailed KPI documentation, methods of measurement, and clear data boundaries, noting it requires determined readers to piece together actual findings from dense narrative sections.

The report also underscores Patagonia's unusual governance model. Since September 2022, founder Yvon Chouinard and his family transferred ownership to the Patagonia Purpose Trust and Holdfast Collective, ensuring the company's original goal of saving the planet remains central while unreinvested profits support nature conservation projects.

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