The Dirt Patagonia’s Quar terly Employee Newslet ter
The Reno Edition | May 2016
May 2016
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A Word From Rose
Hi All, Welcome to the seventh quarterly issue of The Dirt. In it we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Reno Service Center, home to our DC and customer-service teams, and the Nevada branch of the Patagonia culture. No surf breaks, grasshopper pumpjacks or lemon orchards here. Instead there’s the Sierra at your back, wild rivers, a slower urban pace and just as strong a sense of community as we know in Ventura, as well as some of the same benefits. During the past three years Reno has gained both a stellar new café and a fledgling on-site child care center. What's different about Reno? As Dave Abeloe, the DC’s boss for the past 35 years points out, the actual work is fairly cut and dry for many employees–picking, packing and shipping. But everyone from warehouse staff to repair techs to our amazing customer service people share the same sense of freedom as their Ventura colleagues to exercise their best judgment and turn out high-quality work, unbound by convention. You notice that time and again in this issue: when Andrew Marshall describes what child care means to him as an expectant father (and now a father), when Reno-native Lloyd Stradley
Photos: Tim Davis, Andrew Marshall Cover Photo: Jeff Johnson
talks about the changes in his home town and when Tanya Nawrocki tells us what she appreciates about her colleagues in the Repair Center. Our customer service people also share some amazing tales from customers. And no less remarkable, a handful of employees describe what they do in their lives away from work–whether as activist, climber, longdistance runner, musician or contortionist. Do not miss Ron Hunter’s article on the difference we’ve made as homegrown activists in Nevada since we first arrived in 1996. Our Reno staffers helped germinate grassroots efforts that have secured, so far, the conservation of more 3 million acres in the state, most of it wilderness. -Rose
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Interview with Dave Abeloe, DC Director
First, a distinction: The Reno Service Center is home to customer service staff for E-Commerce and dealer services for wholesale as well as the Distribution Center, which includes the departments that handle our repairs and incoming and outgoing shipments. For Patagoniacs outside Reno who sweat over the weedy nuances of how to finance, design, produce, market and sell Patagonia clothing and gear, or who guard our trademarks, or care for our kids, or serve up sea bass in the café, or work to help the world’s activists protect and restore the natural world, the first thing you experience behind the double doors that lead to the DC is the omigod moment, the sheer volume–and reality–of the stuff we produce, all those big boxes piled to the rafters in a building whose footprint exceeds that of five American football fields or one IKEA, but without the maze or meatballs.
The second thing you experience is the overwhelming desire to climb on the moving package-conveyor belt for a leisurely ride around the building, but posted signs advise against this. The Dirt recently spoke with Dave Abeloe, who has overseen the flow of the company’s goods for nearly four decades, first in Ventura and, for the past 20 years, in Reno. We asked him his perspective on his work and on the company: what he has seen, what he foresees.
Photos: Tim Davis
You’ve worked here for a while?
Has anything stayed noticeably the same?
Since March 6, 1978. I grew up hiking and backpacking, then as a teenager took climbing lessons and got hooked. Of course I had no money to buy all the gear so I thought if I could get a job at GPIW [the Ventura retail store] I could get a discount. I was still in my last year of high school. I liked working here. Then, as now, it’s the people you work with that make Patagonia so worthwhile.
I’ve always had the conviction that my responsibility exceeds my authority and I think most people at Patagonia had that sense then and still have that sense now. You keep your eye out. You work as peers and support each other for the good of the whole. Some people may print their job title on their business cards now for the benefit of outsiders but inside we function as colleagues.
Our big ambition, for those of us who worked the retail floor, was to get a higher-paying job “in the back,” what’s now the Crystal Palace and was then the warehouse. I started as a packer working for Tony Kerwin [Matt and Mary Kerwin’s brother] and when he moved on in 1979, I took over and I’ve been running shipping and receiving ever since. We did about $2 million when I started. It’s a little different now.
Had a few bosses? I think 27 in 38 years. We used to say everything changes here but the rice and beans [which was served Mondays in the café for decades], but that’s changed now too.
Any differences between the two cultures in Ventura and Reno? The work at the DC is pretty straightforward: we pick, pack and ship. What keeps the DC in tune with the rest of Patagonia, for me and everyone else, is the people–and the work/life balance. We don’t have anyone with a clipboard watching you. People cover for each other, whether for a kid’s concert or game or longer term for a serious illness, as long as we meet the service level requirements. That balance is what keeps me sane. For years I’ve taken off every May to spend time in the mountains, confident that everything will go well. We have a great management team and everyone understands their role, from supervisor
to the janitor whose job it is to keep the space neat, clean and safe. We have a good homegrown environment: the garden, the café, child care just starting, the enviro days Kim organizes. Sometimes people leave here to chase better dollars elsewhere and end up coming back: for the company, the message, who we are.
Any critical issues facing you now? In my world, I don’t ask for much but when I do, it ain’t going to be cheap. We recently had an outside group do an analysis of our global supply chain and they confirmed that the Reno DC will reach capacity in 2018, two years from now. That’s not news but reinforces what we predicted when we built the DC in 1996 and expanded it 10 years later. We already have to lease extra space storage capability. So we’re looking now at where and how to add capacity, whether here in Reno or by adding a facility in the East.
Where are you going this May? Sue and I are going to do the Muir Trail, which I last did 40 years ago, the whole stretch from Tuolumne to Whitney where we’ve spent so many summers.
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May 2016
The Facility
by Andrew Marshall
LEEDing the Way LEED certification, the building standard for resource efficiency established by the United States Green Building Council (USGBC), stands for ‘Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. LEED has revolutionized commercial construction by proving that greener building standards create healthier workspaces and that better-quality construction repays owners and investors over time. The LEED standard was first introduced in 2000; at the time only 635 buildings worldwide met the criteria for certification. Today more than 74,500 commercial projects (not including homes, schools or government buildings) comprising 1.85 million square feet have been certified in more than 150 countries.
LEED did not yet exist when we built the first phase of our Reno Service Center in 1996, but we introduced several features that would become part of the standard. You’ll notice some on a visit to the restroom. The countertops (a brilliant tie-dye of sorts) are recycled, the sinks motion sensitive and the urinals waterless. You won’t find many light switches either. The motion-sensitive lights in the dark aisles of the warehouse turn on as you walk in–and turn off shortly after you leave. Visit the warehouse early in the morning on a hot summer day and you’ll notice the warehouse smells of cool, fresh air due to air intake vents that allow night air to enter the building and warm daytime air to escape.
A Dive into Our Dumpster The copper lines crisscrossing the ceiling supply radiant heat. And it’s always as bright in the building as the sun will allow: the skylights have a solar-powered motor that tracks the sun’s movement across the sky and allows as much light as possible into the building. When we built out the Service Center’s second phase, in 2006, LEED had come into formal existence and we had accumulated the experience and confidence to seek certification. The following summer we were granted certification at the Gold level. It was a first for Patagonia, a first for our building’s contractor, and a first for the Reno area. Now several LEED buildings dot Northern Nevada. We’ve always been good at leading the way.
Hungry raccoons, rats, cats, and climbers on their way to the Sierra have all expressed their dismay. When it comes to dumpster diving at the Service Center, disappointment is in store. Ninety-five percent of all the waste stream generated (by weight) in the warehouse is recycled. Most of the other 5 percent ends up either in our 30-yard dumpster or as compost. On
average, the dumpster gets emptied twice a year. It’s no wonder the stray cats in the neighborhood lurk around the front door every day. Cardboard and plastic thieves could have had better luck. We wrap bundles of both used materials in our compressor system and store them onsite until the prices per pound reach the high side, or until we run out of room to store them. At times
Photos: Tim Davis
the bundles can be worth as much as $700 each. We do keep a small 3-yard dumpster for the more fragrant waste produced on-site that cannot be recycled or composted. It makes up a miniscule percentage of the total and is only emptied when necessary. If you’re a hungry climber on your way to the Sierra, we apologize. That dumpster we keep locked inside.
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Repairs & Worn Wear
May 2016
by Tanya Nawrocki
Behind the Scenes Worn Wear has received a lot of attention from the media, customers and Patagonia colleagues. To shine a spotlight on what we’re doing, and in line with the down-to-ear th feel of Worn Wear, I interviewed two of our employees who work hard and passionately to make repairs and Worn Wear successful. Silvia and Dylan play a huge, of ten unrecognized, role in bringing back repair skills to help preserve the planet’s resources.
Silvia Aguilera
Dylan Malfa
R E PA I R S S U PE RV I SO R
WA D E R R E PA I R S U PE RV I SO R
How long have you been with Patagonia?
Please give a short bio of yourself and how you came to Patagonia.
I’ve been working at Patagonia for almost 14 years. I started working for QC [quality control] and after seven months was hired in repairs.
How did you learn to sew? Do you think it’s an important skill that is no longer being taught like it used to? How are you keeping the skill alive? I learned to sew from my mom. When I was little, my mom was on her own with seven kids to take care of and she had to learn to sew so she could support us. I started out sewing buttons and cutting threads, and after a couple of years I was sewing alongside her. When I look at my granddaughters, I want to know that they will grow up in a world where we keep alive skills that that help reduce our use of natural resources. Working for Patagonia I am able to teach everything I know.
What other hobbies/interests do you have? I like to do exercise, I love Zumba and yoga. I enjoy watching a good movie or listening to a good audiobook.
I’m a native Nevadan who grew up fishing, playing in the mountains, camping, swimming in Lake Tahoe, playing soccer, skateboarding and snowboarding. I graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno (Go Pack!) in 2008 with a degree in journalism. The culture, the people and Patagonia’s philosophy on the environment, conservation and restoration are the big factors that made me want to work here. I started out on the phones, chat and email in customer service before making the move to wader repairs.
How long have you been fishing? Who taught you how? I took my first fishing trip when I was four years old with my dad, uncle and cousin in Idaho on the Snake River. As the story goes, I was the only one who caught a fish on that trip and the rest is history. The three main people who not only taught me to fish, but also kept me stoked, were my Grandpa Phil, my dad and my friend Charles.
What are you passionate about? What is your favorite part about your job? Music and the arts, the environment, fishing, family and friends. My favorite part about my job, aside from working with inspiring and creative folks, is taking something that someone loves and thought was probably gone for good and making it new again. Photos: Tim Davis, Fred Marmsater
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Our River as Teacher Rivers have always been a part of my life. Growing up in Wisconsin we used to canoe in the summer, hunt in the fall, play hockey on the ice in the winter and catch fish in the spring. I’ll always remember a time back around sixth grade when my friend Nathaniel and I got excited about tying flies. It still amazes me that we had the patience for it, and even more amazing that we used to catch bluegills on dry flies, like lightning bugs in a jar–a handful or more at a time.
The Trukizo Canteen
by Andrew Marshall
I learned as a child that a river provides endless life lessons. So when we named our new child care program here at the Service Center the Truckee River Child Development Center (TRDC), it seemed the perfect fit. My son, a firstborn, will arrive in the world by the time this story goes to print and I’ll be well into the flow of learning to be a parent. Having a place like the TRCDC for my son to learn his first lessons on the banks of the Truckee River is a dream come true. I can’t imagine
Photo: Anrew Marshall
a child-care situation that would make more sense to me as a parent or one more in line with the way I grew up. I still keep those old flies I tied in an even older tackle box in the garage. I would never use them for fear they would disintegrate when cast into the water, but every time I look at them they remind me how the river is a source of life–and a great teacher. I’m glad my kid will know the Truckee, as a river and a place.
Time was you wanted to get to work early for the best selection of Phil Otero’s Big Philly Burritos. They were wildly popular and usually sold out within a couple of hours. Phil, who works in custodial services and recycling here in Reno, made them at home maybe twice a week. So if you paid attention to his cooking schedule and got to work early enough, you were sure to have your pick. Each was individually wrapped, with its contents and price marked with Sharpie, and placed in a basket behind the receptionist’s desk with an honor box.
by Andrew Marshall
In 2013, we finally made the big move beyond Phil’s delicious but sporadic burritos to open the full-service Trukizo Canteen, inspired by Ventura’s legendary Aloha Café. We imported some of Ventura’s recipes, like braised organic short ribs with wasabi mashed potatoes, baby bok choy, and carrots with an orange ginger glaze. And we adopted their best habits. We support local farms, and include as many organic and biodynamic ingredients as possible.
Photo: Tim Davis
We offer same-flavor protein from both meat and vegan sources, and enough choices to keep our gluten- and lactoseintolerant co-workers well-fed and happy. The garden on the east side of the building, managed by River School Farm, provides 25 percent of the produce. When kids in the Truckee River Child Care Center grow old enough to learn where food comes from, that garden will serve as an outdoor classroom as well.
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Life in Reno The name of my town conjures up interesting images for many folks. For some, it’s urban sprawl crawling up brown hills seen through an airplane window; for others slot machines on the way to baggage claim and a rental car; freeways leading to the snow-covered Carson Range. For those who’ve never visited, perhaps it’s casinos, bars, bright lights, the divorce capital reputation of years ago. Other visitors may remember the seediness of the downtown casino core; the homeless and down and out shuffling along West Fourth Street; even a taxi ride to the brothels out east of Sparks. As a native, I see neighborhoods where I’ve lived, schools, parks. The summer sky as a kid, with the spotlights from Harold’s Club sweeping across; at least three versions of the Reno Arch coming and going; my first hunting trip with my brother; camping among the sagebrush; digging a snow cave; hunting for arrowheads at Pyramid Lake.
by Lloyd Stradley
My elementary school was built in 1908, one of four inspired by California mission architecture. One of those is still a school, another has been refurbished as a riverfront cultural center. The junior high school I attended was a two-and-a-half story brick building located two blocks from the casinos, a spot now occupied by the National Bowling Stadium. Reno’s urban life then was so centered on downtown that three schools located no more than five or six blocks from one another were named “Northside,” “Southside,” and “Central.” Before the first mall, downtown had all the shopping: department and specialty stores lined Sierra Street, there was even a grocery on Virginia Street, the main casino drag. My first job was in a hardware store along the railroad tracks. Even then it was decades old, with tall rolling ladders built along the walls to access shelves filled all the way to high metal-impressed ceiling tiles. My work commute now is a 20-minute bike ride. From work I can hike 15
minutes up into the hills and reach the Mt. Rose Wilderness Area, where coyotes, bobcats and bear leave their tracks. In an hour I can be on the beach at Lake Tahoe or in high desert, walking along strand lines left from ancient Lake Lahontan. Living here still means being in a small town, one that has history, PTAs, mansions and trailer parks, a ring road around the entire valley, intersecting freeways that only get more crowded, subdivisions and warehouses reaching to desert valleys and beyond. It means having a symphony, chamber orchestra, the university, opera, an incredible art museum, a ballet company, dedicated bike lanes and paths, a 12- mile-long river walk that runs from Verdi in the west to Vista in the east, a thriving music and comedy scene, minor league ballpark, and of course places for hipsters to hang.
Photos: Andrew Marshall
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Cool Things Employees Do
Erik Schulte
Matt Storm
Ruth Ebens
R E N O O U T L E T S A L E S A S S O C I AT E
PAC K I N G F L O O R L E A D
D E A L E R S E R V I C E R E PR E S E N TAT I V E
I’ve been bouncing around Patagonia for the past four or so years. My passions include peanut butter, mountains and Willie Nelson. My main jam is mountain/ultra running, but I enjoy any efficient movement through the mountains. Accomplishments include first at the 2015 Angeles Crest 100, third at Zane Grey 50, second at Golden Gate 50k.
I am a self-taught knife maker, jewelry maker and craftsman. I started making knives in 2013. I make custom survival knives, outdoor knives, bush craft knives and everyday personal self-defense carry knives. I try to use recycled material in all my projects, including anything from old skateboard decks for knife handles, to old railroad spikes and files for my steel. My jewelry is a direct reflection of my knives and usually consist of tiny versions of knives or hatchets, all made from scrap or leftover material. I love creating amazing art that people get to use and wear every day.
I am a freestyle kayaker and new mom. I have podiumed 3 times at the World Championships, including being crowned World Champion in 2007. Currently my sights are set on the 2017 World Championships. When not chasing waves, I can be found mountain biking, skiing or toting a happy baby in a backpack.
All photos courtesy of the employees
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Monty Adams RECEIVING DOCK LEAD
I’ve worked for Patagonia for two years and my passion is playing trumpet in the horn-heavy soul & funk seven-piece band, Mojo Green. Most of the band members work full time, but we still manage to play over 60 shows a year and our second album was released on March 19th (check us out on Spotify, Pandora and iTunes).
Steve Avery M E R C H A N D I S E PR O C E S S O R
Yoshiko Miyazaki-Back
I started drawing and doodling as a kid. I still do. I didn’t start painting until I was released from the hospital after having contracted encephalitis (caused by West Nile virus). After I got home, it became apparent that brain and nerve damage had occurred… so I was worried I might not be able to draw anymore. But actually, I got better. Art in general became easier and I picked up a brush and started painting. I had my first art show less than a year later. Patagonia was my first job back into the work force. So painting and Patagonia have been a huge part of my recovery. Currently I am working on a comic project, which has been on my “to do” list for far too long.
TM Herbert
C U S T O M E R S E R V I C E S U PP O R T T E A M
R E T I R E D C L I M B E R / D I R T B AG
R E PA I R T E C H
I am a contortionist. I used to be a gymnast and suffered an injury from competitive pole dancing so I focused on stretching during recovery. I quickly became obsessed with contortion since my muscles and joints have never felt better after a couple hours of training. It requires a lot of physical and mental strength as you push your limits to go deeper and hold positions longer. Most people don’t have the strength, determination or pain tolerance to advance, so it feels like a unique sport. I will be training with an amazing contortionist in L.A. in March and a former Olympic rhythmic gymnast in April here in Reno. I hope to travel to Mongolia someday to see the beautiful landscapes and train with the remarkable Mongolian contortionists.
Everyone featured here currently works in Reno, except the infamous TM Herbert, who recently retired physically but spiritually is very much with us. For climbers he is a Big Wall pioneer who needs no introduction; for everyone else–look him up. On most working days, TM could be found at some point outside at the tables recounting outrageously funny tales of Yosemite and salacious titbits of YC trivia.
I am a wood craftsman. I have my own company, Sierra Surf Company, and I handcraft hollow wood surfboards, paddleboards and longboard skateboards. I use reclaimed wood as much as possible. I also enjoy making stuff for friends and family, for example I made a mini replica VW camper bus (with space for a cooler box) for my two-year-old niece.
D E A L E R S E R V I C E S R E PR E S E N TAT I V E
ENVIRO
Jon Hatjakes C U S T O M E R S E R V I C E R E PR E S E N TAT I V E
Reno is my hometown and my focus in life is art and music. Most of my artwork is driven by surrealism, though I do portraits too. Aside from painting, I very much enjoy playing around town as the drummer in the band Werewolf Club.
Andrew Cook
Darin Arigoni
Kim Jardine-Reiley
VA R I O U S D E PA R T M E N T S
I started working for Patagonia more than 10 years ago in the Santa Monica store. At that time, I was a climbing bum and found my way to Chamonix where I trained to become an IFMGA mountain guide. Since then I have worked in various departments at the Reno DC, fitting work for Patagonia around climbing and skiing trips, expeditions and AMGA exams.
landscapes and train with the remarkable Mongolian contortionists.
Taylor Nischan
I’ve always found that I’m happiest when I get to create, and I love to make quilts. It takes time to get into a project, and you need a certain amount of space to really dig in and create without being disturbed. Whenever I start one of my quilts, I have a vision of a place I want to recreate. Once I start I can’t stop. It tawkes over my mind, does what it wants. I use lots of bright fiesta colors. My quilts are mostly recycled content. I find my fabrics, threads, findings mostly at thrift stores, yard sales, flea markets and from my artist friends. When you look at one of my quilts, my hope is it makes you smile and takes you to a happy place.
I don’t really think of myself as an activist, rather just someone taking full advantage of an opportunity to do good. When I first learned of Enviro’s employee activism days I was both amazed (that such a concept existed) and excited to participate…so I did. I participate in most activism days each year, instigated the Dealer Services group internship and have done a personal internship with Great Basin Resource Watch. I’m always stunned and surprised at the number of people who don’t grasp these opportunities to do such important work for our planet. The picture above shows some of the harm we do to our world and, I hope, conveys what I think of that.
Leslie Castle R E PA I R T E C H
I have been a member of the Northern Nevada Outreach Team for five years. We are a 100% volunteer coalition who care for our community. We work for social justice and public health through harm reduction. We routinely distribute condoms, hygiene kits, safe injection supplies, blankets and socks on the streets of Reno. Everything is financed through fundraisers and all funds go to helping people. As part of our volunteering, we began regular river cleanups, focusing on trash other people might not want to handle, such as used needles. I might be crazy, but I love spending my Sunday mornings walking along the banks of the Truckee River in this way.
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20 Years of Environmental Activism at the Patagonia Reno Service Center
by Ron Hunter
In 1996, when we first turned on the lights and opened the bay doors at the Service Center, Nevada had not passed a wilderness bill, or any bill that protected public lands, since 1989. The few Nevada enviro groups working on wilderness protection were treading water, and there was little hope adding protected wilderness in the near future. Rather than bemoan the fact, Service Center employees rolled up their sleeves and got to work.The Service Center Grants Council gave $4,000 to Friends of Nevada Wilderness in 1997 (our 2nd grant) and invited the group to use space in our building for fundraising events and meetings. In early 1998, a group of employees did an early Service Centerwide internship with Friends, learning how to inventory potential wilderness areas (working with topo maps and compass). A big step forward occurred when customer service facilitator John Wallin left Patagonia to jumpstart Nevada wilderness campaigns by starting the Nevada Wilderness Project (NWP). From 1999 to 2006, his group worked out of donated office space here in the Service Center. During this time–thanks to the efforts of NWP, other environmental groups and Patagonia–we protected more than 2.5 million acres of Nevada
land as wilderness and 500,000 acres as national conservation areas. And during NWP’s 13-year run (which ended in 2013), 25 Patagonia employees interned on projects covering the entire state of Nevada. Since the Service Center opened, more than 200 Reno employees have volunteered through our environmental internship program, either individually or with others in their department. They’ve worked with Friends of Nevada Wilderness, the Nevada Wilderness Project, the Sugar Pine Foundation, Sierra Buttes Trail Partnership, The Nature Conservancy of Nevada, and Friends of Gold Butte. Farther afield, Reno employees have also volunteered with Cook Inlet Keeper, Oregon Natural Desert Association, the John Muir Trust, Working Dogs for Conservation, Cascadia Wildlands, and Conservación Patagónica. Employee activism takes other forms in Reno. We have a vibrant program called Enviro Activism Days, in which 12 to 20 employees from every department in the Service Center go out and work for a day with an enviro group, helping to do such things as eradicate invasive species (Mono Lake Committee), plant trees (TNC-Nevada) and clean up an
illegal shooting range (Bodie Hills Conservation Partnership). Since we started Enviro Activism Days in 2011, we have volunteered over 12,000 hours, and 1,600 employees have participated from all 14 Service Center departments. It’s the Patagonia version of a Crop Mob. No story of our Reno environmental activities would be complete without mentioning the Reno Grants Council and our Clothing Donation Program. The former is a dedicated (and rotating) group of employees that have awarded 207 grants totaling $983,500 to enviro groups in Nevada and Northern California. Our Clothing Donation Program gives clothing, not just to enviro groups for fundraisers and field work, but also to humanitarian and disaster-relief efforts. Recently we sent children and adult puppy jackets to refugees in Greece. The Reno Service Center embodies the simple but profound Patagonia ethic of “do good.” We create an atmosphere of opportunity, one where giving back to the natural world is encouraged, rewarded and celebrated. We all know it’s more than a job.
Top: Reno Service Center employees planting willow along the Truckee River at the TNC-McCarren Ranch restoration site. Bottom: Improving trail in the Sierra Buttes with Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship. Photos: Tyler Keck
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From the Mail Bag Our extraordinary customer service staff fields calls and emails from customers all day long. Most are straightforward and routine, but not all…
Hi Patagonia Team,
Dear Patagonia Team, I'm sure you've heard all kinds of wild stories, but this one I'm thinking may be a new one. I had a Chacabuco 32L that I loved until some asshole in Oakland decided to break my window and steal my backpack, along with two computers, my taxes and a number of smaller items (sunglasses, notebooks, etc.). Fast forward to a few weeks ago and I received the attached voicemail, which I hope you can hear. Basically, the California Highway Patrol called me to inform me that they had my bag, "or what was left of it." Apparently, someone found my bag (without my computers and taxes of course, but with everything else) and left it overnight on the front
door of the CHP. The CHP came to work the next morning and chose to treat my Chacabuco as a suspicious package since they had not seen who dropped it. They evacuated the building for 4 hours, called the Alameda Bomb Squad, who proceeded to send a robot to investigate the bag. They saw the power cord from my computer in the bag so were concerned it was a bomb. They chose to destroy my bag using some type of high-powered cannon. The thing is, your products are so bomber that while the canon did shoot a hole clear through my bag (and into the building), many of the remaining items in the bag survived, including my glasses, pictures of my kids and my notebooks.) The
CHP commented on how impressed they were that the pack held up as well as it did. I have a picture of the bag on my phone but am writing from a plane and wanted to get this note out before I forgot.
- A very loyal customer!
P.S. I worked at the Patagonia DC and was the assistant manager in San Francisco and continue to shop almost exclusively at Patagonia, despite the fact that I don't get the discount! Keep it up! You guys rock.
I was looking at your website under the "The Stories We Wear" tab, and I came across a photo of a label of a garment worn by many people, all of whom had written their name on the label. (The screenshot's attached.) My name is Ava, one of the names on the label, so of course it caught my attention. But something else caught my attention—my name was written in my mom's exact handwriting. I've been seeing her handwriting for my entire life, so I asked her if I'd had a red and purple Patagonia fleece when I was little. She said she did
remember something like that, and that the label had already had a few names on it, but not nearly as many as it does now. I had that jacket back in the early 2000s, when I was around preschool age, and now, as a teenager, I saw it on your website. Thanks for the jacket! I will send along a photograph of me wearing it if we can find one. -Ava (now 16 years old)
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Artist's Statement I am writing to propose an art deal with Patagonia and myself. I finished a piece entitled Expedition Antarctica Beaver Unit in 2013. It is a ceramic and mixed-media sculpture that is approximately 18” x 18” x 20”. I was able to complete this piece thanks to the wonderful staff at Patagonia, who generously donated a tag and down remnants to create a beaver tail Patagonia down jacket. Attached are images of the piece. The idea behind this piece is the excitement of traveling, exploring and adventure. In comes the beaver. Rodents are found on every continent except Antarctica. Beavers, being part of the rodent family, are not found here either. This beaver decided to become the first rodent in Antarctica. Being in Antarctica, one needs a sufficient down jacket. A beaver’s defining feature is his or her tail, which would need to be protected. This is why I created a down jacket for the tail. But it couldn’t be just any jacket…. I emailed Patagonia and asked them to donate a tag for this project so I could sew it to a “tail jacket” I planned on making. The morning after sending an email to info@patagonia. com asking for a tag, I received a phone call. It was Patagonia! They were excited about the project and asked if I could also use some down remnants. Wow! This was something
Hi Everyone, A message to Reno employees from Ben Stewart (Patagonia Omni Channel Innovation Manager)
If you haven’t had a chance to check out the beaver on my desk—or are wondering what the heck it’s all about—wander over and take a look. I’m including the artist’s statement below and attaching some of his photos. To make a long story short, we are donating 100 hours of volunteer time to Truckee Donner Land Trust in exchange
for this Patagonia-inspired artwork that used reclaimed Down Sweater material (that the repairs department provided last winter). As much as I love having a new visitor on my desk, I would love some thoughts on where we can place him for the long term!
I would have never expected, though this is the community and customer service I have come to know and love about Patagonia. It only makes sense that this beaver would trust a company like Patagonia to help his tail survive the trip to the freezing temperatures of the Antarctic! The beaver is standing in a distinguished George Washington pose atop a pile of reclaimed, whitewashed wood. The pose commands respect and achievement. The reclaimed wood represents using the resources you have wisely and alludes to a beaver dam covered in snow. The flag bearing the abbreviation EABU, Expedition Antarctica Beaver Unit, and the dam logo is the beaver’s claim that all rodents are welcome in Antarctica. This piece uses humor to make it accessible to viewers and also poses details and a rich story to make a statement. I would love for Patagonia to acquire this piece and house it in the headquarters, a store or anywhere you see fit. It would be an honor to be in your collection. If you are interested in purchasing this piece, please let me know and we can discuss the details. I hope to hear from you soon and that we can work together in the future! Best, Jeffrey Sincich
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Reno by the Numbers
470
Number of employees
342k Square Footage
4.1 million
Peak number of products in the warehouse at any one time
1.9 million + Orders Shipped in FY 16
12 million+ Units shipped in FY 16
9.1k
Average number of packages shipped per day
0
Drone deliveries to customers
5.5k
Average kWh (electricity) used per day
140
Employees in Customer Service
1,917
Average number of Customer Service contacts per day
700k
Approximate number of contacts with customers in FY 16 (including social media)
55
Employees in Repairs
42k
Repairs performed in FY 16
95
Percentage (by weight) of waste-stream materials recycled
9
Children in new Truckee River Child Care Center
Š 2016 Patagonia, Inc.