CBN WEEKLY Interviews PATAGONIA: The Anti-Consumption Business Opportunity — Circular Economy & Green Outdoor Trends

Tara Button, who worked in an advertising agency, spent her days writing copy for clients and promoting their products. In 2013, she came across a special client: Le Creuset. For this French cookware brand, selling more was not the priority—itsproduct strategy emphasized durability and offered a lifetime warranty, encouraging consumers to use their products for as long as possible..

Button instantly fell in love with the brand. "The idea that I wouldn’t have to worry about buying a new pot and could use it for life—that felt amazing." After that, she started looking for companies or platforms that specialized in selling similar durable products, but found none.

Patagonia promotes a repair-over-buy approach through its repair services, extending the lifespan of its clothing.

In 2016, Button officially left the advertising agency and founded BuyMeOnce—an e-commerce platform that encourages people to buy less.

BuyMeOnce selects the highest-quality brands in various product categories—currently includingbeauty, toys, tools, accessories, shoes, furniture, kitchenware, and clothing—and provides after-sales repair services.. Here, you can find tweezers with free lifetime sharpening, bags with warranties that cover “whatever happens,” pens that will never run out of ink, and more. Button places great importance on warranties, believing they motivate manufacturers to create durable products from the start because no one wants to deal with excessive repairs.

To ensure the authority and impartiality of the site,Button is particularly meticulous in brand selection.For example, with clothing, she and her team carefully read expert reviews and user comments, examine the materials used, craftsmanship quality, and warranty policies. Of course, the team also tries to select classic styles that are not influenced by seasonal trends.

BuyMeOnce does not sell products directly but redirects users to the brands’ websites. For every transaction completed, BuyMeOnce earns a commission.Button hopes this approach ensures the site’s independence and objectivity; she also has no plans to accept any advertising sponsorships.

To her surprise, BuyMeOnce attracted 700,000 users within six weeks of its launch. Currently, it has 1.6 million users, operates in the UK and the US, and lists over 500 products from 50 brands. In December last year, BuyMeOnce achieved monthly sales of $55,000—the best performance since its inception.

According to Euromonitor International’s “Top 10 Global Consumer Trends 2017,” the culture of disposable products took a hit over the past year. Reduced materialism and heightened consumer environmental awareness have made product durability a highly positive post-purchase experience, while longer post-purchase stories strengthen the bond between brands and consumers.

As one of the first brands featured on BuyMeOnce, Patagonia is a veteran in this field. Patagonia is perhaps best known for its 2013 “Black Friday” campaign, “Don’t Buy This Jacket.” During the most frenzied shopping season in the U.S., when brands were competing to offer discounts,Patagonia instead ran a series of ads advocating that consumers avoid purchasing anything beyond the essentials.

The R2 jacket featured in the ads is one of Patagonia’s best-selling products. Producing it requires 135 liters of water—enough to meet the daily drinking needs of 45 people—and the transportation from production site to warehouse generates 9 kilograms of carbon dioxide. “Although we’ve minimized environmental impact through the use of organic cotton and recycled materials in our production, the impact is still unavoidable. The greenest product is the one that already exists. Only by extending the lifespan of existing products can we reduce environmental damage during their life cycle,” said Zhong Zhaoxin, Patagonia’s China head, in an interview with Yicai Weekly.

For every product, Patagonia requires designers to answer these questions: Is it functional? Is it durable? Does it fit the consumer well? Is it simple enough? Is it innovative or just an invention? Does it have a global design? Is it easy to clean and maintain? Is it aesthetically pleasing? Is it classic?Only if all criteria are met does the product meet Patagonia’s standards.

Additionally,Patagonia encourages users to bring back their old or damaged products for repairs instead of discarding them, and as a reward, users receive corresponding shopping points,which Patagonia calls a “joint initiative” with consumers: Patagonia commits to producing the highest-quality products, repairing them when broken, and recycling them when they’re beyond repair. Meanwhile, consumers commit to only buying what they need, choosing repairs over disposal when items break, and helping with recycling once products reach the end of their use. This approach increases consumer engagement, transforming the brand-consumer relationship from a mere transactional one—and in turn, boosting sales—over the past five years, Patagonia’s profits have tripled.

“Repair & Journey” Nanjing Stop

On Black Friday 2016, Patagonia announced it would donate all sales revenue during the event to grassroots nonprofits promoting environmental causes. Patagonia initially projected $2 million in sales but ended up generating $10 million.

In line with this brand strategy, Patagonia has built the world’s largest repair center in North America, repairing 40,000 products annually, and deploying mobile repair vans across the U.S. to offer free repair services. In China, Patagonia now has 100 stores and launched free repair services in four cities—Nanjing, Beijing, Hangzhou, and Jinan—last year.

Beijing Stop of “Repair & Go”

Market feedback received by BuyMeOnce and Patagonia has also led to changes in the business models of some major companies. Last year,IKEA began quietly experimenting with a circular business model in Europe. “Over the next few years, we will support consumers in repairing, renting, sharing, recycling, and reselling IKEA products to extend their lifespan,” said Jonas Engberg, IKEA’s sustainability manager. In IKEA’s Belgian stores, customers can choose to sell or repair old IKEA furniture, or update, return, or donate various items. IKEA believes the world has now entered a “product peak” period, especially as millennials are less likely than their parents to

buy a large house in the suburbs to store all their belongings.Some countries have also introduced policies to support reducing overconsumption. In March 2015, the French government passed a law requiring household appliance manufacturers to provide at least two years of warranty service, and additionally, all parts must be made available to the market so that products can still be maintained and repaired even after the warranty expires. Starting this year in Sweden, getting bicycles, clothes, or shoes repaired at a repair shop qualifies for a reduced VAT rate—the 25% VAT previously included in the bill will be lowered to 12%.

But repair shops are almost extinct in today’s society. This is partly because people have become accustomed to a fast-consumption culture, and manufacturing, by outsourcing production to developing countries with low labor costs, has made buying a new product even cheaper than getting it repaired locally. On the other hand, to stimulate consumption, many products are not designed to last long, especially complex electronic devices. Manufacturers refuse to disclose repair instructions, forcing consumers to rely on manufacturer-certified repair services from which they can reap significant profits.

“Lightbulb companies have been doing this for a long time. They are fully capable of producing bulbs that can last over 10,000 hours, but they deliberately limit the bulb lifespan to 750 hours just to sell more bulbs,” iFixit founder Kyle Wiens told First Financial Weekly. Since its founding in 2003, iFixit, a Wikipedia-style repair guide website, has attracted 1 million registered users and collected over 90,000 product repair guides, covering everything from everyday household appliances to smart devices.

“If your car windshield breaks, would you throw away the car? Of course not. We spend far more time today

with our smart devices than we do in our cars. If we repair our cars when they break, why not repair those smart devices? Everyone should have the right to fix their own things. iFixit provides repair guides not only to show people that DIY repairs are possible but also that they’re easy,” Wiens said.

Wiens identified three main reasons why people hesitate to repair: first, they don’t know how; second, they lack the parts and tools; and third, it’s either too expensive or too time-consuming. iFixit lists the required parts and tools for sale online, writes free open-source repair manuals, and minimizes repair time as much as possible. “For example, if a user has a $40 iPod that breaks, the parts cost $20, and their time is worth $40 an hour, then if I can ensure the repair takes under half an hour, it’s worth fixing. If it takes over an hour, they’d rather buy a new one. So a good repair guide is one that helps people finish repairs as quickly as possible, making them more likely to buy parts and tools from us,” Wiens said.

Without any external investment, iFixit reached annual sales of $4 million starting in 2010, seven years after its founding.

Wiens found that the iFixit community was not as geeky or niche as he had imagined—there were kids fixing iPods for their parents and mothers repairing iPhones for their children. “DIY repairs give a greater sense of accomplishment than buying something new. People feel proud when they fix something themselves.Through repairing, you develop a deeper relationship with the item because you take responsibility for it—you don’t just use it, you own it.”

iFixit also has over 100,000 users in China, for whom it has created special Chinese-language repair guides. For some products first launched in China, repair guides are also published in Chinese first.

Although the iFixit community primarily provides repair guides for electronics, Wiens said more and more users want to know how to sew their own jeans. Initially, iFixit didn’t have experts in this area, but later it partnered with Patagonia to learn sewing techniques at their repair base. Now, iFixit’s repair guides cover just about everything.

Button’s next goal is to add electronics to the BuyMeOnce website. “Electronics change and update so quickly that the team faces greater pressure in selection, which is why we haven’t launched this category yet. But we aim to become the Amazon of durable goods—there’s no category we can’t include.”

It’s undeniable that these more durable products generally come with higher price tags. Although they are more cost-effective in the long run when considering usage rates and product lifespan, the high upfront cost is a major barrier for many consumers. Button said her next plan is topartner with brands to introduce installment paymentservices.