Chouinard and his father moved to California to start a new life. It was then that he realized he was a craftsman and loved to innovate equipment and tools at such an early age, while engaging in outdoor adventures. One of Chouinard first inventions were pitons. Pitons could be reused and were very stiff and strong. When he was fifteen years old, Chouinard met …show more content…
Most people would give up right away when they start seeing their business fail. This is what makes him different from any other businessman, because he did not. From the very beginning, he has always persevered in order to make his dreams come true. He also focuses on the production of each item in order to make it the best quality possible. This makes all of his merchandise last longer, therefore customers are more willing to pay for his products. I believe the success of Patagonia was because of his financial philosophy. Chouinard believes in a product-driven company. “That means the product comes first and the company exists to create and support our products. This is different from a distribution company whose product may not be the primary concern but rather service.” (p. 159) There are many companies that are just being grown to be sold one day. Patagonia strives to have a good balance between the desire to continue in business for the next 100 years and the funding of environmental activities. The company views profit important in order to stay in business, but not the end goal. Chouinard states “In our company, finance consists of much more than the management of money. It is primarily the art of leadership through the balancing of traditional financing approaches in a business that is anything but traditional.” (p. 160) Another influence on their financial decisions is their environmental concern. An example of this is when they changed the packaging in their thermal underwear. People were able to feel the material and appreciate the quality. This innovation allowed the company to save $150,000 and brought them a 25% increase in thermal underwear