The Patagonia Promise: What Do You Do For Customers For Life?

“Don’t love this company!”

I had read about this weird brand in a marketing book. They put an ad in the New York times before Christmas season telling people “not to buy the new jacket at Christmas this year, reuse instead”.  Of course it resulted in increased sales and more importantly, increased customer loyalty. Patagonia has always been a different brand. Caring more about the planet, environment, and social impact, than seemly anything else that a retail company should be caring about.

Patagonia is a unique fashion brand. When you walk into a store the first thing you notice is the messaging is different, they care about something. At the store I visited in Vancouver on the outer facing wall they advertised a documentary, Artifishal. A retail company pushing an agenda with a positive message? That’s something I can get behind!

Caring as a strategy

I first saw someone wearing Patagonia in our office when Connor wore a shirt adorning the logo. He was cool, it made sense, he aligned with their brand. A forward thinking brand for a forward thinking person. I needed to learn more about this company.

Back to Vancouver, I was on the fence to buy a jacket and I asked my roommates friend who we were staying with what she thought about the company. Her immediate response was, “oh, Patagonia? They have a lifetime warranty, they’ll fix your stuff for free!”. Well I was sold. Even though they don’t have a store in my city and to get something fixed would be a hassle it didn’t matter, it was a moment of trust, a feeling that I felt safe giving them my money.

I bought the jacket.