Waste Not, Want Not: Eliminating Patagonia’s Pre- and Post-Consumer Textile Waste

Four hand-drawn boxes labeled as follows from top to bottom, design product, extract raw materials, manufacture, and distribute, are seen in a vertical column on the left, with a circle labeled user, below them. A fifth box labeled landfill is seen below the circle. Arrow heads point from the bottom of each box to the box below it, from the fourth box to the circle, and from the user circle to the fifth box below. Circular arrows are seen to the right of this flow to the right of the user circle that point from the user circle to each of the boxes above. The smallest circular arrow at the user box is labeled repair, and points to the start of the same arrow. The second circular arrow is labeled reuse, and points from the start of the user circle to the distribute box above. The third circular arrow is labeled remanufacture, and points from the start of the user circle, to the manufacture box above. The fourth circular arrow is labeled recycle, and points from the start of the user circle, to the extract raw materials box above.

The flow is titled creating a new textile economy. The four steps are superimposed on a rounded square outline in a bright color. The first step shows a man near a tree holding both his hands up, and a semicircular pond with fishes, in front of him. This is on the left side of the outline. The text at this step reads, phase out substances of concern and microfibre release. The second step is on the top outline of the square and has an infinity symbol above the outline, with both halves in two different colors. The icon of a tee shirt in the other color is seen superimposed on each half of the infinity symbol. The text at this step reads, increase clothing utilization. The third step has a dark-colored box with a receptacle on the right and an icon of a tee shirt going into it, symbolized by an arrow pointing from the tee shirt to the receptacle. A ball of yarn is seen coming out of the spout on the left side of this box. Two arrows that peel away from the outline point away from the base of the box. The first arrow from the dark box points to text that reads, anaerobic digestion & composting. The second arrow from the dark box points to text that reads, other material streams. The fourth step is on the bottom outline of the square and shows a windmill and two solar panels, with text below that reads, make effective use of resources and move to renewable inputs. A line peels away from the outline at the fourth step that points to text below that reads, renewably sourced feedstock. Logos at the bottom left reads Circular Fibres Initiative and Ellen MacArthur Foundation, and text at the bottom right reads tiny.cc/fibres

The x axis of this line graph shows the years between 2000 and 2015, in intervals of 5 years. The y axis of this graph show values ranging from 100 to 200, in intervals of 10. The three trend lines seen in this graph are labeled: world GDP, clothing sales, and clothing utilisation. The title of the first two trend lines reads, index 100 in 2000, and that of the third reads, number of times an item is worn [superscript 1] [Note below: superscript 1: Average number of times a garment is worn before it ceases to be used]. The world GDP trend line and the clothing sales trend line both start at about 100 around 2000. Both lines increase until 2015 with the clothing sales line growing at a much greater rate than the world GDP. The clothing sales lines ends at about 195 around 2015, and the world GDP ends at about 155 around 2015. The clothing utilisation trend line starts at 200 around 2000 and declines until 2015 to about 160. This line intersects the clothing sales line at about 170 around the year 2010. Two dark circles are seen superimposed on this graph. One just above the world GDP and clothing sales lines that reads, −50bn units (2000). An arrow labeled 2× points from this circle to the other dark-colored circle above the top of the clothing sales line on the right that reads, >100bn units (2015). The source below reads, Euromonitor International Apparel & Footwear 2016 edition (volume sales trends 2005–2015), World Bank, World development indicators – GD (2017).

Logos at the top right reads Circular Fibres Initiative and and Ellen MacArthur Foundation, and text at the bottom right reads tiny.cc/fibres.

This poster has five rows of boxes with illustrations and text in each box. The first row reads, keeping gear in use across the left side of the row, with the word use in very large text on the right side of the row. The second row has a drawing on a striped jacket on the left, a speech box in the middle box that points to the right that reads, “The best jacket for our planet is one that already exists.” The text in the third box on this row is an excerpt from a founder’s speech. The third row has two boxes. The box on the left reads, we get back items through [all in small text], returns; trade-ins; repairs [all in very large text]. The next box has a pile of clothes with text on the right that reads, this is what we do with all [in small text] the gear you send us [in very large text]. Four elbow arrows from this pile of clothes point to the each of the four boxes of the row below. The first box on the fourth row has the drawing of a Patagonia store front with the word, if it’s functional [in small text] above, and resell [in very large text] below. The second box has the drawing of a sewing machine with the text above that reads, if it’s damaged [in small text], and repair [in very large text], below. The third box has the drawing of open scissors with a banner on it that reads recrafted. The text above this reads, if it’s beyond repair [in small text], and recraft [in large text], below. The fourth box has the recycle symbol with text above that reads, if it’s reached the end [in small text], and recycle [in large text], below. The last row has close up of a cuff on the left, an RV in the middle, and the logo of Patagonia on the right. The poster has a sentence along each edge. The text along the top edge reads, if it’s broke, fix it. The text along the right edge reads, 15,000 repairs on the road around the world at over 150 repair events. The text along the bottom edge reads, 9 repair vehicles worldwide. The text along the left edge reads, US, Europe, Latin America, Japan, Korea – 25 countries had tour stops. These sentences are all joined by a dashed line.

A poster on the left wall reads, the stories we wear and has four rows with three images on each row. The text on the top of the poster on the right wall reads, trade it in. A work table with a semicircular cover over it is also seen on the right below this poster.