How Patagonia, a US$800mn behemoth, became the most reputed apparel brand by asking people to not buy their products!
But first, a little context:
Patagonia is an American manufacturer of outdoor and adventure sport apparels. They've got everything you need; right from a leisure hike kit to fully-loaded summit backpack.

But that really isn't how they reached the top in the outdoor-apparel industry. They, almost unbelievably, got there by asking people to not buy their products. They took and held on to anti-consumerism as a core company policy.

Having a company policy is one thing but sticking to it is another matter entirely. And Patagonia went the whole 9 yards when it came to practising what they preach.

For the past 49 years, Patagonia has established itself as an anti-consumerism, for-profit company. The products seem to be their second priority, their first priority is to reduce consumption to protect the environment.
This brand identity is what helps them build a successful marketing strategy. And they've been creating ads that hit home when it comes to communicating brand values.

But their most memorable and was one they took out on Black Friday in 2011 which read: DON’T BUY THIS JACKET

The ad listed out the adverse environmental impact of each jacket and urged people to repair and reuse old jackets. The year Patagonia released this ad, it's sales grew by 30%.
But all this can very easily be passed as just 'Showmanship'. I mean it's just an ad claiming to be eco-friendly. Not the first, not new. A lot of companies talk about contributing to environment preservation and almost all don't pull through.

To set itself apart from the crowd and as a mark of sincere conviction, Patagonia decided to discontinue it's partnership with finance companies that didn't prioritise the planet.

This means cutting off a point of revenue. A real implication.
On top of this, they donate 1% of sales to restoration and preservation of the environment.

They also have a full-time facility dedicated to repairing Patagonian clothes for FREE.
And the most bonkers part: Yvon Chouinard has donated his entire company to a climate focused trust! That's about 100M in revenue going straight to flight climate change. NOW THAT'S CREATING AN IMPACT.

And with this donation, Patagonia has become something much bigger than a brand. Something existential.

It remains to fight for the climate as long as it stays operation. That's good branding.