Patagonia Is Asking You For Your Old, Used Purchases For The Best Reason

Our favorite source of normcore fashion and hiking fleeces for Nasty Women everywhere, Patagonia, is well established as a retailer with a conscience. From closing on election day to donating all Black Friday sales proceeds to charity, the puffer-coat purveyor makes it clear that it's dedicated to corporate responsibility — for the benefit of its employees and customers as well as our planet. So it's no surprise that the retailer is launching a take-back program to fix up and resell your old Patagonia clothes. Fast Company reports that the program, which launches in April, means that you'll be able to take back your used clothes in exchange for store credit. Patagonia will then refurbish the pieces for resale on its website. But wait — won't readily available (presumably cheaper) recycled clothing put sales of new items at risk? Probably. But Patagonia isn't worried. "If we can make really durable products, and we can work with our customers to keep them in service and in good repair, then we're providing a solution to the environmental crisis," Patagonia's vice president of environmental affairs told FastCo. "Because then the overall footprint of the products that we make, and our customers buy from us, is as low as we can possibly make it. That really is intrinsic to our motivation for doing this." With this new program, Patagonia joins the ranks of other acclaimed clothing brands, such as H&M, that are determined to decrease their environmental footprint via recycling efforts. So if Hillary ever does get tired of that 21-year-old Patagonia fleece, she can just turn it in for refurbishment and resale. I, for one, would gladly give it a home for another 21 years.