I believe that the idea of sustainability is something that every business should keep in mind aside from the sole purpose of making only profit. One role model company that I would like to share in this article is Patagonia.

During the holiday season of 2012, while most retailers tried to promote their sales as much as possible, Patagonia, in contrast, encouraged their consumers to buy less. On it’s website, the advertisement said, “…we ask our customers not to buy from us what you don’t need or can’t really use. Everything we make–everything anyone makes–costs the planet more than it gives back.”

To make the earth even greener,  Yvon Chouinard, the founder of the company, decided that his clothing products would be made from 100% organic cotton when realizing that industrial grown cotton would hurt the environment. Even though his plan didn’t work out very well since organic cotton industry was not common during the 1990s, he still kept pursuing it until the company earned back its revenue.

Furthermore, Patagonia annually donates 1% of its sales to the environmental non-profits. I think that Patagonia’s mindsets are very admirable and ethical and that other businesses should also consider following them. Patagonia’s marketing strategy on ‘buying less’ didn’t only reflect the company’s good heart, but also contradictorily attracted more buyers!

Thanks to
http://www.fastcoexist.com/1681023/how-patagonia-makes-more-money-by-trying-to-make-less
and
http://www.treehugger.com/corporate-responsibility/doing-well-by-doing-good-why-patagonia-makes-a-profit-naturally.html