Patagonia continues its Common Threads sustainability campaign asking people not to buy ‘this jacket’.

Photo: a visual part of the Patagonia ad in The NY Times

On Black Friday, November, 25, it rolled out an ad in The New York Times drawing consumers’ attention to the program. Yesterday, on Cyber Monday, Patagonia asked people in its Monday email to consciously approach the process of purchasing products in order to save our planet.

The company wrote: «Cyber Monday, and the culture of consumption it reflects, puts the economy of natural systems that support all life firmly in the red. We’re now using the resources of one-and-a-half planets on our one and only planet.”

The R2 jacket that features in the ad, one of Patagonia’s best-sellers, required 135 liters of water, enough to meet the daily needs (three glasses a day) of 45 people. “Its journey from its origin as 60% recycled polyester to our Reno warehouse generated nearly 20 pounds of carbon dioxide, 24 times the weight of the finished product”, explains the producer.

The Common Threads initiative uses the principle of 4R: Reuse, Recycle, Repair and Reduce. Patagonia explains that each piece of its clothing, whether or not it’s organic or uses recycled materials, emits several times its weight in greenhouse gases, generates at least another half garment’s worth of scrap, and reduces amounts of freshwater that our planet already lacks of.

It doesn’t mean that Patagonia is shutting down its business. The company states it is intended to stay in business for a long time producing “useful, multifunctional where possible, long lasting, beautiful but not in thrall to fashion”.