Yvon Chouinard
Founder & Board Member, Patagonia. On 2 shows, 2 appearances, plus 1 compilation re-air not counted. The Shows tab opens the full record on each.
founderathleteauthorexecutiveotherpatagonia.com ↗Wikipedia ↗
Yvon Chouinard founded Chouinard Equipment and the outdoor apparel company Patagonia, pioneering environmentally conscious business practices and clean climbing gear. In 2022, he and his family transferred company ownership to a dedicated trust and non-profit collective to direct all future profits toward combating climate change.
2shows
2appearances
31statements
9resolved
6supported
0contradicted
67%fully supported
47said about them ↓ Everything Yvon Chouinard said on any show that made the record, most notable first. Each card names its show and opens the statement there.
Chouinard says relying on customer feedback is too late for true innovation
“If you wait for the customer to tell you what to do, you're too late. So we were our own customer, and I think that was the secret of coming out with products that a lot of the products people didn't even know they wanted or needed.”
Chouinard claims the faster a business grows, the faster it dies
“And in fact, that's why the faster a business grows, the faster it dies also.”
Retrofitting radical workplace flexibility into existing companies is destined to fail
“I've had other companies come to me and say, oh, I love that idea. I think I'll institute it in my company. I say, forget it. You'll fail. Because you have to start with the very first person you hire.”
Copying Patagonia's flexible work policy fails without early cultural buy-in
“And you know, I've had other companies come to me and say, oh, I love that idea. I think I'll institute it in my company. I say, forget it. You'll fail. Because you have to start with the very first person you hire.”
Chouinard insists Patagonia will never sell out or go public
“We're not gonna sell out. We're not gonna go public.”
The faster a business grows, the faster it dies
“And in fact, that's why the faster a business grows, the faster it dies also.”
Patagonia's advertising budget is only 0.5% of its total sales
“In fact, our advertising budget is one half of one percent of sales, and so I wait for the customer to tell us how much to make.”
Patagonia will never sell out or become a publicly traded company
“We're not gonna sell out. We're not gonna go public, and so it's good business.”
To understand entrepreneurs, study juvenile delinquents who reject the status quo
“If you want to understand the entrepreneur, study the juvenile delinquent. Because they're saying, you know, this sucks, I'm going to do it my own way”
Chouinard argues immediate iterative steps beat overthinking plans beforehand
“If I get an idea, I immediately take a step forward and see how that feels. If it feels good, I take another step. If it feels bad, I step back. You know, it's different than people with a scientific view where they think everything out to the nth degree befor…”
Patagonia spends only 0.5% of its total sales on advertising
“We, in fact, our advertising budget is one half of one percent of sales, and so I wait for the customer to tell us how much to make.”
Chouinard says Patagonia has no interest in producing inexpensive clothing lines
“And I'm not interested in, in coming out with a line of inexpensive clothes.”
Chouinard takes five months off yearly to fish, barely calling in
“You know, I take off from June until November. I'm gone. I got a place in Jackson Hole, and I go fishing every day, and I call in maybe three times in the five months that I'm gone.”
Chouinard advises entrepreneurs to invent new categories rather than fight incumbents
“If you want to be successful in business, you don't go up against Coca-Cola and You know, these big companies there, they'll kill you. You just do it differently. You figure out something that no one else has thought about, and you do it a totally different wa…”
Entrepreneurs should learn by doing incrementally rather than through exhaustive planning
“If I get an idea, I immediately take a step forward and see how that feels. If it feels good, I take another step. If it feels bad, I step back. You know, it's different than people with a scientific view where they think everything out to the nth degree befor…”
Being your own target customer unlocks non-obvious product breakthroughs
“So we were our own customer, and I think that was the secret of coming out with products that, a lot of the products people didn't even know they wanted or needed.”
Chouinard rejected 18% loans from mafia figures during Patagonia's 1980s crisis
“In fact, my accountant introduced me to some mafia guys who wanted to loan me some money at 18% interest, which I turned down, but what saved us is, is we got some personal loans from some friends and pretty much Fired some management that got us into this pro…”
Patagonia runs mobile trucks that repair damaged clothing from any brand
“In fact, we've got a truck that's going around the country, repairing people's clothes, no matter whether they're Patagonia or not.”
Yvon Chouinard refuses to produce a line of inexpensive Patagonia clothing
“And I'm not interested in, in coming out with a line of inexpensive clothes.”
Chouinard takes five months off annually to fish, checking in thrice
“I take off from June until November. I'm gone. I got a place in Jackson Hole, and I go fishing every day, and I call in maybe three times in the five months that I'm gone.”
Chouinard's reusable climbing pitons cost 10x more than European competitors
“The European pitons were selling for 15 cents a piece, and mine were a dollar and a half.”
Chouinard's early equipment company ran on 1% profit, paying founders hourly
“We were making about one percent profit at the end of the year. We were basically paying ourselves by the hour.”
The other half of the tape: Yvon Chouinard's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 36 times in 9 episodes across the shows. 11 statements on the record name them. every mention, with the transcript →
Who brings them up most Guy Raz 26Tom Campion 6Peter Metcalf 2Susan Griffin Black 1Peter Sterios 1
Statements about Yvon Chouinard, by other people (11)
Yvon Chouinard Was 'Ashamed' of His 1987 Chouinard Equipment Catalog
“And we gave him a copy, and he called myself and my marketing director, who really was my partner in the business. And we said, as he looked at the catalog, that he was really ashamed of it, that it represented everything that he stood against in what was goin…”
Kim-Parker: Patagonia's Move Will Attract More 'Posers' Than Ever
“It's so hilarious that his intention is to slow growth, and actually, I think he's gonna, there are gonna be more posers than ever wearing Patagonia.”
Kibbe: Unable to Find Faults in Patagonia's Climate Trust Structure
“I mean, obviously, I had to sort of look into it a little bit before I totally celebrated it, and there's already been some criticism, but I just, I still am looking to poke holes in this, and I really can't, given the structure that They've chosen in the soci…”
Binkley: Chouinard Transferred Patagonia Ownership to Non-Profit and Climate Trust
“He's giving away the company, basically transferring his family's ownership to a, to two entities. One is a non-profit, and the other is a special trust designed specifically to fight climate change.”
Binkley: Yvon Chouinard Is Off the Forbes Billionaire List
“Well, at least he finally got off the Forbes billionaire list.”
Kibbe: Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard does not use a cell phone or email
“And this is a man who to this day does not use a cell phone or email.”
Kibbe: Patagonia shifted giving from 10% profits to 1% total sales
“In fact, after he made that statement to, that poser statement to his employees, he switched from giving 10% of their profits to grassroots environmental organizations to What is now fairly common, but was fairly revolutionary at the time, one percent of their…”
Yvon Chouinard never took outside investment and owns 100% of Patagonia
“He never took a penny of investment, by the way. He still owns a hundred percent of the company.”
Patagonia generated a reported $750 million in annual sales in 2015
“So despite the fact that endless growth may not be Ivan Chouinard's thing, Patagonia reportedly did three quarters of a billion dollars in sales last year. Their best year ever.”
Yvon Chouinard never took outside investment and owns 100% of Patagonia
“He never took a penny of investment, by the way. He still owns a hundred percent of the company.”
Every mention by year
tap a year for its mentions
How I Built This 36
2026 2 mentions in 1 episode
2024 17 mentions in 1 episode
2023 12 mentions in 3 episodes 4 per episode
2020 2 mentions in 2 episodes 1 per episode
2019 3 mentions in 2 episodes 2 per episode
One line per show, most statements first. The link opens Yvon's full record on that show: the calibration, argument clarity, speaking style and every statement made there.
| Show | Role there | Eps | Statements | Record | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HOW I BUILT THISLEDGER | Founder & Board Member, Patagonia | 2 | 31 | 67% 6/9 | full record on How I Built This → |
 GREEN BLUEPRINTLEDGER | Founder & Board Member, Patagonia | 0 +1 | 0 | — | full record on the Green Blueprint → |