As we noted previously when the Californian company first launched this site as their attempt at an Examined Life, it shows a great deal of trust in their customers to provide this degree of transparency. To come out and say not only what is good about their product, but what is bad. Patagonia suggest they want to “educate consumers about the impact all manufacturing has on the environment and encourage them to make an educated choice about their clothing and other purchases.”

This education is delivered via 35 filmed interviews and slideshows of factory workers, farmers, owners, designers and third-party auditors. The depth of openness is remarkable. Visitors to the Footprint Chronicles are even told the name, city and country where the manufacturing process takes place.

Patagonia is challenging other companies to follow their brazen lead. Casey Sheahan, president and CEO of Patagonia is convinced that “Customers will appreciate their honesty and reward them for it.”

[ Some are trying to varying degrees: Nau have their Grey Matters webpage, Timberland its Green Index, and Mion their Eco-Metrics ‘nutrition’ labels. ]

For Patagonia the process is not just a marketing vehicle it also helps drive their business decisions. “The Chronicles revealed that transportation makes up only about 1 percent of our overall energy use,” said Dumain. “Had we listened to the current media buzz touting transportation as the largest factor in energy consumption, we might have greatly misplaced our efforts by making strides to geographically shorten our supply chain – which would have massively impacted our business financially, logistically and perhaps even effected product quality – and we would only have reduced our energy savings by 1 percent. Instead, we are focusing our energy on areas where we can truly make a difference – right in the heart of the manufacturing process.” ::Patagonia’s Footprint Chronicles