While surfing has long been a passion for Patagonia’s founding Chouinard family, the company has only recently begun to be recognized for its advancements in surf product. Fletcher Chouinard, son of legendary founder Yvon, is pushing boundaries with his FCD surfboards, and Patagonia has been slowly building its reputation in some of the top surf shops by pushing the boundaries of technological innovations in the wetsuit world. Add in one of its best looking surf apparel lines for 2012, and next summer is looking to be a break out surf season for the brand.

At the helm of the Surf Division is Jason McCaffrey, a self described surf bum who paid his dues working up through Patagonia’s retail division, living in the parking lot of FCD’s shop, becoming best friends with Fletcher, and eventually going to Pepperdine to get his MBA, which helped him land the position of director of the surf division five years ago. These days McCaffrey has his sites set on nothing less than revolutionizing the company’s surf group by leading the charge with ground breaking wetsuits. We caught up with McCaffrey to learn more about his vision, how surf became the company’s fastest growing division, and how Patagonia’s culture makes it possible.

read more at transworld

Our new online Surf Catalog is a rallying call on behalf of threatened surf breaks around the world. It’s packed full of stunning images, compelling videos, the best surf gear available and action alerts from our friends at Save The Waves Coalition. Give it a look and share with your friends – it’s time for all surfers to come together and protect our precious surf breaks.

Sign up for FCD Surfboard emails inside the online Surf Catalog and you’ll be entered to win a Patagonia Wetsuit. Click “Join Our Mailing List” to enter (lower-right corner). Existing Patagonia email subscribers must sign-up in order to be entered. *No purchase necessary; see official rules at Patagonia.com.

Our thanks go out to everyone who contributed to this issue. We hope you like it.

www.patagonia.com
www.savethewaves.org

see the original blog post at thecleanestline.com

Patagonia said that on June 19 it launched a revamped Footprint Chronicles website with a new format that expands upon the company’s social practices. The Footprint Chronicles is an interactive mini website that reveals to consumers the good and the bad involved in manufacturing outdoor clothing.

The revamp adds the environmental footprint of 166 individual products to their website, becoming the only apparel manufacturer in Europe to offer the public such broad transparency regarding products’ impact on the earth. The updated website also offers live comments posted on Patagonia’s blog (the Cleanest line) about the Footprint Chronicles and hosts a new 15-minute video about Patagonia’s social responsibility efforts.

“We believe it’s important for our customers to know the true environmental and social impact of a garment they purchase,” said Casey Sheahan, president and CEO of Patagonia. “The Footprint Chronicles allows us to do this publicly – and helps our customers make better purchasing decisions.”

check out the footprint site

read more story at surfersvillage