In today’s landscape, building a community is a key goal for many brands. What makes Patagonia’s community events distinct from others? 

(Andrew) To begin, Patagonia engages on a local level despite its growth—never walking away from localized efforts and understanding the impact and value of those relationships. The next aspect is the variety and structure of our events. Furthermore, we strive to partner with at least one local non-profit organization that shares our values and purpose. Our goal in these events is to help elevate those groups and amplify their voices. 

(Allison) The three components we consider when selecting events are whether they’re fun and engaging, community-oriented, and have an environmental impact, whether that’s through advocacy, fundraising, or other means. We get very creative and add something unique each time, and that’s what I love about my position. 

Patagonia hosts a wide range of activities, from film screenings to surfboard shaping and biking excursions. What is the common thread that ties these events together? What key message do you hope attendees take away from each experience? 

(Andrew) On a larger scale, exactly that: we want to have a common thread that ties to our purpose. Secondary to that, Yvon, our founder, and his wife, Malinda, envisioned retail stores and event programs that would serve as gifts to their communities. I probably sound like a broken record sometimes, but I try to emphasize to our team that we need to use this as a North Star when it comes to developing event concepts and navigating any crossroads. 

In terms of key messages and takeaways, we aim to generate a call to action for each event. Sometimes it’s pretty obvious, and other times it’s much more subtle. 

(Allison) The hope is that people will see the fun in our events, even as we incorporate a serious aspect of what we’re doing and why we’re doing it. 

Event attendance can vary significantly. What positive aspects can you draw from an event with a lower turnout? Conversely, can you highlight a particularly successful event that stands out in your experience? 

(Andrew) This is a huge factor, especially with our local-level retail store events. There are many elements to consider, such as the location of the store, the effectiveness of the marketing, and the responsiveness of the community. One takeaway from my personal experience is that you can only control so much from a baseline standpoint. You should focus your energy, thoughts, and resources on the aspects of the event that you can control and learn from. 

(Allison) It’s all about taking lemons and making lemonade, right? My lemon story is when I hosted a trail running event in the rain in Washington, and our weighted-down tent flew away in the high winds that day—it looked like a tarantula in the sky, the best way to put it. So “Plan B” was passing out Patagonia Provisions—our smoked salmon—and serving everyone in the big tent that didn’t blow away. 

(Andrew) Regarding successful events, clothing swaps have worked well for us. We’ve been refining this concept recently, and we hosted a kid-friendly clothing swap in Atlanta that saw a great turnout. We aligned it with back-to-school season, and for many attendees, it felt like being in the right place at the right time.