Popular outdoor clothing brand Patagonia will no longer allow companies to add their logo to its products, stating concerns that the additional branding will shorten the life of a garment.

Patagonia products will still be available to promotional products distributors through Driving Impressions (asi/50864), according to a letter the supplier sent out to its customers on Thursday, April 8; however, starting May 1, “orders must remain blank and ship to your address or directly to your customer.”

The Patagonia sweater jacket (DE-25528) is available from Driving Impressions.

The decision is driven by “supply shortages and Patagonia’s mission,” according to the letter from Driving Impressions. “Orders will continue to be accepted on a per-order basis as inventory allows,” the letter reads. “Patagonia is also reviewing various non-permanent branding options.”

Patagonia explained its new policy on its website: “What we’ve learned is that adding an additional non-removable logo reduces the lifespan of a garment, often by a lot, for trivial reasons. People change jobs, and the extra logo makes for an awkward re-gift. People tend not to pass logoed gear down to their kids, and not everyone wants to be an advertisement on weekends, even if they’re proud to go into work on weekdays. The result? Perfectly good gear ends up forgotten in the closet – or worse, gets tossed in the trash.”

The environmentally minded brand adds that it understands the decision might cost it some business. “But we hope you’ll see this shift for what it is: another of our ongoing efforts to support a healthy planet – and a call to action,” the message continues.

Many promo industry pros expressed disappointment that they would no longer be able to offer the brand to their clients.

“Patagonia should be making suggestions rather than policy,” Thomas Rector, CEO of ScreenBroidery (asi/305623) in Indianapolis, IN, wrote in a LinkedIn comment. “Both their brand and company culture are very well respected. But when our customers want/need their logo on a jacket, they do so regardless of the brand of the jacket – if Patagonia is not an option, they choose another respected brand. And in some cases, our customers HAVE to have a logo on their apparel as a way to identify their affiliation to their work.”

He added: “If a customer is going to get an item logoed regardless of the brand, and Patagonia wants to control the garment’s lifespan to fulfill their mission, Patagonia should want people to logo their items and not other ‘lesser quality’ items.”

Some in the promo industry questioned the company’s premise that an additional logo would necessarily slash the lifespan of a garment. Promotional outerwear is kept an average of 16 months, and more than half – 57% – of consumers who own promo products report that they have kept some for more than five years, according to the 2020 ASI Ad Impressions Study.

This isn’t the first time that Patagonia has made a big decision about how its garments can be used by corporations. In 2019, the brand shifted its corporate sales strategy “to increase the number of Certified B Corporations, 1% For the Planet members and other mission-driven companies that prioritize the planet,” with many at the time joking that it spelled the end for the Patagonia “Power Vest” uniform lampooned on shows like HBO’s Silicon Valley.

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