Patagonia

The following recommendations were written for my work with Patagonia at the Chicago store and were taken from my LinkedIn profile, followed by the bullet points from my traditional CV pertaining to Patagonia and content I've generated germane to my experience with Patagonia.

“Justin is incredibly reliable, and consistently goes above and beyond. He brought the values and mission of Patagonia to life; unbound by convention in his constant problem solving and proactive approach to all aspects of our business.” February 28, 2009

“Justin ranks among the most conscientious, committed, and creative advocates for the the environment I've encountered. His resourcefulness is rivaled only his unwavering drive to do the right thing--he truly walks the talk. Moreover, his ability to articulate his ideas clearly and compellingly would be an asset to any organization. I encourage anyone who's considering employing Justin to contact me directly for more details.” March 28, 2009

Patagonia                                                                                                      Chicago

Sales Associate - outdoor clothing retailer                                                          July 2007 – May 2008

• Conserved tens of thousands of gallons of water with zero expenditure & improved recycling systems 

• Built “Pata-Wiki”, empowering collaboration and embodying the spirit of Patagonia’s “not bound by convention” mission statement

Patagonia makes some of the best gear out there while taking into careful consideration AND making transparent their supply chain with their industry-leading Footprint Chronicles.

How to dry down garments

To dry your down, put the garment in a dryer ON AIR ONLY - NO HEAT, add a couple tennis balls, and let 'er rip. I have also air-dried my down sweater - a more earth-friendly, cheap solution if you can afford the time. With good air circulation and low humidity (must be dry winter if this thing is out of the closet) it dried in less than 2 days on a hangar.

Patagonia wool: As of this posting, they have 39 (now 62) products that return as results for "wool", but I couldn't pick just one. If they still made the wool 3 T, I might have picked that out of the list, but alas, they do not. I've posted woefully on their blog, The Cleanest Line, about that one :-) Wool is a natural fiber, is funk-resistant (that's a technical term), hydrophobic, and fire resistant -- don't test this one, please, just trust Les Stroud! It wicks moisture away from the skin, which is critical for maintaining body temperature and vital for base layers. Furthermore, Patagonia does not treat their wool with chlorine, which makes it more effective and more environmentally friendly: yay! There are a lot of new technical pieces out there with wild technology ranging from embedded, anti-microbial silver fibers to phase change materials. I encourage anyone considering new gear to answer one question: "Where did this shirt come from?" If you don't know how the silver got there, bother to find out. That shit doesn't jump out of the earth and into the shirt, It's mined. Those mining processes can involve heavy metals which contaminate water, soil, and the people working with them. If your brand doesn't have something like this, print it, bring it into the store, ask to see the manager, ask them if they have something like it and if they say no, ask them why not. You deserve to know. Don't stop asking the simple question until it's as thoroughly answered as it is at Patagonia's Footprint Chronicles.