Patagonia Partners With Surfer Magazine to shift paper content to recycled

Ventura, CA – April 6, 2006. Patagonia, Inc., the outdoor apparel company, announced today their partnership with SURFER Magazine to move the magazine’s paper content from virgin to partially recycled fiber. Patagonia will help support the transition by sharing in the increased cost of paper for each issue of the magazine. Beginning with the June 2006 issue, which goes on sale May 1st, SURFER Magazine will be printed on 25% post-consumer waste recycled paper.

“We hope to see recycled paper become the industry standard for surf publications,” noted Rob Bondurant, Executive Vice President of Marketing at Patagonia. “We applaud SURFER for taking this step. When they came to us with this idea, we backed them 100%. Although the initial costs of moving to a more environmentally-sensitive alternative can add up, we’ve been able to prove that every choice that we’ve made for the environment has more than paid itself back” In 1984, Patagonia became the first company in the U.S. to use recycled paper in their mail order catalogs.

SURFER Magazine has the largest worldwide distribution of any surf publication. It is distributed to over 70 countries worldwide, and prints over 480 million pages annually. “The environmental impact will be significant,” explains SURFER publisher, Rick Irons. “We have estimated that by using 25% recycled paper in each issue, every year we’ll save 4,431 trees from being cut down, 13 garbage trucks of solid waste from heading to the dump, and 29 homes could be powered for a year by the energy saved.” With paper costs increasing just under a penny a page, prices are being raised one dollar per issue at newsstands – with SURFER and Patagonia making up the remaining difference.

SURFER Magazine first utilized recycled paper for the November 2005 issue at the request of guest editors Jack Johnson, musician, and Chris Malloy, Patagonia Ambassador. “The response from our readers was overwhelmingly positive,” noted Rick Irons. “No one is more closely tied to the environment than surfers. By choosing recycled paper we are reducing our reader’s burden on the environment and honoring their requests to be more environmentally conscious.”

Patagonia, with sales last year of $240M, is noted internationally for its commitment to product quality and environmental activism. Its Environmental Grants Program has contributed over $23M to grassroots environmental activists since the program began in 1985, and its Environmental Internship Program allows employees to work for environmental groups while receiving their full paycheck. Incorporating environmental responsibility in to product development, the company has, since 1996, used only organically grown cotton in its clothing line. In September 2005, the company became the first in the U.S. to launch a garment take-back recycling initiative with their Common Threads Recycling Program. Patagonia’s 2006-07 “Oceans as Wilderness” environmental campaign focuses on the threats that unsustainable fishing practices, habitat destruction and contamination pose to the marine environment.

Upon its inception in 1960, SURFER Magazine brought a unity of voice and vision to an otherwise niche and fragmented sport. Today the publication is widely recognized as “the bible of the sport,” the driving force in the surf world, and a shaping force of the surf lifestyle at large. SURFER has the largest worldwide distribution of any surf publication and is distributed in over 70 countries worldwide.


Press contact:
PATAGONIA, Jen Rapp, (805) 667-4768, jen_rapp@patagonia.com