![\"\"](\"http:\/\/j469.ascjclass.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2019\/12\/db-1024x684.jpg\")
The vest may now vanish to distant memory, similar to Gordon Gekko\u2019s pinstriped suits, due to a shift in policy at Patagonia. This shift in policy was first reported by Binna Kim, president of the communications agency Vested, whose order of branded vests for a hedge-fund client, something her firm had done in the past through a reseller for Patagonia\u2019s corporate sales, was rejected. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPatagonia has nothing against your client or the finance industry, it\u2019s just not an area they are currently marketing through our co-brand division,\u201d read a corporate statement Kim tweeted. \u201cWhile they have co-branded here in the past, the brand is really focused right now on only co-branding with a small collection of like-minded and brand aligned areas; outdoor sports that are relevant to the gear we design, regenerative organic farming, and environmental activism,\u201d it continued. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The statement, which came not from Patagonia but from an unnamed retail partner, said the company\u2019s shift in focus is meant to align with Patagonia\u2019s new mission statement, \u201cWe\u2019re in business to save our home planet.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The statement continues, stating that Patagonia is \u201creluctant to co-brand with oil, drilling, dam construction, etc. companies that they view to be ecologically damaging\u201d and while orders are approved on a case-by-case basis, this includes \u201cfinancial institutions.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/j469.ascjclass.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2019\/12\/Screen-Shot-2019-12-12-at-12.36.11-AM.png\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nPatagonia confirmed this change to its corporate program, saying the company \u201crecently shifted the focus of this program to increase the number of Certified B Corporations, 1% For The Planet members and other mission-driven companies that prioritize the planet. This shift does not affect current customers in our corporate sales program.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The individual behind the Instagram @MidtownUniform<\/a>, the founder of the term \u201cMidtown Uniform,\u201d which refers to the button-up, vest and slacks combination, stated, \u201cIn light of its big branding moves toward awareness of environmental issues, I was wondering when Patagonia would be putting the kibosh on outfitting the finance world. It was only a matter of time.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Midtown Uniform appears to have taken hold post-2008, when many financial firms loosened their once-strict suit-and-tie dress code. The message was: We know your salary is down, but at least you get to dress casual on Friday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe payouts regressed, so just like every industry that has payment difficulties, they find other ways to satisfy employees and dress is one of the easiest ones,\u201d said a 35-year-old stock trader in New York City. He was on the floor during the 2008 recession and described how the sport coats and wool slacks gave way to vests and cotton chinos in its aftermath. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Though midtown New York has now become especially associated with this new dress code, the vest\u2019s roots lie in Silicon Valley. \u201cIf you go to the Whole Foods here, you\u2019re going to see [the vest] everywhere,\u201d said Christina Mongini, the costume designer for HBO\u2019s parodic sitcom \u201cSilicon Valley\u201d and a Bay Area native. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Jared Dunn, the show\u2019s type-A COO, wears a fleece vest over a button-down in nearly every scene in which his character appears. \u201cJared\u2019s style is really perceived as the normal basic understated business-casual attire,\u201d said Mongini. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Outdoorsy fleece vests match the youthful, countercultural Silicon Valley spirit in a way suits and ties never did. Bay Area C-suite executives, such as Apple\u2019s Tim Cook, Facebook\u2019s Mark Zuckerberg and PayPal cofounder Max Levchin have boasted of cycling or hiking during the work week. As Mongini said, \u201cYou can hop on your bike and throw your vest on and head over to Santa Cruz on your lunch break if you wanted to.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Across the nation, the vest was an easy sell. \u201cIt\u2019s very difficult to just sit there and work in a suit jacket,\u201d said the 35-year-old stock trader. In a vest, \u201cI can sit at my desk and feel a little bit more comfortable.\u201d Aiding and abetting the trend toward sleevelessness, a couple of years ago brokerage houses and trading platforms shrewdly started giving away the vests as a freebie to entice traders. The vests\u2019 low cost was a way around financial regulations, which cap gifts to traders at $100, and the wearable promotions were more functional than the giveaways they replaced, such as candy tins and Nerf Footballs. These promotional vests, with \u201cEquifax\u201d or \u201cMerrill Lynch\u201d embroidered along the chest, are now a common sight in New York. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The trend has become self-perpetuating: People wear the vest because it is what people wear. \u201cNow it\u2019s the new thing: It\u2019s not suspenders and a Bengal-striped shirt,\u201d said Will Crowley, a 25-year-old investment banker who lives in Hoboken, N.J. \u201cIt\u2019s a Patagonia vest and a button-down shirt.\u201d He added that the \u201cbro culture\u201d of finance has helped reinforce this look, with its scores of men following the same path from prep school to an Ivy League college to a job in finance. Looking like your peers is part of the package. \u201cIf you want to be successful, part of it is wanting to fit in,\u201d said Crowley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although many companies, including The North Face, make fleece vests, the Patagonia fleece vests quickly became, as Jeffrey Leeds, co-founder of Leeds Equity Partners and longtime fleece-wearer, said, \u201cthe Tiffany blue box\u201d of the culture: an immediately recognizable visual sign of elite status. Part of this can be attributed to the co-branding \u2013 the Patagonia name on one side and a company name on the other. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Patagonia became so linked to the financial sector uniform that one website poked fun at the whole thing by offering a \u201cVC starter kit\u201d for $499. \u201cNothing says SF VC casual like a Patagonia Better Sweater Vest paired with gray Allbirds runners. You\u2019ll fit right into Demo Day,\u201d the promo read. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Patagonia\u2019s shift in policy to focus on increasing the number of Certified B Corporations, 1% For The Planet members and other mission-driven companies that prioritize the planet seems to align with Patagonia\u2019s brand, especially with its relatively new mission statement. However, it is interesting to note the macroscopic view of the timing of this decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In November 2018, Patagonia received $10 million as a result of what it called an \u2018irresponsible tax cut\u201d by President Donald Trump. The Activist Company, as Patagonia calls itself, promptly donated the money to environmental charities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Since 2017, Patagonia has also been sharply critical of President Trump\u2019s decision to drastically reduce the size of some national monuments. In the case of Bears Ears National Monument in southeast Utah \u2013 shrunk an astounding 85 percent \u2013 the company has put up resources to fight in court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe have to fight like hell to keep every inch of public land,\u201d Patagonia CEO Rose Marcario told HuffPost in 2017, shortly after the Bears Ears decision was announced. \u201cI don\u2019t have a lot of faith in politics and politicians right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although Patagonia\u2019s history of environmental activism spans longer than its efforts in the Bears Ears decision, its relatively recent shift in focus to stop working with the finance industry in its corporate sales program seems abrupt in Patagonia\u2019s macroscopic timeline. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Jake Flanagin, a reporter for Esquire<\/em>, wrote a piece about why all of these business bros were wearing the same vest. His article was released on July 9, 2018. When writing the article, he contacted Patagonia to inquire about their marketing relationship with the financial sector, and the response he received was less than enthusiastic. This was approximately 10 months before Patagonia\u2019s shift in policy became publicized. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In a rather terse email from Patagonia\u2019s communications team, Flanagin was told they have \u201cno idea\u201d how or why the vests became so popular with the young corporate set \u2013 they build their products specifically for \u201cenvironmentalists and laborers who work in the elements.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In April 2019, Binna Kim then released a set of tweets that publicized Patagonia\u2019s corporate shift in policy, which affected all of its retail partners and future clientele. Patagonia, however, never released an official statement announcing this decision prior to the tweets. Rather in response to Kim\u2019s tweets and the conversation that ensued afterward, Patagonia confirmed its shift in policy to specific news outlets that asked about it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Patagonia\u2019s decision to shift the focus of its corporate sales program seems abrupt, and the lack of marketing Patagonia conducted for it seems like Patagonia was correcting what should have been occurring in the first place: the vest should have never been a part of the Midtown Uniform in the first place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Patagonia\u2019s shift in policy to increase the share of its corporate partners that make environmentalism a top priority only affects any new corporate clients that wanted to work with Patagonia and did not have any corporate social responsibility toward environmentalism. Therefore, the power vest will not be disappearing since its existing corporate customers will not be affected. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Patagonia\u2019s decision, however, does serve as an example of the various ways businesses are making their social stances part of how they operate and of how Patagonia in particular weaves its ethics into business. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Before, companies would try to stay neutral on politics. Recently, that is not much of an option says Daniel Korschun, an associate marketing professor at Drexel University who studies corporate political activism. \u201cConsumers and employees are looking for deeper purpose from companies,\u201d he says, and Korschun calls Patagonia the \u201cgold standard in corporate activism\u201d because it has consistently aligned itself with issues that make sense for the brand and that its customers care about. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Although Patagonia may be seen as the gold standard in corporate activism, it is not the only outdoor retailer weaving ethics into business. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The North Face, one of the three most popular outdoor retailers among Patagonia and Columbia, recently refused to fill an oil company\u2019s vest order saying, \u201cThere are times when we choose not to engage with other companies or organizations because they do not align with our brand values and mission to move the world forward through exploration.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Some industry watchers have criticized Patagonia for taking political stances that are too \u201cuncompromising.\u201d While Marcario admits that occasionally the company has heard from customers who disagree with Patagonia\u2019s actions, she says the response for its unapologetically political stance has been \u201coverwhelmingly positive.\u201d When viewing Patagonia\u2019s revenue and profit these past few years, this sentiment does reign true. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Marcario took up the CEO role for Patagonia in 2014, and since then Patagonia has seen its revenue and profit quadruple. The company will not disclose its exact revenue, but the CEO said in March last year that sales were approaching $1 billion. Marcario has helped nurture new lines of business, including its Patagonia Provisions food line, used goods program Worn Wear, and the venture fund Tin Shed Ventures, which has at least $75 million to help environmentally responsible startups. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As a result, the founder of Patagonia, Yvon Chouinard, has called Marcario the best leader the company has ever had. Since Marcario took leadership of the company, Patagonia has leaned further into its self-appointed role as the Activist Company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although the finance industry will not necessarily be left out in the cold without their coveted vests, Patagonia\u2019s decision to shift its focus and lose a large market share of potential clients shows the importance of staying true to its brand identity in today\u2019s times and how it pays off to do so. <\/p>\n\n\n\n At the highest levels of power in the finance industry, there is one gold standard, one unifying symbol that binds together all titans in the industry: the Patagonia vest with an embroidered corporate logo, also known as, \u201cthe Power Vest.\u201d The vest may now vanish to distant memory, similar to Gordon Gekko\u2019s pinstriped suits, due […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1533,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/j469.ascjclass.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5964"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/j469.ascjclass.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/j469.ascjclass.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/j469.ascjclass.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1533"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/j469.ascjclass.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5964"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/j469.ascjclass.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5964\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5974,"href":"http:\/\/j469.ascjclass.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5964\/revisions\/5974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/j469.ascjclass.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/j469.ascjclass.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/j469.ascjclass.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The Origin of the Power Vest<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/j469.ascjclass.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2019\/12\/B3-BE974_MIDTOW_P_20180723175929.jpg\")
<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nPatagonia\u2019s Place Among the Vest Industry<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/j469.ascjclass.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2019\/12\/Screen-Shot-2019-12-12-at-3.50.06-AM-1024x728.png\")
The Timing of Patagonia\u2019s Decision<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/j469.ascjclass.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2019\/12\/59440da115000021004e6bc1.jpeg\")
Patagonia\u2019s Intersection Between Ethics and Business<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/j469.ascjclass.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2019\/12\/5c815fd82628982d2106f1ad-1024x768.jpeg\")
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/j469.ascjclass.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2019\/12\/im-65262-1024x683.jpeg\")
Sources<\/h4>\n\n\n\n