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Tour Stop: Ventucky, California. 

Thanks to all came out in Ventucky last night! 435 garments were repaired. If you missed us, don't fret! Catch us at the next stop or stop in a retail store near you. 

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La Chaqueta Azul Hector Seguel Rivas, Lake District, Chile

Dear Patagonia,

I was born and raised in the northern most part of Patagonia, on the Chilean side known as the lake district. The average annual precipitation is 52 inches and the temperature varies from 39 °F in winter, which lasts about eight months, to 72°F for the reminder four months of fair weather. It was 1988, and we just had the coldest year on record when my resourceful mother got me this Patagonia blue jacket (they still make it) from a “Ropa Americana” store, which is basically used clothes from the US at affordable prices (if you don’t mind blemishes, odd sizes, rare finds and stinky washable remains). As I still do today, I appreciate even more a piece that has been worn before. I called them black belt pieces who stand the test of time and take the rejection as a character builder to serve a new owner.

I wore that jacket like a second skin. I used it every single day of my junior and senior years of high school and during my first two years of university before it got stolen from a window sill in 1992. I remember feeling very sad, but even then, I got my sh#t together and thought, “well, I hope it goes to someone that needs it more than me”. It has been three years now that I’ve been working with a great team at Patagonia headquarters. Yes, I’ve become a Chilean transplant proud to work for a company that puts everything on the table to create classic garments, pieces meant to withstand heavy usage.

I’m very proud to share this story and hope it gives background to this company we all love. I’m proud to work for a company that believes and exercises the motto of “build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis”.

Gracias,

-Hector

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Check out our film! This is where it allll starts. 

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First River Trip Eric Pangman, Madison, Winsconsin

Dear Patagonia,

Back in the early 90’s I took my family on their first canoe trip down the Kickapoo in western WI. I still have the baggies and Wallace Beery expedition weight top. In fact, my daughter wore the same top hiking in Chile some 20 years later. Thanks, Patagonia for your fine gear over the years!

-Eric

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Papa’s Pants Charlotte Austin, Seattle, Washington

Dear Patagonia,

These green fleece beauties are my papa’s pants. He bought them in the early 1990s, then wore them during lots of adventures. They’ve sailed across the Pacific, explored the Queen Charlotte Islands, and have been on many adventures around our home of Seattle, Washington.

I recently took Papa’s Pants on an adventure of my own: a 146-mile kayak trip down the Columbia River.  I literally didn’t take these pants off for 8 days, and I was SO grateful that they kept me so warm.  The trip wasn’t easy, but I took comfort in knowing that my dad had faced hardship wearing the same awesome pair of fuzzy pants.

Keep up the good work!  If I ever have kids, I hope they’ll wear these babies on an adventure, too.

-Charlotte

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All Wrapped Up Leigh Boyle, Vancouver, BC

Dear Patagonia,

25 years ago my mom snapped this photo of me in our backyard in North Vancouver, BC. At 2 years old, my greatest adventures were  around our neighbourhood and in the forest behind our house. Every afternoon, the epic expeditions would be colourfully spilled onto the big sheets of paper my mom would tack up on the side of the house for my brother and I to paint on.

While I quickly outgrew that hot pink fleece, the preparation for adventures as a teen and then as an adult always involved Patagonia. From Peru to Paris to Pretoria to Pyongyang and pretty much everywhere in between, the day before take-off always involved my mom handing down one or two of her most beloved Patagonia pieces.

Going back through photos, I see my Worn Wear in almost every picture - an old hat pulled down over my ecstatic face after climbing in Northern Ethiopia, her old black puffy down getting pulled out of a backpack in the Korean mountains, or a pair of waders she found at a garage sale and had repaired so that I could go out fly fishing with my dad in Idaho.

My mom raised my brother and I to explore the world with unwavering curiosity.  It seems to me that since she often couldn’t be there herself to fold her arms around us after we summited a mountain or conquered our biggest wave, she would always send us away with the next best thing to wrap around us - her Patagonia worn wear.  It’s warm as hell, tough as nails, and is one of those things you can always count on - just like Mom.

-Leigh

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Tour Stop: Nashville, TN.  

Great times in Nashville, I said, great times in Nashville! Fried chicken, country music. What more do you need? Check out the photos!