Form Follows Function

70’s Synchilla

The Responsible Company : Lessons From Patagonia’s First 40 Years

(Skip the intro and go to 4:17)

Now Go read the book!

http://formfollowsfunctionjournal.tumblr.com/post/26689955241/reading-wearing#notes

Behind the Great Pacific Iron Works store near Ventura Point is the small tin shed where Yvon Chouinard set up his blacksmith shop in 1966. The shed once housed Bob Cooper’s Australian Surf Shop and Morey-Pope’s shaping room. The location was ideal for everyone’s passion: surf and building the finest mountaineering gear in the winter, climb and sell the gear in the summer. Chouinard Equipment Company went on to redesign and improve virtually every tool used in mountaineering, from carabiners to crampons. In 1973, the company branched out to make outdoor clothing under the Patagonia label.

http://media.patagonia.com/tinshed/

Mountain Of All Storms

The journey that started an American subculture. In 1968, five friends Yvon Chouinard, Doug Thompkins, Chris Jones, Lito Tejeda Flores and Dick Dorworth left Ventura, California in a Ford Econoline van. Three and a half months and 16,500 miles later, they arrived at their destination Patagonia. Their first ascent of Fitz Roy’s Southwest Buttress the so-called ‘Californian Route’ was not the only upshot of the trip. Thompkins went on to found Esprit and The North Face, and Chouinard founded Patagonia, providing inspiration for the generations of dirt bags who would follow in their footsteps.

Winner of the Best Film Award at the 1972 Trento Film Festival.

Director/Producer: Doug Thompkins/Yvon Chouinard.

http://formfollowsfunctionjournal.tumblr.com/post/18152002053/watching-180-south-jeff-johnson-retraces#notes

Chouinard 

1970’s Synchilla

1970’s Patagonia Synchilla Pullover

1970’s Patagonia Softwear Synchilla

Found

Early 70’s Patagonia Synchilla Fleece Pullover.

It all started with Malinda Chouinard buying up some fleece produced for making toilet seat covers and teddy bears and reversing the material so the pile was on the inside and the backing was on the outside. Technological outerwear 1969/1970.

1970’s Patagonia Synchilla Jacket