Patagonia to closes its stores, DCs and offices for holiday week

Patagonia is giving its employees an end-of-the-year break with paid time off.

For the second consecutive year, the outdoor apparel retailer will close its North American stores, customer service operations and warehouse from December 25 through January 1. Announcing the closings in a post on his LinkedIn page, CEO Ryan Gellert wrote that the company was giving employees the week off because “we believe in providing quality of life for our people.”

“I want to thank Patagonia’s incredible employees for an amazing year of working to save our home planet, and I want to thank our nonprofit partners and customers for their continued support and friendship,” Gellert wrote.

“We’ll be back at work and recharged on January 2, ready to ship the orders, help exchange unwanted gifts and repair clothing that was broken while people were outside having fun,” he continued. “Until then, seasons greetings to you and yours.”

Patagonia has long been known for its bold social activism and commitment to the environment. The company closed all of its U.S. stores and offices, as well as its distribution center in Reno, Nev., on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022, and provided employees with paid time off. Patagonia, a co-founder of the Time to Vote movement, has been doing this on Election Day since 2016. 

In September, Patagonia founder and owner Yvon Chouinard, his wife and two adult children made the unusual decision to transfer all ownership in Patagonia, which is valued at $3 billion,  to two newly created entities — Patagonia Purpose Trust and the Holdfast Collective. Every dollar that is not reinvested back into Patagonia will be distributed as dividends to organizations and groups that are dedicated to protecting the planet. 

“Instead of extracting value from nature and transforming it into wealth for investors, we’ll use the wealth Patagonia creates to protect the source of all wealth,” Chouinard, who is 83,  wrote in a letter to employees at the time.