The complexities of Patagonia and Yvon Chouinard’s conservation capitalism

KEY POINTS

A new biography of Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard was released earlier this fall.

Author David Gelles pulls no punches in the book, but finds no skeletons, either.

The book addresses the nuance and complications of the influential owner and his company.

Yvon Chouinard — inventor of fleece jackets, the aluminum climbing nut, the layered clothing system universally adopted by outdoor athletes (and everyday people now, too) and whose name is synonymous with first ascents of some of the most exciting and challenging climbs across the West and world — was furious when he first made the Forbes’ billionaire list in 2017.

Describing the scene in a new biography released in September titled " Dirtbag Billionaire ," David Gelles, the New York Times reporter, wrote that Chouinard