Patagonia Hid Message to Voters in Its Shorts

It refers to climate deniers, company says
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 16, 2020 12:12 PM CDT
Updated Sep 19, 2020 3:30 PM CDT
Patagonia Hid Message to Voters in Its Shorts
This photo shows the Patagonia logo on items in the brand section of a retail department store in New York on Nov. 28, 2018.   (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

Outdoor clothing company Patagonia isn't beating around the bush when it comes to the upcoming election. The California-based brand is owning the message it quietly placed on the underside of the tag on newly made Regenerative Organic Stand-Up Shorts for men and women. It reads: "Vote the a--holes out," and it began attracting notice over the weekend. NBC News has this from Patagonia rep Tessa Byers: "We have been standing up to climate deniers for almost as long as we've been making those shorts," which were first released in 1973. However, Byers said the message isn't directed at the current administration.

"It refers to politicians from any party who deny or disregard the climate crisis and ignore science … because their pockets are lined with money from oil and gas interests," Byers said, noting Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard has used the phrase for years. Back in 2017, Chouinard described the Trump administration as "evil." The following year, when Patagonia received a $10 million tax cut, Patagonia donated all of it to environmental programs, per CNN. Its website now spouts a call to vote against climate deniers in Senate races, noting "the strength of our nation's climate policies and the existence of our wild places" is at risk. Georgia state Sen. Jen Jordan, a Democrat, is on board. "As parts of our country are literally burning and being destroyed by the effects of climate change, this couldn’t be more welcome," she says in a tweet. (More Patagonia stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X