An Analysis of Patagonia’s Green Marketing Appeals on Instagram and Facebook Posts

and People’s Comments on Worn Wear

Georgia Shepard Barnes

A thesis submitted to the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial
fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Strategic Communication in the Environmental
Science and Communication Dual Degree Program in the Hussman School of Media and
Journalism

Chapel Hill
2021

Approved by:

Suman Lee

Lisa Villamil

Carol Ann Hee

 ©2021
Georgia Shepard Barnes
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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 ABSTRACT

Georgia Shepard Barnes: Improving Patagonia’s Worn Wear Marketing Strategy: An Analysis of
Patagonia’s Instagram and Facebook Platforms
(Under the direction of Suman Lee)

This study investigated Patagonia’s green marketing appeals on social media posts by

focusing on its Worn Wear campaign. Based on content analysis on the top 100 most-liked social

media posts of Instagram and Facebook, this study found that the nature appeal is the most

common on both Facebook and Instagram and that the Worn Wear appeal is the least common

on both Facebook and Instagram. Based on an inductive theme analysis on people’s comments

on Worn Wear posts, the study found the five prominent themes: (1) personal anecdotes, (2)

lessons about recycled clothing, (3) observations about material quality, (4) suggestions for

improving Worn Wear, and (5) broader societal implications. From these findings, this study

suggests that Patagonia increase the number of posts highlighting Worn Wear, include posts with

personal stories describing individuals who have used Worn Wear products, and interact with

individuals who comment on the posts to answer questions about Worn Wear and provide more

details. In the future, investigative studies could look into why certain posts performed better in

terms of engagement than others.

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to give a huge thanks to my committee members for their support and guidance

throughout this process. Their feedback and helpful guidance were invaluable in the writing of

my thesis and I am extremely grateful.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction……………………….………………………………………………….… 7

Literature Review…………………….……………………………….………………... 10

Patagonia’s Mission and Worn Wear Product Line

Understanding Sustainable Fashion

Worn Wear Line and Target Consumers

Green Marketing Appeals and Social Media

Reasoning for Methodology

Research Questions…………………………………….…………………………20

Methodology…………………………………….…………………………………..….. 21

Selection of Media Platform

Selection of Posts

Measures of Social Media Posts

Analysis of Comments

Intercoder Reliability

Results…………………………………….…………………………………….…….... 28

Analysis of Social Media Posts

Inductive Theme Analysis of Comments

Discussion and Strategic Implications for Patagonia…………………………………44

Practical Implications

Limitations and Suggestions for Future Studies

References……………………………….……………………………………...…....... 50

Appendix ……………………………….……………………………………....…....... 55

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 List of Tables

Table 1 - Frequencies of Text-Based Appeals in Instagram Posts ……………………… ..27

Table 2 - Frequencies of Text-Based Appeals in Facebook Posts……………………....….27

Table 3 - Comparison of Green Marketing Appeals Presence in Social Media Platforms....28

Table 4 - Comparison of Post Interactions on Social Media Platforms………………….…29

Table 5 - Recycled Clothing Appeal on Social Media Platforms………………………..…31

Table 6 - Instagram Captions on Posts Coded for Recycled Clothing Text-Appeal……..…31

Table 7 - Facebook Captions with Recycled Clothing Text-Appeal…………………….…32

Table 8 - Worn Wear Appeal within the Recycled Clothing Appeal on Social Media
Platforms ..…..…………………….……………………….……………………….………34

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 Introduction

It has been estimated that an increase of 1.5 degrees Celsius will push the Earth past its

breaking point for climate restoration (IPCC, 2018). Research by United Nations Climate

Change into the contributing causes of climate change has discovered that the clothing industry

contributes 10% of the global carbon emissions released by human causes. Many companies

continue to promote fast fashion which highlights the rapid production of clothing with low-

quality materials at a cheap price to consumers. The prioritization of profit over environmental

protection is rapidly depleting the Earth’s resources and driving up the temperature of the climate

at an alarming rate (United Nations Climate Change, 2018).

As the general public becomes increasingly aware of unsustainable practices in the

clothing industry, companies are tailoring their marketing strategy to focus on highlighting

positive environmental attributes in their products (Baldridge, 2021). While some companies

engage in greenwashing by creating misleading and false information about the sustainable

nature of their products, others work to verify and improve the environmental impact of their

production process. These companies provide detailed statistics and breakdowns of their product

sourcing, manufacturing, and processing activities in order to prevent greenwashing.

Organizations such as the Federal Trade Commission are taking it upon themselves to manage

greenwashing claims and encourage companies to only publish true and validated environmental

claims. The Green Guides, published in 1996 and again revised in 2008 provided an example of

a way in which to stop environmental deception (Federal Trade Commission, 2021).

Patagonia, an American clothing brand that creates clothing for outdoor and physical

activities, is known for its anti-greenwashing movement in the clothing industry. Founded in

1973, Patagonia has a strong history based in climate change activism, habitat restoration, and

ethical work environments. In 2019, Patagonia created a used clothing line for consumers called

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Worn Wear. In stark contrast to their typical production and sale of brand new products, Worn

Wear offered a way for consumers to return their gently used Patagonia clothing for a generous

store credit. The garments in turn would be put up for sale on Patagonia’s website. These options

are sold to give consumers a more sustainable clothing option from the Patagonia brand. The

options are available to customers online, just like the other Patagonia products available on its

website (patagonia.com). This is a brilliant effort by Patagonia to recoup the value of used

clothing while simultaneously providing value to both the original purchaser and Patagonia

itself. This is an initiative that promotes one of the key tenants of circular economy, extending

the life of or reusing a product (Patagonia, 2021).

According to a Forbes article from 2019 highlighting Patagonia’s mission, branding and

marketing strategy, Patagonia changed its mission to focus less on the products it creates to a

purpose-driven mission that states “Patagonia is in business to save our home planet.” (Sonsev,

2019). The clear change from a product-centered mission is evidence of a drastic shift in the

business goals. Patagonia employees are hired based on their commitment to fulfilling the

company mission statement. The brand purpose has impacted Patagonia’s marketing efforts

because there is a strong focus on storytelling and putting a special emphasis on environmental

causes. There has not previously been a great focus on traditional forms of advertising. In order

to balance the brand purposes and business goals, Patagonia tends to focus on long-term thinking

as opposed to monitoring short-term growth. Examples of this included changing to use only

organic cotton and suing Donald Trump for the reduction of Bears Ear National Monument

(Sonsev, 2019). According to Patagonia’s Worn Wear website, the company wants to encourage

consumers to purchase used clothing because it is more sustainable through the lengthened life of

the products. Is “Worn Wear” sustainable? Used clothes cut down on waste and water and

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carbon footprint by 82%. It is more sustainable than buying new clothes, as is described on the

website (Patagonia, 2021).

The use of Patagonia’s content marketing on its social media platforms allows for

continual success in the marketplace. Patagonia is active on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter,

YouTube, and a company blog, all of which give an online location to showcase a commitment

to environmental initiatives (Social Media for Business Performance, 2017). The social media

platforms help Patagonia consistently deliver valuable content to its online audience. Posts focus

on a variety of topics in categories including nature, outdoor activities, and sustainability.

Inspirational stories and posts highlighting an outdoor lifestyle are popular on Instagram, but

what is notable is the fact that many posts do not show any Patagonia products at all. Patagonia’s

Facebook page is frequently used to posts links to external articles and to share more information

about Patagonia events. Overall, Patagonia aims to use its social media platforms to spread its

message about sustainability (Think Media Consulting, 2018).

This analysis evaluates the green marketing appeals that are covered in Patagonia’s

Instagram and Facebook posts. In particular, the study aims to identify how Worn Wear has been

promoted in Patagonia’s social media platforms. Additionally, the study identifies themes based

on the types of comments that are left by social media users on posts describing Worn Wear.

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 Literature Review

Patagonia’s Mission and Worn Wear Product Line

Patagonia’s marketing efforts for Worn Wear need to ensure that the target demographic

is receiving the intended message. Patagonia's market segmentation includes men and women

aged 18-35, those with disposable income, those who maintain an active lifestyle, and those who

enjoy nature and outdoors, value for quality products and conscious buyers (Consumer Profile,

2021). Another study presented by Helixa, think tank, or what identity finds that Patagonia’s

consumer base is comprised of many individuals who live near major mountain ranges or

oceanic landscapes, especially in cities such as Boulder, Honolulu, Burlington, San Francisco,

Denver and Seattle. The article also shows that Patagonia has a high affinity value with its value

of 49.05x. This is a notable value considering that an affinity value of 1 means that the audience

is interested in something as much as an average American adult. (Patagonia: U.S. Audience

Analysis, 2018). The Worn Wear line is a great way to include members of Patagonia’s primary

market segmentation because these consumers tend to be focused on sustainability and have

product quality in mind. Patagonia's primary market segmentation includes men and women

aged 18-35, those with disposable income, those who maintain an active lifestyle, and those who

enjoy nature and outdoors, value for quality products and conscious buyers (Consumer Profile,

2021).

There must be an understanding of Patagonia’s core values to understand the company’s

mission. A key point to address is that the founder of Patagonia himself acknowledged that

“Patagonia will never be completely socially responsible. It will never make a totally sustainable

non-damaging product. But it is committed to trying” (Chouinard, 2005, p. 230). With this being

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the case, it is clear that Patagonia intends to do what it can to be as non-destructive to the planet

as possible. Therefore, consumer feedback highlighting only the negative environmental impact

of some of Patagonia’s processes is not conducive to understanding how its overall purpose is

being fulfilled. The marketing philosophy established by Patagonia is also an indicator of how

consumers will view the brand as a whole. There are three general guidelines for Patagonia’s

promotional efforts: “1. Our charter is to inspire and educate rather than to promote. 2. We

would rather earn credibility than to buy it. The best resources for us are the word-of-mouth

recommendation from a friend or favorable comments in the press. 3. We advertise only as a last

resort and usually in sport-specific magazines” (p. 148). These three guidelines for the

promotional efforts set the standard for how Patagonia’s marketing efforts are strategized.

Understanding Sustainable Fashion

The term “circular economy” describes “an industrial system that manufactures products

with negligible waste.” This term, described by Hussain et al, explains how a circular economy

can be used to transform textile waste into valuable recycled products (Hussain et al, 2021, p.

83). Business models based on creating services rather than products can better fulfill the

principles of a sustainable circular economy as they prioritize the longevity and maintenance of

their offerings.

Companies that founded their growth in sustainable causes are in a unique position

wherein their corporate social responsibility is the heart of the corporation’s cause. Eco-fashion

brands have to strategically balance their production for the sake of profit while maintaining their

overarching goal and mission to fight unnecessary waste production. The unique positioning of

these companies within the broader fashion segment forces a greater emphasis on creating

materials that benefit that planet rather than producing more profit (Bandyopadhyay & Ray,

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2020). Patagonia’s Worn Wear line fits into this category. Analyzing how consumers express

themselves online about Patagonia’s Worn Wear initiative gives an opportunity to hear firsthand

how they perceive and interact with the marketing content.

The growth of the secondhand clothing market is promising. According to an article by

SGB Media, Patagonia’s Worn Wear line is performing remarkably well in terms of economic

return. In 2019, Worn Wear had a 40% growth in revenue and the line allowed over 130,000

used items to be put back on the market for purchase (SGM Media, 2020). ThredUp’s 2019

Resale Report determined that the secondhand clothing market has grown about 21 times faster

than the overall apparel industry and it is expected to reach $51 billion by 2023 (ThredUp, 2019).

Worn Wear Line and Target Consumers

Patagonia was founded by Yvon Chouinard, a young man who was passionate about rock

climbing, in 1973 in the city of Ventura, California. Chouinard spent much of his time climbing

and eventually began to teach himself blacksmithing, which allowed him to create gear that he

could sell. In 1965 Chouinard and Tom Frost formed a partnership to create a company that sold

better climbing tools than had previously been designed by competitors. This first company,

Chouinard Equipment, quickly became the largest climbing gear supplier in the U.S. However,

as the company’s prominence grew and more gear was used in nature, the general public began

to see the equipment as a menace to the natural world. The gear was damaging to the fragile

ecosystems in which climbers explored. As a result, Chouinard Equipment began making

massive changes to the company that were the first of many environmentally-conscious actions

taken by the company (Patagonia, 2021).

There are some promising statistics that show how Patagonia can benefit from strong

marketing measures with their products. Shelton (2012) mentioned that “half the American

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population can actually name a product that they’ve chosen or dropped as a result of learning

more about a company’s environmental record.” (p. 1). Patagonia has positioned itself within a

unique market segment that combines durable, high-quality clothing built for the outdoors with a

mission that focuses nearly exclusively on environmental and ethical obligations. The key

consumer demographic constitutes individuals looking to step outside the status quo and address

the climate crisis. Addressing the issues involved with greenwashing allows Patagonia to

separate itself from competitors that attempt to utilize exaggerated environmental claims

(Hepburn, 2013). Patagonia’s ongoing commitment to these guiding environmental principles

propels its strategy to focus on finding cost-effective and resource-efficient ways to produce

high-quality adventure clothing.

Understanding the most prominent motivating factors and constructs associated with

purchasing sustainability apparel is necessary to pick out key themes and textual reference points

in social media. There are a few notable novel constructs that were discovered to most

prominently define consumer sustainability purchase intentions. Harris, Roby and Dibb (2016)

examines the Theory of Reasoned Action and green literature constructs including environmental

concerns and perceived environmental knowledge as well as novel constructs including

perceived aesthetic risk, perceived economic risk and greenwashing concern. The intersection of

these thematic elements presents the behaviors and attitudes that are worth noting in social media

interactions. Though this study leaves a critical gap in the research pertaining to actual

purchasing behavior, it establishes the crucial element of importance for this study which is that

consumers are looking for a few well-defined and specific elements when purchasing sustainable

clothing. While there is an established gap between purchase intention and subsequent purchase

action, it is particularly difficult to narrow down paths of purchase activity outside of the

researched factors. However, addressing interactions with social media posts that relate to these

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themes will shed light on how social media users perceive Patagonia’s products in relation to

their motivating factors and concerns.

Koszewska (2013) uncovers some of the driving factors for consumers purchasing

sustainable clothing. Researchers were able to identify six distinct genres of consumers with

unique perspectives on fashion, practicality, price, brand/label, production, and sustainability.

The groups were given names to describe their perspective: fashionistas, slow fashionistas,

neutral minimalists, ecological conservatives, ecologically and socially sensitive conservatives,

and thrifty. Uncovering these distinct genres through a series of survey questions presents the

consumer base for apparel as a scale in which consumers have varying levels of interest in the

sustainable nature. Understanding that interest levels in sustainability range from no interest to

high interest allows marketers for sustainable brands to tailor their content for particular levels of

importance. An interview conducted by Michael S. Hopkins uncovered another important

general observation about green purchasing: “Many companies believe that higher prices keep

consumers from purchasing green products, but BCG’s findings show that price is rarely the

main obstacle. In fact, it ranks lower as a barrier to green sales than lack of awareness of green

alternatives or lack of choice” (Hopkins, 2009, p. 87).

Semi-structured interviews with consumers uncover some of the hesitations and

frustrations about purchasing sustainable apparel. The major finding is that sustainability as a

singular goal is not enough to encourage changed behavior in consumer attire purchases. Harris,

Roby, and Dibb (2016) divides the findings into three distinct reasons: the complex nature of

sustainable clothing, diverse ethical concerns for consumers, and the fact that purchasing attire is

not altruistic.

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 Identifying the specific criticisms of sustainable apparel creates an opportunity to address

fears and hesitations in marketing for the products. Information provided up-front about the

products and materials and a full breakdown of ethical practices conducted by a company can

ease consumers before a purchase. However, even this alone might be enough. The founder of a

brand called Method, Eric Ryan, remarked on the fact that ethics and sustainability alone do not

drive consumers to purchase a product. The following is a quote from Ryan written in an article

by Tilde Herrera: "I fundamentally believe that if you build something and ask people to buy it

for the sole reason it's green, you'll ultimately fail” (Herrera, 2012, p. 1). Therefore, there needs

to be more in the marketing than just highlighting the sustainable benefits of a product.

Although this study cannot confirm that Patagonia’s online audience is comprised

entirely of its target consumers, it is helpful to have a general understanding of the audience that

Patagonia intends to reach. The comments that are left on posts about Worn Wear can indicate

whether individuals are interested in purchasing from the Worn Wear line and how they

approach Patagonia’s social media marketing. Identifying prevalent themes in comments about

Worn Wear, from target consumers or not, could also help Patagonia better strategize how Worn

Wear posts could better resonate with the general public as opposed to just its target consumer

group.

Green Marketing Appeals and Social Media

Understanding Patagonia’s role in the growing environmental movement requires

knowledge of common business practices that are commonly applied as well as the underlying

issues with false environmental advertising. Environmental marketing, or “green marketing” is a

strategy that is used by companies to create an appeal to customers that focuses on promoting

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product sustainability. There are many definitions for green marketing. According to Soha and

El-Sayd (2017), green marketing is “the process of satisfying the needs and wants of customers

in a way which can bring benefit or profit for both the producer and the society by reducing

detrimental impact on the natural environment by providing less environmentally harmful and/or

more environmentally friendly products to the respondents” (p. 137). Patagonia nearly

exclusively utilizes environmental marketing in its advertising efforts to promote its products.

Patagonia’s website page called PatagoniaActionWorks hosts a collection of ongoing campaigns

that encourage pro-environmental action by its consumers and followers. The presence of this

website is a way in which Patagonia demonstrates its dedication to green marketing with true

societal and environmental value. Each listed campaign includes detailed information on the

cause, relevant events taking place in support of the campaign, and instructions on how

individuals can contribute (Patagonia Action Works, 2021). Subhabrata, Gulas, and Iyer (1995)

stated that “environmental claims in advertising are relatively new” (p. 21). The landscape of

environmental advertising has changed drastically over the last twenty-one years and Patagonia’s

content is just one of the many companies using it as a tool for true societal change.

There is a wide range of strategies used to promote environmental products. One such

strategy is the use of an environmental seal which distinguishes certain types of products from

alternative options that do not have a green seal of approval. Previous studies on green marketing

explained that customers develop certain mindsets associated with particular types of certified

products and green seal labeled products. Identifying the behavior of customers in relation to the

types of certifications demonstrates that individuals act differently knowing that a product has

gone through a series of strenuous testing protocols to validate the true sustainability measure.

The Veiga, Pereira, and de Alencar Caldas (2020) study on the appeal of certified markets

products and consumer perception states that it is vital for companies to communicate the origins

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of their products. The reason for this is because although some companies undergo testing

procedures to earn a seal for their product, consumers may not understand the validity of the seal

and the significance behind it. This finding was further explored by Soha and El-Sayd (2017)

which mentioned that respondents strongly favored supporting green marketing but did not fully

understand the appeal of green marketing through the use of classifications such as eco-labels or

seals.

As green marketing strategies are becoming more mainstream in the marketing activities

of companies that do not necessarily promote and prioritize environmental practices, the

obligation to explicitly explain environmental concepts to consumers becomes more apparent.

The benefits to special promotion and application of environmental causes are twofold. First, and

primarily, the business creates a model in which the production of physical products does not

create strain on the environment. As the business grows, the companies are working behind the

scenes to ensure that they are mending the environment such that the products can continue to be

produced throughout time without environmental concern. Second, the commitment to

environmental protection enhances the brand image and fosters a culture in which the customers

know that they can trust the brand’s loyalty to green causes. While eco-labeling is used as a tool

to create a differentiation between green products and those that cause significant harm to the

environment, consumers are still in need of more information and knowledge to be encouraged

to buy the product (Sharma and Kushwaha, 2019).

Understanding the concept of green supply chain management is essential when

evaluating green marketing strategies. Green supply chain management deals with all aspects of

the production process and establishes an enhanced prioritization on material sourcing and waste

creation. Sugandini, Muafi, Susilowati, Siswanti, and Syafri (2020) emphasized that there is a

proven influential relationship between green supply chain management, green marketing

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strategy, and subsequent green purchase intention. This finding shows that a misstep in either of

the first two pieces of the green strategy can create a significant damaging effect on the

consumers’ purchase intention. However, due to a scarcity of studies that analyze the perforation

of green marketing next to the green business strategy itself, there is an opportunity to directly

identify consumer understanding of a practice like Patagonia’s use of recycled clothing.

Green marketing appeals have previously been studied for their persuasiveness according

to various target audiences in advertisements for green products. The green marketing appeals

for this study focus particularly on recycled clothing, sustainability, products, nature, and social

justice. The recycled clothing appeal refers to any mention of clothing that has been repurposed,

recycled, or reused. The sustainability appeal refers to any mention of environmental,

sustainability, eco-friendly, earth, planet, or climate change vocabulary. The product appeal

refers to any mention of a physical item that is being created or sold by Patagonia. The nature

appeal refers to any mention of nature, the environment, locations in the outdoors, outdoor

activities, or ecosystems. The social justice appeal refers to any mention of campaigns,

grassroots efforts, or activities involving social justice awareness or action. These appeals mainly

focus on non-product-related attributes, which can be described as external aspects of a product

that are related to its purchase or consumption (Ku et al., 2012). These selected appeals represent

topics that appear commonly within Patagonia’s marketing efforts, which are described as

environmental activism and sustainability awareness campaigns (Patagonia, 2021).

Reasoning for Methodology

At the time of this study, the number of followers on Patagonia’s Instagram was

approximately 2.5 times as great as the number of Facebook followers. While Patagonia’s

Instagram has approximately 4.6 million followers and Patagonia’s Facebook has around 1.8

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million followers, there is a significantly larger population of social media users seeing and

interacting with the content on Instagram. The Patagonia Facebook and Instagram platforms are

the most-followed of the company’s social media accounts. In comparison, Patagonia’s Twitter

has 500,000 followers, Patagonia’s Pinterest has 90,000 followers and Patagonia’s LinkedIn has

530,000 followers. For this reason, focusing on Instagram and Facebook allows for the largest

audience to be accounted for in the analysis of posts and comments.

After understanding that Patagonia’s Instagram and Facebook platforms are the two

primary forms of social media that should be evaluated for consumer input, it is necessary to

evaluate the best strategies for analysis. There are two main forms of content necessary for this

analysis: the captions on the Instagram and Facebook posts as well as the comments provided by

social media users on these posts. The analysis of Instagram and Facebook posts should be done

using the absence and presence coding approach. The analysis of the comments should be done

using an inductive theme analysis.

It is essential to recognize that the Instagram followers and commenters on Patagonia’s

Instagram and Facebook are not necessarily consumers of Patagonia’s products. This study does

not take into consideration the identity or purchase background of any particular user that

comments on or interacts with the posts. For this reason, the understanding of the user

interactions can only be interpreted within the realm of what the individuals have commented on

the posts. The fact that Patagonia’s most followed social platforms are used for the analysis gives

the largest public audience from which to sample. Utilizing a sample of Instagram and Facebook

posts that performed well in terms of engagement records can shed light on whether the Worn

Wear line is a prominent and common topic on popular and highly visible posts. There is little

research already conducted on the communication field of green marketing. Therefore, there is

an opportunity to gain valuable insight into this field with a specific and intentional analysis.

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This study serves as a source of information gathering specifically on Patagonia and its online

follower audience, especially with relation to the Worn Wear line.

This study also expects to find some insights from the people who commented on social

media posts about Worn Wear line. Knowing overarching themes of people’s comments,

Patagonia can improve their future social media posts about Worn Wear line and find better

ways to engage with people. Performing an inductive theme analysis allows the raw data to be

synthesized and formed into themes without any preconceived notions about the insight that will

be gained from the content (Backett, 1995). In order to achieve a satisfactory amount of themes

and conclusions from the raw data, there should be at least three, and likely no more than eight,

main category findings from an inductive study (Thomas, 2003).

Research Questions

Based on the literature review, this study poses the following research questions:

1. What are the characteristics of green marketing appeals in Patagonia’s top 100 Instagram

or Facebook posts that people like most?

2. Is there any difference in content between Patagonia’s Instagram and Facebook?

3. How much attention are social media posts getting on Patagonia’s Instagram and

Facebook?

4. Do Patagonia’s posts highlighting recycled clothing and repair offerings receive more

engagement than product posts?

5. What themes are most prevalent in the comments on Patagonia’s Worn Wear posts?

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 Method

This study conducted a quantitative content analysis of green advertising from

Patagonia’s collection of social media posts on Instagram and Facebook and an inductive theme

analysis of people’s comments on the posts. This market research is a study with a distinct focus

on a particular subset of Patagonia’s social media posts with the purpose of identifying how the

Worn Wear line is presented in the sample. The overall goal is to identify common themes and

trends for how the online audience engages with the online social media content about Worn

Wear.

Selection of Media Platform

Patagonia is active on several social media platforms including Instagram, Facebook,

Twitter and LinkedIn. With over 4.5 million followers on Instagram and 1.7 million followers on

Facebook, these two platforms receive the majority of the consumer feedback and opinions on

social media posts. On Facebook, Patagonia posts approximately every 2 - 4 days and these posts

receive a great number of likes, comments, and shares. This trend is seen on Patagonia’s

Instagram as well. A general glance at these two social media pages shows an abundance of

content centered on sustainability and ethical issues. Social media users interact with the content

frequently and provide valuable feedback that reveals something about their understanding of

sustainability issues and interest in participating or learning more about them.

Selection of Posts

The analysis began with posts from March 10, 2021. Out of a total of 2,757 posts on

Instagram, 100 of the most-liked posts were selected for analysis to better represent recent

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sustainability trends and feedback. Out of 1,287 posts on Facebook, 100 of the most-liked posts

were selected for analysis.

The most-liked posts from Patagonia’s Instagram and Facebook page were chosen to

identify the success factors of posts that receive the most interaction and engagement from users.

Measures of Social Media Posts

The captions of the selected social media posts from Patagonia’s Instagram and Facebook

platforms were copied and pasted into a word document. Based on general guidance from studies

in the literature review on common themes in green marketing, each post was independently

coded according to measures of social media language (recycled clothing appeal, product appeal,

sustainability appeal, nature appeal, and social justice appeal). There is a subsection of the

recycled clothing appeal specifically for Worn Wear posts. This subsection is created because all

Worn Wear posts discuss recycled clothing, but not all recycled clothing posts are specifically

about the Worn Wear line. After all of the posts were labeled with these codes, the comments

were then able to be addressed on each post.

This section breaks down Patagonia’s Instagram and Facebook posts into categories

based on the presence of language referring to a few prominent topics. The use of absence and

presence coding allows the posts to be broken down according to the themes that relate most to

green advertising and Worn Wear specifically as part of Patagonia’s green marketing strategy.

Recycled Clothing Appeal. This appeal was coded such that the absence of recycled clothing

language is 0 and the presence of recycled clothing language is a 1. Recycled clothing language

refers to garments that were worn by previous consumers, are made of reclaimed material that

was originally for another purpose, or that were salvaged from another article of clothing. This

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type of language could be used in settings that encourage customers to purchase recycled

clothing or that simply informs consumers about the resale of recycled clothing that is now

available for purchase. Representative examples include the following:

Absence = 0: Wildlife ecologist J. Drew Lanham finds himself spending more time alone hiking

the Southern Appalachian’s Blue Ridge escarpment in South Carolina. The terrain doesn’t “offer

thin air vistas or many bare rock spires,” he says. “But their beauty will leave you breathless in

other ways.” These hills and “hollers” have supported his career in public work, provided space

for deep reflection and forced him to reckon with the racism he’s experienced as a Black man

who likes to “bird watch, hike and deer hunt in places where there are far more black bears per

square mile than Black people.”

Presence = 1: When you need something (and you always will): Buy used. Repair what you wear

out. Demand recycled. Demand Fair Trade. Demand organic. You have the power to change the

way clothes are made. #buyless #demandmore

Worn Wear Appeal: Within the recycled clothing coding appeal was a Worn Wear

specific appeal which referred to any mention of the Worn Wear line or services.

Absence = 0: All of our board shorts and bikinis are now made with #FairTrade. We are out to

change the industry. Learn more: http://pat.ag/SurfFairTrade

Presence = 1: This is Griffin. He stopped by the @wornwear event in Oregon and we weren’t

sure where to start. Griff told us he got this jacket from his dad when he graduated into middle

school. He said, “My dad had it for three years before he gave it to me, but I put most of the

23
holes in it.” When asked what he was doing to shred a jacket so hard, he shrugged and simply

mentioned, “Everything”. Keep charging everything Griffin!​⠀

Product Appeal. This appeal was coded such that the absence of product language is 0 and the

presence of product language is a 1. Product language refers to textual explanations of certain

physical commodities that are available for purchase by consumers. This appeal applies to social

media posts that explicitly state or reference mention to a product that Patagonia is selling.

Representative examples include

Absence = 0: Author Bonnie Tsui, a few years ago now, in red and black, readies to race the

breaststroke in coveted lane 4. In the pool, she writes, "my body started to feel like mine in a

way that was good."​

Presence = 1: "Stick to making clothes.", they said. ​"What if we could wear our garbage?", we

asked.​ Seriously. That’s the idea behind ReCrafted, our line of clothing made from the scraps of

used garments collected at our @wornwear facility in Reno, then deconstructed and sewn in Los

Angeles @suaysewshop. A second life for products that might not otherwise get one. ​Read

“How We Turn Scraps into New Gear” through the link in bio and check out the new items

added on the ReCrafted line @wornwear.

Sustainability Appeal. This appeal was coded such that the absence of sustainability language is

0 and the presence of sustainability language is a 1. Sustainability language refers to

environmental terms or verbiage that describes the protection of nature, green actions, resource

conservation, and ecosystem prioritization. The language does not necessarily have to demand a

change to current action. The simple presentation of information about sustainability-related

topics suffices the sustainability appeal. Representative examples include:

24
Absence = 0: On August 5th, @alexandermegos redpointed the long-standing Ceüse project

Bibliographie after some 60 tries over three years. He suggested 5.15d (9c) for a grade, making it

a contender for the hardest pitch of rock climbing ever done. We spoke to him shortly after the

send.​⠀

Presence = 1: Why Regenerative Organic? Part 2: Soil Is the Solution. Because healthy soil traps

carbon, many believe that Regenerative Organic farming methods have the potential to change

the way we grow food and fiber and restore the health of our soil and climate. These practices

help build healthy soil that could help draw down more carbon from the atmosphere than

conventional methods.

Nature Appeal. This appeal was coded such that the absence of nature language is 0 and the

presence of nature language is a 1. Nature language refers to verbiage that describes nature, the

environment, locations in the outdoors, outdoor activities, or ecosystems. This could be the

specific name of certain mountains/beaches/rivers etc. Representative examples include:

Absence = 0: Heads-up: We’re out tomorrow—every Patagonia employee gets a paid day off on

Election Day so we can all be sure to vote. And we’re super grateful to all of our partners in

#TimeToVote who are making it easier for their employees to get to the polls and to the election

workers making this all possible. Whatever happens, our commitment to democracy and saving

our home planet remains. See you Wednesday. #ThankYouElectionHeroes

Presence = 1: The truck is down there … somewhere. Max Hammer climbs above California’s

Owens Valley, dreaming of giant desert descents on his way to the summit of one of the Sierra

Nevada’s 14ers. ​

25
Social Justice Appeal. This appeal was coded such that the absence of social justice language is 0

and the presence of social justice language is a 1. Social justice refers to any mention of

campaigns, grassroots efforts, or activities involving social justice awareness or action.

Environmental campaigns can be included in this appeal if they mention the impact on humans

(mental health, physical health, economic well-being, etc.) This appeal also includes comments

that highlight social justice leaders and inspirational individuals.

Absence = 0: Taking in the endless expanse of choss atop Misguided Angel Tower. Sedona,

Arizona. ​

Presence = 1: We’re inspired by our friend and colleague @greengirlleah •Social justice cannot

wait. It is not an optional “add-on” to environmentalism. It is unfair to opt-in and opt-out of

caring about racial injustices when many of us cannot. These injustices are happening to our

parents, our children, our family and our friends. I’m calling on the environmentalist community

to stand in solidarity with the black lives matter movement and with Black, Indigenous + POC

communities impacted daily by both social and environmental injustice. Please swipe to learn

more about intersectional environmentalism and take the pledge.

Analysis of Comments

The use of a qualitative content analysis and thematic analysis makes it possible to

uncover the variety of consumer comments on the social media posts that Patagonia is creating

about environmental topics and its Worn Wear clothing line. According to Vaismoradiet al,

“Qualitative research as a group of approaches for the collection and analysis of data aims to

provide an in-depth, socio-contextual and detailed description and interpretation of the research

26
topic” (Vaismoradi et al, 2015, p. 100). This particular type of research allows data that is

qualitative by nature to be categorized and sorted in order to find important themes and trends.

For the purposes of this study, it allows the Instagram and Facebook comments left by users to

be coded according to subjects. The most important element of this type of research is defining a

theme. Defining themes that are most prominently witnessed in the comments on Patagonia’s

social media content creates categories that can be further explored for relevance and

significance. According to Vaismoradi et al, “Each theme may have some subthemes as

subdivisions to obtain a comprehensive view of data and uncover a pattern in the participants’

account” (p. 101). The ability to uncover a pattern based on the themes that are most present on

certain types of social media posts and comments can then indicate which types of social media

content illicit certain types of responses online.

In order to identify themes from comments in the inductive theme analysis section, all

comments were pulled from posts that were coded in the Worn Wear section of the recycled

clothing appeal posts. Therefore, the comments were pulled from 17 posts representing the Worn

Wear-specific posts as opposed to the 200 total posts that were selected from the study.

Intercoder Reliability

In order to ensure that bias is accounted for in the coding process, intercoder reliability

was conducted. Two graduate students (including the researcher) studying media and journalism

coded 20 posts (10% of 200 posts) from Instagram and Facebook (10 per each platform) for the

analysis. The coders studied the coding guidelines for each appeal and applied them to the set of

selected social media posts. The coders then compared and contrasted the results and the coding

scheme was modified to reach the satisfactory level of agreement. The remaining 180 social

27
media posts were also coded with the modified coding guidelines, giving a total of 200 coded

posts.

In order to determine that the coders achieved a satisfactory agreement level, there must

be an 80% agreement rate on the way that the material is coded. Each coder’s response was

submitted to ReCal2 in order to get the intercoder reliability calculated for the data. The coding

scheme was revised and elaborated to reach a satisfactory agreement level. There was an 85%

level of agreement for the recycled clothing appeal, 95% for the sustainability appeal, 100% for

the product appeal, 90% for the nature appeal, and 95% for the social justice appeal.

Results

Analysis of Social Media Posts

The first research question asked the most prominent characteristics of green marketing

in Patagonia’s social media posts. As seen in Table 1 below, 52% had the nature appeal, 20%

had the sustainability appeal, 16% had the social justice appeal, 11% had the product appeal, and

6% of the most-liked posts on Instagram had the recycled clothing appeal. The recycled clothing

appeal was the least frequently identified in the top Instagram posts.

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Table 1. Percentages of Green Marketing Appeals in Instagram Posts

Recycled Sustainability Product Nature Social Justice

Clothing

Presence 6 20 11 52 16

Absence 93 80 89 58 84

Total 100 100 100 100 100

As seen in Table 2 below, 62% had the nature appeal, 40% had the sustainability appeal,

25% had the product appeal, 23% had the social justice appeal, and 11% of the most-liked posts

on Facebook had the recycled clothing appeal. Similar to the findings from the Instagram testing,

the recycled clothing appeal was the least frequently identified in the top Facebook posts as well.

Table 2. Percentages of Green Marketing Appeals in Facebook Posts

Recycled Sustainability Product Nature Social Justice

Clothing

Presence 11 40 25 62 23

Absence 89 60 75 38 77

Total 100 100 100 100 100

The second research question attempts to uncover whether there is a distinct and notable

difference in content between Patagonia’s Instagram versus Facebook. The findings about the

frequencies of the text-based appeals on Instagram and Facebook are consistent between the two

platforms. As seen in Table 3 below, the Facebook platforms had more instances of the text-

based appeals altogether. The nature green marketing appeal appeared most commonly on both

29
Instagram and Facebook, though it made up a greater percentage of the appeals on Facebook

with 54.38% as opposed to 45.61% on Instagram. The largest difference between percentages of

a green marketing appeal is seen with the product appeal where on Instagram there were only

30.55% with the product appeal while on Facebook there were 69.44% with the product appeal.

Table 3. Comparison of Green Marketing Appeals Presence in Social Media Platforms

Recycled Sustainability Product Nature Social Justice

Clothing

Count % Count % Count % Count % Count %

Instagram 6 35.29 20 33.33 11 30.55 52 45.61 16 41

Instagram 93,571 --- 83,360 --- 91,000 --- 79,321 --- 103,278 ---
average
number of
likes per
post

Facebook 11 64.7 40 66.66 25 69.44 62 54.38 23 58.97

Facebook 8,443 --- 9,300 --- 7,944 --- 8,393 --- 9,278 ---
average
number of
likes per
post

Total 17 100 60 100 36 100 114 100 39 100

The third research question asked how many likes the social media posts on Instagram

and Facebook are receiving. As seen in Table 4 below, the 100 most-liked Instagram posts that

were identified for this study had an average of 88,677 likes per post. The 100 most-liked

Facebook posts that were identified for this study had an average of 9,188 likes per post. This

finding shows that Patagonia’s Instagram account has a much greater amount of engagements

than the Facebook account. Calculating the ratio of post likes to the numbers of followers on

30
each platforms shows that Instagram’s ratio of likes to followers is 1:1.92 while Facebook’s is

1:0.51.

Table 4. Comparison of Post Interactions on Social Media Platforms

Instagram Facebook

Total Likes 8,867,629 918,786

Average Likes per 88,677 9,188

Post

Standard Deviation 48,083 5,491

Likes per Post

Total 1.92 0.51

likes/Patagonia
Followers

The fourth research question attempts to uncover whether Patagonia’s social media posts

that focus specifically on recycled clothing and repair offerings receive more engagement than

product posts. As seen in Table 5 below, the average number of likes for Instagram posts that do

not have any mention of recycled clothing is 88,308. However, Instagram posts with the recycled

clothing appeal have an average of 109,167 likes. This shows that the posts highlighting recycled

clothing in the caption get more attention and engagement. The opposite is discovered with the

Facebook platform. Posts that do not mention recycled clothing get an average of 9,279 likes per

post. Posts mentioning recycled clothing get about 8,444 likes per post.

As seen in Table 3, for Instagram, the average number of likes for the nature appeal was

79,321, followed by the sustainability appeal (83,360), product appeal (91,000), recycled

clothing appeal (93,571), and social justice appeal (103,278). For Facebook, the average number

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of likes for the product appeal was 7,944, followed by the nature appeal (8,393), recycled

clothing appeal (8,443), social justice appeal (9,278), and sustainability appeal (9,300).

Table 5. Recycled Clothing Appeal on Social Media Platforms

Instagram Facebook

Total Likes on Posts without 8,212,629 825,911

Recycled Clothing Appeal

Total Likes on Posts with 655,000 92,875

Recycled Clothing Appeal

Average Likes per Posts 88,308 9,279

without Recycled Clothing
Appeal

Average Likes per Posts with 109,167 8,444

Recycled Clothing Appeal

After identifying the recycled clothing appeals, the Worn Wear appeal needed to be

coded. To accomplish this, the subsection of the recycled clothing appeal evaluated whether

posts had any mention of Worn Wear in particular. This question requires a direct look at the

captions themselves in order to determine whether the promotion of the gear is for the product

itself or for repairs, upgrades, used clothing, or trade-ins. As seen in Tables 6 and 7 below, the

captions that were coded for the recycled clothing appeal primarily had mention of the Worn

32
Wear group. Any mention of Worn Wear gave a code of 1 and absence of Worn Wear gave a

code of 0.

Table 6. Instagram Captions on Posts Coded for Recycled Clothing Text-Appeal

Likes Worn Caption
Wear

This is Eliza Perry. She’s had this jacket for about five years now
and it’s been around the world with her. So, when she got into an
accident traveling in Sa Pa, Vietnam she wasn’t going to easily part
with her jacket. Eliza crossed paths with us this past January on a
@wornwear tour where she told us the story of losing a tooth and
more than a few feathers from her jacket when she was in a
motorbike crash. Here is the finished result. Wear it well Eliza! You
can track down #wornwear out on the East Coast right now.
They’ve got three more stops, repairing clothing and wetsuits
220059 1 through the month of June.

This is @patagoniaboulder store employee, Lauren, and her dad

Jim. They came by during the @wornwear opening party for the
ReCrafted Line. Jim got this vest back in 1980 as a part of his
original issue from the military. As Navy SEALs, he and his team
members weren't allowed to be in uniform so they got fleece vests
and pants from us. He wore them for the next 23 years. After
retiring, his kids laid their claims to the vest and it seems Lauren
has won out. Check out the link in bio to see the ReCrafted line.
91990 1

This is Griffin. He stopped by the @wornwear event in Oregon and

we weren’t sure where to start. Griff told us he got this jacket from
his dad when he graduated into middle school. He said, “My dad
had it for three years before he gave it to me, but I put most of the
holes in it.” When asked what he was doing to shred a jacket so
hard, he shrugged and simply mentioned, “Everything”. Keep
1 charging everything Griffin!​⠀
90798

Rudy the dog rests after a day fixin' gear with @wornwear at the
85246 1 Mountain Film Festival.

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 #RecycledCashmere: from factory scraps to sweaters. See more in
84264 0 the profile.

From the Atlantic to the Pacific, repairing your stuff is

terrific!⠀ Check out @wornwear or our profile link to see the latest
82643 1 tour stops. ⠀

Table 7. Facebook Captions with Recycled Clothing Text-Appeal

Worn Caption
Likes Wear

To change the idea that doing business and protecting the planet are
diametrically opposed, we use the whole company as a tool for
environmental and social activism. The work in 2016 has been
concerted, hard and honest. Fair Trade, Worn Wear, Environmental
Grants and more. Our 2016 Environmental + Social Initiatives
booklet celebrates the past year’s successes, and stays focused on the
fights ahead. Click here to download and read the booklet:
14144 1 http://pat.ag/Initiatives2016

Something old, meet something new. Recycled wool and our much-
loved fleece fabric, together at last.
13949 0 http://pat.ag/WoolyesterCollection

If we can make really durable products, and we can work with our
customers to keep them in service and in good repair, then we're
providing a solution to the environmental crisis. Something new for
10002 1 Worn Wear coming this April.

When your kids outgrow their favorite gear, hand it down to the next
budding powder hound. Repair it. Outgrow it. Hand it down.
9602 0 http://pat.ag/KidsSnow

Recycled wool for the next generation of warmth.

9420 0 http://pat.ag/WoolyesterCollection

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 The only swish you’ll hear is through the trees. 100% recycled down.
70% recycled fabric. Learn more about our Silent Down Jackets.
8141 0 Learn more: http://pat.ag/SilentDownjackets

This is Griffin. He stopped by the #WornWear event in Oregon and

we weren’t sure where to start. Griff told us he got this jacket from
his dad when he graduated into middle school. He said, “My dad had
it for three years before he gave it to me, but I put most of the holes
in it.” When asked what he was doing to shred a jacket so hard, he
shrugged and simply mentioned, “Everything”. Keep charging
everything Griffin! Photo: Kern Ducote
https://pat.ag/WornWearFB:=:https://wornwear.patagonia.com/?utm
7793 1 _source=facebook&utm_campaign=Worn%20Wear

This is Patagonia Boulder store employee, Lauren, and her dad Jim.
They came by during the Worn Wear opening party for the
ReCrafted Line. Jim got this vest back in 1980 as a part of his
original issue from the military. As Navy SEALs, he and his team
members weren't allowed to be in uniform so they got fleece vests
and pants from us. He wore them for the next 23 years. After retiring,
his kids laid their claims to the vest and it seems Lauren has won out.
Check out the ReCrafted line here:
https://pat.ag/yrmbk:=:https://wornwear.patagonia.com/recrafted?sf2
26431740=1&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=f19_wornwear
5945 1 Photos: Kern Ducote

High performance waterproof protection with recycled face fabrics.

5681 0 For more: https://pat.ag/RecycledRainwear

This is Jenny. Not too long ago she had a roof rack fail on her. Her
surfboard was on the roof and it flew off going 60 mph down the
road. The board had quite a few dings in it and the fin box needed to
be replaced but the bag saved what could have been much worse.
The bag itself only needed a few stitches and #wornwear sent her on
her way. She got a new roof rack, her board repaired and now her
board bag is back in action. Onward Jenny! Photo: Ryan Struck
Check out future tours here https://pat.ag/WornWearFB and give
4304 1 them a follow on Instagram @wornwear.

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 This is Deray. He’s been wearing this blue vest since 2014 when he
drove to Ferguson, MO to join the protestors. Since then, DeRay
Mckesson and his blue vest have become a symbol of activism. It’s
one of only two physical items he’s held on to since he dove
headfirst into a movement that spoke to him. He recently stopped by
the #wornwear repair shop at the Patagonia Bowery store for a rad
3894 1 repair on this well-loved piece.

Table 8 below shows that within the recycled clothing appeal category, there is a much

greater amount of engagement on posts that describe Worn Wear on Instagram but not on

Facebook. There is a notable difference between the 570,736 likes for Instagram posts with the

Worn Wear appeal and the 82,254 likes for Instagram posts without the Worn Wear appeal. This

difference is not evident on Facebook because posts with and without the Worn Wear appeal

have totals in the 46,000 range.

Table 8. Worn Wear Appeal within the Recycled Clothing Appeal on Social Media Platforms
Instagram Facebook

Total Likes on Posts 82,254 46,793

without Worn Wear Appeal

Total Likes on Posts 570,736 46,082

with Worn Wear Appeal

Average Likes per Posts 84,264 9,359

without Worn Wear Appeal

36
 Average Likes per Posts 114,148 7,680
with Worn Wear Appeal

Inductive Theme Analysis of Comments

The fifth research question asked which themes appeared commonly on Patagonia’s

social media content. There were a few major themes that emerged from the inductive theme

analysis on the comments from the Instagram and Facebook posts. It is important to note that

only the comments from the posts that were coded for the recycled clothing appeal were

evaluated for this purpose of this section’s analysis. The reason for this is because the main

purpose of the comment analysis is to identify overarching themes that were presented by users

specifically relating to repurposed clothing and about the Worn Wear products and services. The

only Instagram and Facebook posts with any mention of Worn Wear were coded for the recycled

clothing appeal. Therefore, the greatest amount of comments relating to Worn Wear were found

on these identified posts.

Theme #1: Personal Anecdote

In response to posts that highlighted Worn Wear, many users commented with personal

stories or experiences that either related to a product that had been fixed, a product that was

purchased through the Worn Wear line or a product that the user continues to use despite minor

wear and tear. These personal anecdotes allowed users to express how positively or negatively

their life had been affected by Worn Wear. Some of these comments described a specific product

or piece of clothing that had been fixed up to extend the life - exactly what the Worn Wear

37
campaign promotes in its messaging. Other comments described a change in mindset about how

long users believed they could use their gear. The following are exemplary comments:

I recently had a 15 yr old fleece and 12 yr old daypack repaired via @patagonia in

Georgetown, Washington D.C. Outfitted for many more years of adventuring! Thanks!!

I have a Patagonia Synchilla one of the first in Italy...I bought in a shop in Cortina in

1986 and I still use it. Super

I’ve got a pair of my dad’s Baggies Shorts from the 1980s that I love! (Although they’re

a little too small for my postpartum body at the moment )

My husband still has, and wears, one of your early polar fleece sweaters, from the 1980s.

It’s still in great shape, as is my husband

The willingness for users to go out of their way to share personal information about their

experience with Patagonia’s products and the long life that the clothing could endure without too

much wear and tear is a testament to the change in mentality that Worn Wear wants to promote.

These users showed a clear understanding of the message that Worn Wear sends about the need

to extend the life of clothing products. The pride that seems to shine through these comments

indicates that these users are proud to have purchased products from Patagonia and used them for

years, even decades, to utilize the products in a way that is most sustainable. The fact that some

comments even explained that the users went back to have their Patagonia products repaired to

38
even further extend the life shows that these individuals are supportive of the practice and that

they truly want to see their products get as much use as possible.

Details in some of the comments indicated that individuals have gotten many years out of

the clothing pieces, meaning that they prioritized using these products for as long as possible

even before the launch of Worn Wear in 2017. Therefore, these users were already supportive of

the brand promoting long-term use even prior to being further encouraged through the Worn

Wear campaigns. These examples prove that Patagonia had already established a consumer base

that understood the importance of sustainability and product lifetime extension. The fact that the

users commented in support of Worn Wear in particular demonstrates that Patagonia succeeded

in maintaining a positive image about product lifetime and product repair in the eyes of

supporters.

Theme #2: Lessons about Recycled Clothing

Another theme that emerged from the inductive theme analysis is the idea that some users

are just now learning about Worn Wear and the message that it promotes. This is apparent

through comments that ask more questions about Worn Wear, users who inquire about the repair

of items they own, and suggestions on how to extend the life of Patagonia products. The

following are exemplary comments:

The splash of color on the repaired jacket looks better than the all black. Wish I could

buy one. Is there special tape/patch kit you sell? My husband’s jacket has a hole I need to

patch...similar style jacket.

39
 Got a nano puff coat a few years ago, used, but, not at all worn. I guess I’ve really used it

because I’m losing down in multiple places! What can I do? It’s my favorite jacket!

After seeing this repair I think there is still life in my Patagonia trousers. Can you send

them to repaired?

These comments indicate that some of their online audience is not already familiar with their

goal of extending the product lifetime and that Patagonia has the tools and the means to help

individuals do so. The inquiries that ask for more information about Worn Wear and that show

individuals wanting to have access to these tools means that these users are supportive of the

strategy.

Theme #3: Observations about Material Quality

Comments about the quality of the materials in Patagonia’s products are a common

occurrence on the posts about Worn Wear. There are mixed emotions about the quality of

Patagonia’s products and the long-term durability of the clothing products that these users

previously purchased. While the instances of these comments could be representative of a small

group of unhappy customers, it is worth noting that the comments frequently appeared in this

sample of posts. The following are exemplary comments:

Not my experience... I bought a torrentshell jacket after being converted to @patagonia

by my partner and within a year it's no longer waterproof! The back and sleeves have

black mould from absorbed water and my arms get soaked in the rain... I only switched to

40
 Patagonia because of their ethos around repair and reuse but I can't be re-waterproofing

my jacket every ten months?! My Berghaus lasted 5 years!

I love the colorful variety of your patches! Patagonia gear is durable and lasts a long time

but eventually everything starts to wear down and I love that creativity and uniqueness of

the patches!

These jackets rip so easily

Mailed in the exact same jacket with 1/4 the damage (only worn through elbows) and it

got mailed back as unrepairable... #patagucci #onlysomewornware

Just received two items back from the Patagonia repair center. The repair work was

impeccable and I’ll get years of additional use from the winter jacket and better sweater

jacket. Thanks Patagonia!

Some consumers preach about the durability and lasting qualities of Patagonia products

which could encourage individuals to treat their clothing like a long-term investment that can get

a significant amount of use. These comments listed under posts about Worn Wear are a great

source of marketing for Patagonia because other users who read these comments may be inspired

to view their clothing as a semi-permanent clothing piece in their wardrobe. On the other hand,

comments that either criticize the Worn Wear repair process or highlight flaws with Patagonia’s

product materials could discourage other users from attempting to treat their clothing as a

durable, lasting product.

41
Theme #4: Worn Wear Suggestions

While many comments voiced support of Worn Wear and otherwise had overwhelmingly

positive reviews of the campaign, some comments also made sure to add suggestions for

improvement and growth. The overwhelming majority of these comments simply requested that

the Worn Wear repair centers be located in more locations. This is a comment that expresses

strong support for the work that Patagonia has done so far with the campaign. The following are

exemplary comments:

I would love to see something like this here in va beach. We have an rei so maybe setting

something up with them or maybe one of the many festivals we have throughout the year

like the steel pier classic ecsc or Neptune festivals down at the beach.

@patagonia worn wear is epic but it cannot ship to Canada

Good story, but let me just say, THAT IS SOME SKILL! Wish we had you down in San

Diego! Great post and message

These comments are a sign that the word about Worn Wear is spreading well among the

community of Patagonia consumers. The abundance of positive support that has been voiced on

the social media platforms demonstrates that users who do not have access to Worn Wear are

actively absorbing the input from other consumers about the campaign. The ability for Worn

Wear to spread peer-to-peer sharing on social media platforms is a powerful marketing tool

because the positive reviews and suggestions to others can be done with no money spent on

42
advertisements or marketing strategies. This point is further made in guideline number two for

Patagonia’s promotional efforts: “2. We would rather earn credibility than buy it. The best

resources for us are the word-of-mouth recommendation from a friend or favorable comments in

the press” (Chouinard, 2016, p. 148).

The presence of comments that go further than simply applauding Patagonia for its

efforts is indicative of a group of individuals that truly wants to see Worn Wear expand and

succeed. Without critical feedback from its interested and engaged consumer base, Patagonia

could miss an opportunity to expand and grow in ways that would be well-received.

Theme #5: Broader Societal Implications

User comments commonly expressed concern and curiosity about Patagonia’s stance on

broader societal issues. This is an understandable theme for the comments because the posts

about Worn Wear frequently describe how Patagonia is trying to make better changes for society

as a whole. It is natural for the users to question how Patagonia is following through with the

promises and hopes for the future. The following are exemplary comments:

That’s enough virtue signaling for today better Patagonia. What’s your stance on

capitalism?

Oooooof. Stay out of politics Patagonia.

I’ve been telling Patagonia for years about DeRay McKesson. I’m glad they finally

caught up with him. Patagonia supporting McKesson (even BLM) would be awesome. I

know global warming and conservation are the key issues to the company, but racism

43
 was a major issue in America last decade and will continue to be so this decade. Work

with McKesson and BLM more in the years to come.

The majority of comments that fall into this theme are in support of progressive and

sustainable actions that Patagonia vocally supported on social media. This is apparent through

references to some of the more current movements such as Black Lives Matter. These responses

are fitting with the overall stance that Patagonia has adopted in regard to ethics, morality, and

overall treatment of societal issues. Despite the overwhelmingly progressive nature of the brand,

some comments on the posts indicated a dislike of Patagonia’s political references and stances.

Discussion and Strategic Implications for Patagonia

There are two major observations worthy of further discussion. First, the low frequency

of posts specifically mentioning recycled clothing or Worn Wear in comparison to other green

marketing appeals is an area for improvement. While this study cannot identify the reason why

the top-performing posts did not mention much about Worn Wear, the abundance of positive

comments on posts about Worn Wear shows that it is not for lack of support that the Worn Wear

content is underrepresented. In fact, the findings in Table 5 showed that on Instagram, the posts

describing recycled clothing tended to perform better in terms of the number of likes than that of

other posts. Second, based on the thematic analysis of user comments, the vast majority of

comments demonstrate that Patagonia is successfully reaching its target consumer base in terms

of the message that it intends to spread with its Worn Wear campaign. It is clear that Patagonia’s

online audience is interested in sustainability, wants to buy Worn Wear products, and actively

engages with the online content to voice support about recycled clothing while asking questions

to clarify information about Worn Wear.

44
 The presence of some comments asking for more information about the product line and

repair facilities shows that the audience is receptive to the clothing line and campaign mission

and that they are willing to do their part. It is important for Patagonia to interact with users by

either replying directly to the comments with more specific details or direct messaging the

particular users in order to keep them engaged and up to date on how they can participate with

Worn Wear. Failing to validate these users in their search to participate more readily with Worn

Wear would be a significant missed opportunity to encourage and prepare their audience to

support their mission.

Comments on social media posts expressing skepticism about the ability of Patagonia

products to stand the test of time present an opportunity for Patagonia’s marketing strategy.

Patagonia consumers have successfully had their products repaired and restored through the

Worn Wear program, and these successful examples could be highlighted to counter the

arguments about poor quality. It is vital that the few instances of malfunction and misrepair do

not overshadow the resilience of the campaign as a whole. This could begin to stir up doubt and

hesitation in the consumers who previously had an interest in trying out Worn Wear.

The further questioning of Worn Wear, suggesting how to expand Worn Wear, and

critiquing or being curious about Patagonia’s stance on other social issues could be a good sign

that Patagonia followers are actively reading the social media posts and responding with relevant

commentary. It is clear that the users do not always take the marketing content for face value,

which is exactly the behavior that Patagonia wants to instill in these individuals. The ability to

think critically about all of the pertinent issues and variables involved with the production of

clothing is essential to having more people actually follow through with the behavior that

Patagonia wants to promote.

45
 In terms of topics that are most frequently covered in Patagonia’s social media posts,

there is a clear leaning toward nature-themed captions as seen in Tables 1 in 2 where both

Instagram and Facebook had the highest counts for text-based presences in the nature appeal.

The second most common appeal on both Instagram and Facebook was sustainability. The least

common appeal on both Instagram and Facebook was recycled clothing, which was the appeal

that this study focused on most directly.

The comments, while diverse in terms of support for Worn Wear, indicate that the

majority of individuals who interact with the social media content are accepting of the Worn

Wear mission and want to actively participate. Many users provided valuable feedback that can

be used to guide future marketing efforts for Worn Wear. Specific examples of this include

specifically-named cities in the comments where users would like Worn Wear repair facilities,

questions about how Worn Wear works and whether certain types of gear and clothing can be

repaired, and shared personal experiences to give more credibility to the Worn Wear line and

product repair services.

Among the seventeen posts with the recycled clothing appeal, Patagonia’s Instagram

highlighted Worn Wear in five out of six posts and Patagonia’s Facebook mentioned Worn Wear

in six out of eleven posts. Patagonia is missing an opportunity to post more about Worn Wear on

its platforms, especially on Facebook. Reaching the online audience on Facebook that doesn’t

engage with Patagonia on Instagram can ensure that more individuals are seeing posts about

Worn Wear.

The posts about Worn Wear frequently demonstrated a personable feel through specific

stories of individuals and the comments on these posts mirrored the individuality aspect.

Depending on the type of interactions that Patagonia wants to see on the post, they should plan to

upload content that gives a similar theme and mood. For example, if Patagonia would rather have

46
users provide more suggestions for improvements for Worn Wear in the comments, the posts

should have captions that describe the behind-the-scenes of Worn Wear and areas that Patagonia

has already improved throughout the years. If Patagonia decided to increase user engagement

with individuals who have not heard of Worn Wear, the posts should describe a story of another

individual who was recently introduced to the idea and that their thoughts were on the

introduction. Preparing posts with a distinct intention in mind will allow Patagonia to better

target the information that they are able to receive from user comments online.

While this extensive analysis into the captions in particular gives an overarching view on

the types of content that are most frequently posted and which caption content could receive high

levels of engagement in the future, there is also an opportunity for Patagonia to spend more time

identifying the factors besides captions in social media to garner more attention. The analysis of

social media captions and commentaries allows for a greater understanding of which types of

topics receive more feedback from users. However, it does not take into account other factors

such as time of posting, social media images, and hashtags that could work to increase the

visibility and interest from users.

Limitations and Suggestions for Future Studies

There are several limitations with this study that must be addressed. The sample of social

media posts that was collected solely focused on the most-liked Instagram and Facebook posts.

Although the purpose of doing this was to focus on successful posts which generated high levels

of user engagement, the less-liked posts were systematically excluded. Some topics are generally

more interesting to the social media audience, and this was reflected in the posts that were

selected for analysis. Posts on less favored topics were excluded to begin with, so only the

47
comments on popular themes and topics were explored in this study. In order to address this in

future studies and expand the analysis to also include less-liked posts, posts from 2017 until the

present could be selected randomly without any basis in post engagements. This will allow an

analysis on the full spread of themes on Patagonia’s social media.

Additionally, the use of only the most-liked posts for the absence and presence analysis

portion of the study presents an opening for future studies to dive more deeply into posts that are

engaged with less. The reason this is important is because in the identification of posts describing

Worn Wear or recycled clothing in general, there was a small sample size that actually coded for

this appeal in the top 100 liked social media posts. Therefore, it is unclear whether all of the

posts mentioning recycled clothing or Worn Wear performed well in terms of engagement, or

whether just a few particular posts performed well for an unidentified reason.

This study focused exclusively on the textual caption comments on social media posts.

The exclusion of the video, photo, and audio elements of the posts means that some themes may

have been excluded from the analysis due to the fact that they were not also mentioned in the

caption. Some posts with high levels of engagement were this way due to the fact that an

interesting photo or video was presented in the post. The decision to focus on the posts with high

levels of engagement may have been unfairly biased towards the posts with aesthetically

pleasing media content. Therefore, it is unclear whether textual caption or other audio-visual

content generated a high level of engagement.

In order to address the issue of commenters not necessarily being consumers, future

studies could conduct an analysis only with users who are verified to be consumers of

Patagonia’s products. This could provide more reliable feedback on how Patagonia’s consumer

base reacts to the social media content. Additionally, commenters who are in favor of Patagonia

and with the new line of Worn Wear may leave comments that are unintentionally negative in

48
tone. Suggestions and observations about shortcomings of the Worn Wear may not necessarily

be posted in order to express disdain about the product, but rather to provide informative

guidance and feedback on improvements. Sorting through these inadvertently toned messages

would require input from the users themselves in order to clarify the underlying intention.

Patagonia has other forms of social media content that were not analyzed for this study.

The decision to focus solely on Instagram and Facebook was made due to the fact that most

receive more interaction than posts on other platforms. However, allowing these two social

media platforms to represent the general opinion of Patagonia consumers limits interactions from

consumers who do not use Instagram or Facebook. A more complete study could look at themes

on social media posts from all of Patagonia’s social media accounts to get a full picture of how

users interact with the content in all forms on the internet.

49
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 Appendix A - Coding Guidelines

Appeal Description

Recycled Clothing Recycle in the caption refers to any mention of clothing that has
been repurposed, recycled, or reused. Clothing that is clearly
labeled as “Worn Wear” is recycled clothing. This also includes
any other mention of rewearing previously purchased clothing
from another consumer.

Absence: 0
Presence: 1

Worn Wear Appeal Worn Wear in the caption refers to any mention of a specific
(Subsection of Recycled Worn Wear product, the Worn wear recycling services that are
Clothing Appeal) available to consumers, or a direct reference to the @wornwear
social media handle

Absence: 0
Presence:1

Sustainability Sustainable in the caption refers to any mention of

environmental, sustainability, eco-friendly, earth, planet, or
climate change vocabulary. This could refer to the clothing
itself or other campaigns having to do with sustainability topics
in any capacity. Any mention of improving the conditions on
the planet or in the local environment fits into this appeal. Also
includes any description of protecting a certain region, park, or
nature location and laws/agreements referencing
sustainability/conservation and environmental protection.

Absence: 0
Presence: 1

55
Product Product in the caption refers to any mention of a physical item
that is being created or sold by Patagonia. This includes any
new products, sales for certain types of clothing, or mention to
the Worn Wear. Any reference to the material make-up of the
clothing, the quality and durability of the clothing or the origins
of certain materials counts as product appeal.

Absence: 0
Presence: 1

Nature Nature in the caption refers to any mention of nature, the

environment, locations in the outdoors, outdoor
activities, or ecosystems. This could include the specific name
of certain mountains/beaches/rivers etc. If the caption describes
a place in nature without explicitly saying the type of nature
(naming a trail on a hike without describing the hike itself) it
also counts.
This appeal also includes other more specific elements of nature
such as sunshine, water, grass, fire, and any references to the
natural world including wildlife and names of animals.
Reference to a certain season (winter, summer, fall, spring) is
not included in the nature appeal unless other physical
descriptions are present. References to verbs for activities
completed outside are also included (hiking, climbing, etc.)

Absence: 0
Presence: 1

56
Social Justice Social justice in the caption refers to any mention of campaigns,
grassroots efforts, or activities involving social justice
awareness or action. Environmental campaigns can be included
in this appeal if they mention the impact on humans (mental
health, physical health, economic well-being, etc.) This appeal
also includes comments that highlight social justice leaders and
inspirational individuals. This also includes any notable
movements (eg. Black Lives Matter, voting equality,
environmental laws and agreements, presidential actions).
Captions could also include verbiage about “fighting” for a
cause or appreciating the work of volunteers in any capacity.

Absence: 0
Presence: 1

57
58