Ventura, Calif.

High-end outdoor clothier and gear maker Patagonia is out to prove that a company can generate strong sales while being nearly fanatical about environmental concerns. The Ventura, Calif., company was the first major clothier to make fleece jackets out of recycled bottles. Nearly a third of the power for its headquarters and adjoining child-care center comes from solar. And it donates 1 percent of its sales to environmental causes. With Patagonia being a privately held company, its finances aren't public, but it says it's riding a growth curve. 

A Ventura, Calif. judge approved a settlement that forces CVS Caremark Corp. to pay $13.75 million to settle California claims that it illegally disposed of hazardous waste at California stores. CVS came under investigation in 2010 after allegations were made that the drugstore chain had mishandled medical, pharmaceutical and photographic waste at California stores over a seven-year period.

Ventura, Calif.-based Patagonia Inc. opened its second-ever Chicago store on Dec. 13. Nestled in the city's Magnificent Mile/Gold Coast area, the new store offers a selection of skiing and snowboarding apparel, casual wear, footwear, children's apparel and more. The store also features two walls of windows that provide natural light to align with the store's environmentally friendly operations and highlight its outdoor apparel SAVE | EMAIL | PRINT | MOST POPULAR | RSS DDI's RetailDesignDiva blog is dedicated to retail design issues, opinions and frustrations of the day.Read the Diva's recent rantings. DDI's Retail Design Newswire Sign up

In some respects, Patagonia marches to the beat of its own drum. The Ventura, Calif.-based marketer of rugged mountain climbing and backpacking apparel marketer adheres to strict product quality, catalog style and lifestyle values, all keys to its raison d’être that it never compromises. In other respects, Patagonia’s multichannel approach -- including not only catalog, Web and retail, but also wholesale -- represents something of a textbook model of today’s multichannel retail business model. Putting both elements together, two Patagonia executives -- Morlee Griswold and Chris Todd -- delivered a session at this week’s DMA06 Conference in San Francisco on how they compile and evaluate