Rick Ridgeway didn't get his first "real job" until 12 years ago. However, he says a life as a mountaineer and adventurer - where he was one of the first Americans to ascend K2 - prepared him well for his role at Patagonia as their Vice President of Public Engagement. He and his team implement the second two parts of the company’s three-part mission statement: “to make the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, and use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis."
He is the Co-Founder and Chairman of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, the apparel, footwear and home textile industry’s foremost alliance for sustainable production. The coalition was born from an unlikely partnership between Patagonia and Walmart; and is a result of Patagonia's acknowledgement that if they are to truly tackle global problems, they cannot do it alone.
Video produced by Atlas of the Future