Baby Block-the-Sun Hat

An ever-growing number of our products are Fair Trade Certified™ for sewing, which means we pay a premium to the workers in the factories that make them. The Fair Trade program also helps to create better working conditions and safeguards against the use of child labor.

fairtradecertified.org

Nylon is one of the strongest plastics we use in our products. When we need a super-lightweight fabric, nylon is vital for its strength. But nylon is a petroleum-based material, and producing it has a high cost in energy and greenhouse gases. Incorporating as much recycled nylon as we can lessens our dependence on virgin petroleum as a raw material source, helps eliminate discarded material and reduces greenhouse gas emissions from manufacturing.

An important fiber in Patagonia's line, polyester allows them to build lightweight materials that dry quickly and can be used in a variety of applications, including trail-running tops and yoga tights. Polyester also blends well with natural fabrics like cotton. But virgin polyester is derived from petroleum, which comes at a high environmental cost.

Water repellency doesn’t just keep you comfortable, it keeps you alive. But for decades now, the coatings used in apparel to improve water-repellency have relied on per- or polyfluorinated chemicals, which contain fluorine and are most often referred to by their acronyms: PFCs, PFOAs or PFAS. This class of “forever chemicals” accumulates in air, water, food and even our bodies, and they raise serious health concerns, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Patagonia is converting all of their durable water-repellent membranes and finishes to non-fluorinated alternatives by 2025.

An ultraviolet protection factor (UPF) treatment applied to a fabric or garment increases the ability of the material to prevent the sun’s harmful UV radiation from reaching your skin. We can create that layer of protection by adding special chemistry to the yarn itself, by altering the weight/density of the fabric’s construction or by adding a topical chemical treatment to the fabric.