patagonia-competitors

Patagonia Competitors

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Patagonia is an outdoor clothing company founded by Yvon Chouinard in 1973.

Chouinard, a climbing enthusiast, started selling handmade climbing gear as early as 1957 and was one of the first to introduce Scottish rugby shirts to the North American continent.

Patagonia is somewhat differentiated in the market by its environmental values that preach sustainability and anti-consumerism.

The company even collects a self-imposed Earth tax, where 1% of total revenue is donated to global environmental non-profits.

This article will list a few of the more notable Patagonia competitors.

While most of these companies do not share Patagonia’s strict environmental stance, they sell apparel of comparable reliability, durability, and performance.

 

CompetitorDescriptionKey InsightsCompetitive OverlapDifferentiation
The North FaceAn outdoor clothing and equipment brand known for its outerwear, jackets, and outdoor gear. The North Face competes directly with Patagonia in the outdoor apparel and gear market.The North Face offers outdoor clothing, outerwear, and gear, directly competing with Patagonia in the outdoor apparel and gear segment.Both compete in the outdoor apparel and gear market, offering a wide range of outdoor products, but with distinct styles and product lines.The North Face’s focus on technical performance and innovation.
REI Co-opA retail and outdoor recreation services company known for its outdoor gear, apparel, and cooperative membership model. REI competes with Patagonia in the outdoor retail and outdoor apparel market.REI offers outdoor gear, apparel, and outdoor experiences, sometimes overlapping with Patagonia in the outdoor retail and apparel segments.Both compete in the outdoor retail and apparel market, serving outdoor enthusiasts with a variety of products, but with REI’s cooperative membership model.REI’s cooperative membership model and outdoor experiences.
Columbia SportswearAn outdoor clothing and sportswear brand known for its jackets, outerwear, and outdoor apparel. Columbia Sportswear competes with Patagonia in the outdoor apparel and outerwear market.Columbia Sportswear offers outdoor clothing, outerwear, and apparel, often overlapping with Patagonia in the outdoor apparel and outerwear segments.Both compete in the outdoor apparel and outerwear market, providing a range of outdoor products, but with different technologies and designs.Columbia Sportswear’s focus on outdoor performance and innovation.
Arc’teryxAn outdoor clothing and equipment brand known for its technical outerwear, climbing gear, and backpacks. Arc’teryx competes with Patagonia in the outdoor technical apparel and gear market.Arc’teryx offers technical outdoor clothing, outerwear, and gear, sometimes competing with Patagonia in the outdoor technical apparel and gear segments.Both compete in the outdoor technical apparel and gear market, emphasizing technical performance and innovation in their products.Arc’teryx’s advanced technical designs and materials.
MarmotAn outdoor apparel and equipment company known for its jackets, sleeping bags, and outdoor gear. Marmot competes with Patagonia in the outdoor apparel and gear market.Marmot offers outdoor clothing, outerwear, and gear, often overlapping with Patagonia in the outdoor apparel and gear segments.Both compete in the outdoor apparel and gear market, providing outdoor enthusiasts with a range of products, but with Marmot’s focus on outdoor performance.Marmot’s outdoor gear and performance-oriented products.
Eddie BauerAn outdoor and activewear brand known for its outerwear, apparel, and outdoor equipment. Eddie Bauer competes with Patagonia in the outdoor apparel and gear market.Eddie Bauer offers outdoor clothing, outerwear, and gear, sometimes competing with Patagonia in the outdoor apparel and gear segments.Both compete in the outdoor apparel and gear market, targeting outdoor enthusiasts, but with Eddie Bauer’s heritage and classic outdoor styles.Eddie Bauer’s heritage and classic outdoor designs.
PranaAn outdoor and activewear brand known for its sustainable and yoga-inspired clothing. Prana competes with Patagonia in the sustainable outdoor apparel market.Prana offers sustainable outdoor clothing and activewear, often overlapping with Patagonia in the sustainable outdoor apparel segment.Both compete in the sustainable outdoor apparel market, focusing on eco-friendly and yoga-inspired clothing.Prana’s yoga-inspired styles and commitment to sustainability.
Mountain HardwearAn outdoor clothing and equipment brand known for its technical outerwear, tents, and gear. Mountain Hardwear competes with Patagonia in the outdoor technical apparel and gear market.Mountain Hardwear offers technical outdoor clothing, outerwear, and gear, sometimes competing with Patagonia in the outdoor technical apparel and gear segments.Both compete in the outdoor technical apparel and gear market, with Mountain Hardwear emphasizing technical innovations in its products.Mountain Hardwear’s technical designs and outdoor gear.
Black DiamondAn outdoor equipment and apparel company specializing in climbing gear, skiing equipment, and outdoor clothing. Black Diamond competes with Patagonia in the climbing and outdoor gear market.Black Diamond offers climbing gear, skiing equipment, and outdoor clothing, sometimes overlapping with Patagonia in the climbing and outdoor gear segments.Both compete in the climbing and outdoor gear market, targeting outdoor enthusiasts with a focus on climbing and skiing equipment.Black Diamond’s climbing and skiing equipment expertise.
Outdoor ResearchAn outdoor clothing and gear company known for its technical outerwear, gloves, and accessories. Outdoor Research competes with Patagonia in the outdoor technical apparel and gear market.Outdoor Research offers technical outdoor clothing, outerwear, and gear, often overlapping with Patagonia in the outdoor technical apparel and gear segments.Both compete in the outdoor technical apparel and gear market, emphasizing technical innovation and outdoor accessories.Outdoor Research’s technical outerwear and accessories.

L.L. Bean

L.L. Bean is an American retailer specializing in apparel and outdoor recreation equipment.

The company was founded in 1912 by Leon Leonwood Bean, a hunter, and fisherman whose first product was a pair of lightweight, waterproof shoes for duck hunting.

Today, L.L. Bean sells outerwear, footwear, apparel, outdoor equipment, and travel accessories for men, women, and children.

It operates 54 brick-and-mortar stores in the United States with total annual sales of $1.6 billion.

Prana

Prana is certainly not the largest Patagonia competitor in the industry, but it is one of the only companies on this list to preach similar values of sustainability.

The company was started in a Californian garage in 1992 by Pam and Beaver Theodosakis with a mission to make clothing with a higher purpose.

For Prana, this meant crafting sustainable fashion items for those with active lifestyles using materials such as hemp, recycled fibers, and organic cotton.

In August 2020, Prana also announced the Responsible Packaging Movement (RPM) to reduce plastic waste in the industry and create awareness of the issue among its customers and competitors.

Marmot

Marmot was founded in 1974 as Marmot Mountain Works by Tom Boyce, Eric Reynolds, and David Huntley.

Like Chouinard, all three co-founders shared prior interests and expertise in manufacturing climbing equipment.

The company has since branched out and now offers a range of apparel, including softshell jackets, hiking pants, vests, rainwear, underwear, and moisture-wicking t-shirts.

Marmot also sells insulated sleeping bags, tents, and backpacks.

Columbia Sportswear

Columbia Sportwear is an American manufacturer and distributor of outdoor apparel and equipment.

The company started as a family-owned hat distributor run by Paul and Marie Lamfrom.

The husband and wife, who had only recently fled from Germany prior to World War II, named their concern after the Columbia River in Oregon.

Columbia Sportswear products are similar to Patagonia in terms of quality, range, price, and innovation.

The company has made significant advances in warm, breathable fabrics and also offers a line of plus-size clothing. 

Revenue for 2021 totaled $3.126 billion.

Helly Hansen

Helly Hansen is a clothing and sports equipment manufacturer that was originally founded in 1877 by Norwegian fisherman Helly Juell Hansen.

He developed a line of oilskin jackets and trousers made from linen soaked in linseed oil with his wife Margarethe.

In later years, the company developed insulation layers to wear under waterproof clothing for use in the outdoor and workwear markets.

This idea of layering clothes to wick moisture from the skin while protecting it from the rain at the same time was revolutionary in the 1970s – but one which most outdoor brands and the industry as a whole would later adopt.

Helly Hansen was acquired by Canadian retail chain Canadian Tire Corporation in 2018 for $895 million.

CEO Stephen Wetmore said in an interview that Helly Hansen was “a brand that we truly believe has a lot of runways ahead of it internationally.”

Key takeaways:

  • Patagonia is somewhat differentiated in the market by its environmental values that preach sustainability and anti-consumerism. Nevertheless, it is one of many players in the outdoor equipment and apparel market.
  • L.L. Bean is an American retailer that specializes in apparel and outdoor recreation equipment with 54 stores in North America and $1.6 billion in revenue. Prana is a California-based competitor that is much smaller in size but which holds the same environmental values as Patagonia.
  • Marmot and Columbia Sportswear are also competitors in the North American market, with the latter selling products of similar quality, range, and price. After being acquired by a Canadian company in 2018, Norwegian outdoor brand Helly Hansen may also become a more significant Patagonia competitor. 

Key Competitors of Patagonia:

  • L.L. Bean:
    • American retailer specializing in outdoor apparel and recreation equipment.
    • Founded in 1912, known for durable and reliable products.
    • Operates 54 brick-and-mortar stores in the U.S., generating annual sales of $1.6 billion.
  • Prana:
    • California-based company founded in 1992 with a focus on sustainable fashion.
    • Creates apparel using materials like hemp, recycled fibers, and organic cotton.
    • Advocates for sustainability and responsible packaging to reduce plastic waste.
  • Marmot:
    • Founded in 1974 by co-founders with expertise in manufacturing climbing equipment.
    • Offers a range of apparel, including jackets, pants, vests, rainwear, and more.
    • Sells insulated sleeping bags, tents, and backpacks.
  • Columbia Sportswear:
    • American manufacturer and distributor of outdoor apparel and equipment.
    • Offers a variety of products similar to Patagonia in terms of quality and innovation.
    • Known for advances in warm, breathable fabrics and plus-size clothing.
  • Helly Hansen:
    • Norwegian clothing and sports equipment manufacturer established in 1877.
    • Developed oilskin jackets and trousers, later introduced layering concept.
    • Acquired by Canadian retail chain Canadian Tire Corporation in 2018, focusing on international growth.

Related Visual Resources

Slow Fashion

slow-fashion
Slow fashion is a movement in contraposition with fast fashion. Where in fast fashion, it’s all about speed from design to manufacturing and distribution, in slow fashion, quality and sustainability of the supply chain are the key elements.

Fast Fashion

fast-fashion
Fash fashion has been a phenomenon that became popular in the late 1990s and early 2000s, as players like Zara and H&M took over the fashion industry by leveraging on shorter and shorter design-manufacturing-distribution cycles. Reducing these cycles from months to a few weeks. With just-in-time logistics and flagship stores in iconic places in the largest cities in the world, these brands offered cheap, fashionable clothes and a wide variety of designs.

Inditex Empire

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With over €27 billion in sales in 2021, the Spanish Fast Fashion Empire, Inditex, which comprises eight sister brands, has grown thanks to a strategy of expanding its flagship stores in exclusive locations around the globe. Its largest brand, Zara, contributed over 70% of the group’s revenue. The country that contributed the most to the fast fashion Empire sales was Spain, with over 15% of its revenues.

Ultra Fast Fashion

ultra-fast-fashion
The Ultra Fashion business model is an evolution of fast fashion with a strong online twist. Indeed, where the fast-fashion retailer invests massively in logistics and warehousing, its costs are still skewed toward operating physical retail stores. While the ultra-fast fashion retailer mainly moves its operations online, thus focusing its cost centers on logistics, warehousing, and a mobile-based digital presence.

ASOS Business Model

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ASOS is a British online fashion retailer founded in 2000 by Nick Robertson, Andrew Regan, Quentin Griffiths, and Deborah Thorpe. As an online fashion retailer, ASOS makes money by purchasing clothes from wholesalers and then selling them for a profit. This includes the sale of private label or own-brand products. ASOS further expanded on the fast fashion business model to create an ultra-fast fashion model driven by short sales cycles and online mobile e-commerce as the main drivers.

Real-Time Retail

real-time-retail
Real-time retail involves the instantaneous collection, analysis, and distribution of data to give consumers an integrated and personalized shopping experience. This represents a strong new trend, as a further evolution of fast fashion first (who turned the design into manufacturing in a few weeks), ultra-fast fashion later (which further shortened the cycle of design-manufacturing). Real-time retail turns fashion trends into clothes collections in a few days or a maximum of one week.

SHEIN Business Model

shein-business-model
SHEIN is an international B2C fast fashion eCommerce platform founded in 2008 by Chris Xu. The company improved the ultra-fast fashion model by leveraging real-time retail, quickly turning fashion trends in clothes collections through its strong digital presence and successful branding campaigns.

Competitors Case Studies

Zoominfo Competitors

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Zoominfo is an American software-as-a-service (SaaS) company founded by Henry Schuck and Kirk Brown in 2007. The company sells access to the world’s most comprehensive B2B database to help sales and marketing teams better communicate with prospects. Zoominfo held an IPO in June 2020, raising $935 million. Like similar software companies that are valuable to remote teams, demand for the Zoominfo platform increased because of the coronavirus pandemic. It is now used by over 20,000 businesses, with clients including T-Mobile, Zoom, Amazon, and Google.

Spotify Competitors

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Spotify is the world’s largest music streaming platform, with over 381 million users across 184 markets around the world. The company was founded by Martin Lorentzon and Daniel Ek in 2008 in response to the shutdown of peer-to-peer music service Napster. Spotify became a success because it was the first company to determine how to distribute the music legally and compensate the music industry simultaneously. The platform now offers various curated music discovery services, music stations, audio customization, and private listening. In recent times, it has also ventured into the streaming of audiobooks, podcasts, comedy, poetry, and short stories.

Poshmark Competitors

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Poshmark is a social commerce marketplace where users can buy and sell new or used clothing. The company was founded in 2011 by Manish Chandra, Tracy Sun, Gautam Golwala, and Chetan Pungaliya. Poshmark is one of many companies looking to profit from the explosive growth in the second-hand clothing and resale industry, which is expected to be worth around $51 billion by 2023. Scores of women, in particular, are opting to sell their unwanted fashion items online instead of donating them to charity or thrift stores.

Afterpay Competitors

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Afterpay is an Australian fintech company operating in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and the United States.  The company was founded in 2014 by Nick Molnar and Anthony Eisen and enjoyed a first-mover advantage in the buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) space. Less than seven years later, the company reached 13.1 million active customers with gross sales amounting to $10.1 billion. Despite its success, some suggest the company has lost its edge in the buy-now-pay-later space with the emergence of several high-profile competitors exerting their influence and giving merchants more choice.

Carvana Competitors

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Carvana is an online used car retailer with vending machines located around the United States. The company was founded in 2012 by Ryan Keeton, Ben Huston, and Ernest Garcia III. The company is the fastest growing online used car retailer in North America and was recently one of the youngest companies to be added to the Fortune 500 list. While Carvana is currently the only American company selling cars in vending machines, its growth and success have not gone unnoticed by other players. In this article, we’ll take a look at some of the company’s major competitors.

Carvana Competitors

carvana-competitors
Carvana is an online used car retailer with vending machines located around the United States. The company was founded in 2012 by Ryan Keeton, Ben Huston, and Ernest Garcia III. The company is the fastest growing online used car retailer in North America and was recently one of the youngest companies to be added to the Fortune 500 list. While Carvana is currently the only American company selling cars in vending machines, its growth and success have not gone unnoticed by other players. In this article, we’ll take a look at some of the company’s major competitors.

GoodRx Competitors

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GoodRx is an American healthcare company known for its telemedicine platform and a website and mobile app that track prescription drug prices. As part of this service, the company makes drug coupons available for free to consumers. GoodRx was created by Trevor Bezdek, Doug Hirsch, and Scott Marlette. Hirsch, an early employee at both Yahoo and Facebook, got the idea for the company after picking up a prescription with private health insurance and still having to pay $450. Given the high variability in prices between different pharmacies, Hirsh went on a mission to make prescription drug prices more transparent and affordable for ordinary Americans. Revenue in the second quarter of 2021 amounted to $177 million with over 7.5 million app customers using the GoodRx app. While the company was the first to provide a comprehensive list of pharmacy drug prices, new players have entered the market. The rest of this article will be devoted to looking at the main GoodRx competitors.

DoorDash Competitors

DoorDash Competitors
DoorDash is an online food ordering and delivery platform founded by Tony Xu, Stanley Tang, Andy Fang, and Evan Moore in 2013. Together with its subsidiaries, DoorDash has a 56% market share in food delivery and a further 60% in the convenience delivery sector.

Pepsi Competitors

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In 1965, PepsiCo acquired Frito-Lay in what the chairmen of both companies called a “marriage made in heaven”. The resultant company transformed PepsiCo from a soft drink organization and set it on a path to becoming one of the world’s leading food and beverage companies.  Today, PepsiCo claims to operate in more than 200 countries and territories around the world with seven distinct divisions and many successful brands.

Coca-Cola Competitors

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The Coca-Cola Company has 21 different billion-dollar brands or brands that generate more than $1 billion or more in revenue each year.  The company also sells its products in nearly every country in the world, with Cuba and North Korea the only two countries where it is not sold officially. What’s more, the Coca-Cola brand is worth $87.6 billion, making it one of the most valuable among all companies. Though these figures allow Coca-Cola to enjoy market dominance in many countries, the company is nevertheless subject to intense competition.

Disney Competitors

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Headquartered in Burbank, California, Disney has global reach and influence with its universally popular resorts, movies, streaming services, video games, and merchandise.  But as one of the largest media conglomerates in the world with a diverse range of products in multiple marketplaces, Disney is no stranger to competition. 

IBM Competitors

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International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) is an American multinational technology company. It was founded in New York as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company in 1911 by Charles Ranlett Flint. IBM is a diverse company with a similarly diverse portfolio of products and services. It produces and sells hardware, middleware, and software. It also offers hosting and consultancy services in nanotechnology and mainframe computers. What’s more, IBM has a strong culture in research and development, filing the most U.S. patents of any business for the past 28 years.

Uber Competitors

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Starbucks Competitors

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Starbucks is a multinational coffee chain headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It was founded by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gordon Bowker in 1971. From a single and very humble bean roasting store in Pike Place Market, the company is now a global giant operating almost 33,000 stores around the world. This large global footprint obviously increases the competition for Starbucks in many different markets. The coffee industry itself is also highly competitive, with established players including McDonald’s and Dunkin’ Donuts.

Boeing Competitors

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Boeing is best known for designing and manufacturing commercial aircraft, but the company also produces helicopters, rockets, satellites, spacecraft, missiles, and telecommunications infrastructure. Founded in 1916 by William Boeing in Seattle, Washington, the company is one of the largest aerospace manufacturers and defense contractors in the world.

Google Competitors

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While Google (now Alphabet) has been born as a search engine, it is now a diversified company, even though its core business remains search, as most of its revenues still come from Google, the search engine, and YouTube, the “video engine.” However, as a tech giant, which business is primarily based on advertising, the company does compete with Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft (with Bing), and Amazon (with e-commerce search and its advertising machine).

Peloton Competitors

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Peloton is a media and exercise equipment company primarily making money making money via its fitness products. The idea for the company came from John Foley, who argued that technology could help time-poor individuals get a full workout at home. The company competes with other players like Bowflex, NordicTrack, Life Fitness, MYX Fitness.

IKEA Competitors

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IKEA was founded in 1943 by Swedish businessman Ingvar Kamprad as a mail-order catalog business. The company is best known for selling affordable flat-pack furniture, but it also sells home accessories and kitchen appliances. Today, IKEA offers approximately 9,500 products across 445 stores in 52 countries. With such broad reach, IKEA is not immune to competition.

Airbnb Competitors

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The Airbnb story began in 2008 when two friends shared their accommodation with three travelers looking for a place to stay. Just over a decade later, it is estimated that the company now accounts for over 20% of the vacation rental industry. As a travel platform, Airbnb competes with other brands like Booking.com, VRBO, FlipKey, and given its massive amount of traffic from Google. Also, platforms like Google Travel can be considered potential competitors able to cannibalize part of Airbnb’s market.

Salesforce Competitors

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Salesforce is a cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) provider, allowing businesses to build meaningful and sustained relationships with their customers. With robust, customizable software that integrates with social media, Gmail, and Microsoft Outlook, the Salesforce CRM platform is rated highly among businesses of all shapes and sizes. Recent data has shown that the company has captured 19.5% of the global CRM market.

Shopify Competitors

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In just fifteen short years, Shopify has grown from humble beginnings to become one of the fastest-growing eCommerce platforms online. The Shopify eCommerce solution is perhaps best suited to users who desire an easy, flexible and affordable starter solution for their online store. The provider now has upwards of 820,000 stores accounting for 20% of the total market share. However, the continued success of any company in the dynamic digital market is never guaranteed.

Netflix Competitors

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Netflix is the largest streaming video subscription service in the world. Created by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in 1997, the company has revolutionized the video content subscription model with over 139 million subscribers in 190 countries. The success of Netflix is due to two factors. The first is a recommendation system that gives suggestions on what customers should watch based on their viewing history. The second is the vast catalog of content on offer – produced by third parties and by Netflix itself. These factors have resulted in Netflix competing against influential TV networks and film producers for viewership.

Nike Competitors

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YouTube Competitors

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YouTube is the most popular online video platform, a hybrid between a video search engine and a social media platform with a continuous feed prompted by social interactions and engagement. In fact, the platform is so popular that YouTube.com is the second most visited website on the internet. After being acquired by Google in 2006 for $1.65 billion, the platform now boasts over 2 billion registered users. Collectively, these users upload 500 hours of video every minute. The platform competes with other video engines like Vimeo, Dailymotion, and social platforms like IGTV, TikTok, and Twitch.

Zoom Competitors

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Zoom is a video platform, which enabled remote working. As such it competes with other large tech players like Google and Microsoft for the productivity space, and other startups like Slack and Go-To-Meetings.

Tesla Competitors

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As an electric automaker and builder of sports cars and now trucks, Tesla’s competitors comprise companies like Ford, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Lamborghini, Audi, Rivian Lucid Motors, Toyota, and more. At the same time, Tesla is an electric energy production and storage company (SolarCity); it competes with Sunrun, SunPower, and Vivint Solar. And as an autonomous driving company, it competes with companies like Zoox, Waymo, and Baidu with the self-driving software.

Amazon Competitors

amazon-competitors
Amazon is a consumer e-commerce platform with a diversified business model spanning across e-commerce, cloud, advertising, streaming, and more. Over the years, Amazon acquired several companies. As it operates across several industries, Amazon has a wide range of competitors across each of those industries. For instance, Amazon E-commerce competes with Shopify, Wix, Google, Etsy, eBay, BigCommerce.

Read Next: Business Competition, Direct vs. Indirect Competition

Read Next: ASOS, SHEIN, Zara, Fast Fashion, Ultra-Fast Fashion, Real-Time Retail, Slow Fashion.

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