{"id":143,"date":"2021-04-08T10:30:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-08T01:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/workmill.jp\/en\/?post_type=webzine&p=143"},"modified":"2023-09-04T14:58:39","modified_gmt":"2023-09-04T05:58:39","slug":"cotopaxi-next-patagonia","status":"publish","type":"webzine","link":"https:\/\/workmill.jp\/en\/webzine\/cotopaxi-next-patagonia\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cMy family wasn\u2019t rich by any means,\u201d says Davis Smith, the CEO of Cotopaxi called \u201cnext Patagonia\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The original article \u201cCOTOPAXI\u201d is a part of the <\/em>WORK MILL<\/em><\/a> with <\/em>Forbes JAPAN<\/em><\/a> Issue 4 -loved company\u00a9<\/em>WORK MILL<\/em><\/a>, published on April 11, 2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSorry, I\u2019m late<\/strong>.\u201d One hour after the scheduled time, Davis Smith, the CEO of\u00a0Cotopaxi, quietly entered the room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We had heard that a member of his family passed away on the day of the interview. Unlike the clear blue sky over the majestic mountains of Salt Lake City, Utah, where the Winter Olympic Games were once held, Davis\u2019s face was clouded over. Yet, he was able to force a smile now and then as he softly began to tell us about his brand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cotopaxi is a\u00a0D2C company<\/a>\u00a0that handles all sorts of outdoor gear such as clothing, bags, and tumblers. A portion of their sales is given to alleviate poverty, and their activities are published yearly in their Impact Report. Cotopaxi is called \u201cthe next Patagonia\u201d by many, but there\u2019s quite a unique story behind its foundation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNow, our main business is to sell outdoors products, but that\u2019s not how we got started<\/strong>,\u201d says Davis. To understand the whole story, we must go back to Davis\u2019s roots. Davis was born in the United States but moved to the Dominican Republic at the age of four. The Dominican Republic is one of the most poverty-stricken countries in Latin America. Back when Davis lived there, many children his age ran around naked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy family wasn\u2019t rich by any means, but I realized how blessed I was and just how many opportunities I had compared to those children who didn\u2019t have any clothes on their backs. That was when I began feeling a strong sense of responsibility to make society better.<\/strong>\u201dDavis, who grew up in Latin America, went on to acquire an MBA at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. After starting up a few web companies in Brazil, he founded Cotopaxi in 2013.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I was little, I\u2019d cross the Amazon with my father on a handmade raft, go fishing for piranhas, and even lived a self-sufficient life on a small island. I just loved the great outdoors. That\u2019s where Cotopaxi\u2019s roots are.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But spending a lot of time in the wilderness also meant he Witnessed pollution destroying nature and people living in impoverished conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI realized, my duty must be to make consumers choose better products so society as a whole can head for a better future. To accomplish this, I needed to get my message across to as many people as I could.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When asked how he did it, he smiled smugly and said,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFirst, I bought two llamas on the internet.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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llamas<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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