THOMPKINS
Why did you choose Chamonix as the first place to set up a store in Europe? I think we chose it because it represented all of the sports that we were really interested in - not so much fishing at the time but in terms of climbing and skiing and off-piste skiing, this made it a kind of no-brainer for us to put a store there. Not to mention the fact that most of us wanted to work out of Chamonix on and off, which we did! As far as I’m concerned Chamonix was an incredible story for the company. Remember that one of the first items Yvon wanted to make for Patagonia was the Chamonix Guides Sweater this heavy, wool sweater that traditional guides wore all of the time. So really we had this history that connected all of us even before we had ever been to Chamonix. What can you tell us about the early days of the Chamonix store? The early days were classic Patagonia. We were always living on a shoestring when we were getting the company going and Chamonix was part of that spirit. We would rent a flat and there would be ten of us in one room - this is actually how we went to retail shows and every place else! I remember that people were always coming and going and it was just this kind of free-flowing event. The people whom we found to work in the store in that first generation were just unbelievably talented and funny and creative; they had no barriers about what the store should be. They wanted to express who they were and who they thought Patagonia was and they took free license to do it in any way they wanted to. It was an incredible success not only for the business but also in terms of representing Patagonia’s image unbelievably well. Do you have any anecdote from the Chamonix store that you remember fondly? I have so many memories of being in Chamonix and working in the store and so it’s hard to highlight one or two of them. I just can’t stress enough the energy that came out of the store and that is really worth everything. When you’re opening something like this you are obviously hiring people whom you don’t know and who often times they don’t know
one another, but when it just gels and works its alchemy, it goes and creates something much greater than the sum of its parts and that is exactly what happened in Cham. The Cham store represented and continues to represent so much of the values the Chouinards had. That arc of what’s important to them, that arc of engagement and beauty and doing what’s right rather than what’s common, I think that all of the stores that we have are really striving to achieve that. And I have to say that Chamonix, in its day, was leading the charge on that. Would you like to send a message to Chamonix from here? Well guys, I know this is the 30th anniversary of the store and so I’m saying hi from North-Eastern Argentina. I love you all.