Women's R2 CrossStrata Pullover

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

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.

Spandex is a critical material in our products. Also known as elastane or Lycra, spandex is an elastic polymer (a type of plastic derived from petroleum) that makes garments and trims stretchy, which allows them to be formfitting and to provide freedom of movement. Unfortunately, extracting and refining the petroleum used to make this material pollutes land, air and water, and contributes to global warming.

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.