Thanks for this example. I wonder how much ethics contributes to Patagonia's success. I own at least a few things from Patagonia, but I wasn't aware of anything to do with their ethics. I bought them because of (perceived) quality.
My point being that, in response to the original comment, I think it would be pretty difficult to disrupt the space by "being more ethical."
It matters to me; I always buy from Patagonia if I can.
I've also seen consumer research that shows that a lot of customers, especially younger ones, want to believe that they are buying from companies that have a social mission beyond just getting rich.
You can see this play out in brand fights here.
Apple is either creating great products for creativity (good social mission) or is creating a walled garden to suck money out of everyone (bad social mission).
Google is either solving the world's problems (good social mission), or is sucking up everyone's personal data to better target ads (bad social mission).
My point being that, in response to the original comment, I think it would be pretty difficult to disrupt the space by "being more ethical."