A former educator, Nathan Duncan is a graduate of the National Outdoor Leadership School's Outdoor Education Course. He also holds master's degrees in international relations and educational leadership from Boston University and Queens University of Charlotte, respectively. Nathan Duncan has worked as a general manager with Patagonia in Palo Alto, California, since 2019.
An environmentally and socially conscious clothing company, Patagonia supports a variety of sustainable initiatives and strives to manufacture its clothing without harmful chemicals. To that end, the company announced in 2022 that 66 percent of its fabrics with a durable water repellent (DWR) finish were free of PFCs, one of the many harmful fluorocarbons known as “forever chemicals” often found in apparel products. Patagonia intends for all of its products with DWR finishes to be PFC- and PFAS-free by 2025.
Patagonia has been working to find an alternative to using fluorocarbons for more than 15 years. It released its first PFC-free DWR finish products in 2019.
PFCs, PFAS, PFOA, and PFOS are the four "forever chemicals" used in outerwear that, while effective at repelling water and oil, are damaging to the environment. Manufacturing these chemicals increases greenhouse gas emissions and, because they take thousands of years to break down, can negatively impact soil and water quality. Studies have also suggested they're linked to an increased risk of cancer and hormone disruption.
