Patagonia prints election message on clothing tags: ‘Vote the a–holes out’

The outdoor clothing company Patagonia is calling on customers to vote against candidates who deny the existence of climate change: ‘Vote the a–holes out” is now being woven into the labels on some of Patagonia’s shorts, NBC News reported Tuesday. 

Patagonia spokesperson Tessa Byers confirmed to NBC News that the company’s 2020 “Men’s and Women’s Road to Regenerative” organic stand-up shorts contain the message underneath the inside tag.

“We have been standing up to climate deniers for almost as long as we’ve been making those shorts,” Byers said. The message is not explicitly directed at the Trump administration but is one that Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard has historically used, according to Byers.

“It refers to politicians from any party who deny or disregard the climate crisis and ignore science, not because they aren’t aware of it, but because their pockets are lined with money from oil and gas interests,” Byers added.

Outlander Magazine first reported on the new clothing label on Saturday, tweeting an image of the tag bearing the political message. 

The move from Patagonia comes as wildfires continue to ravage the West Coast. While various scientists and experts say that warming temperatures are to blame for the severity of these fires, President Trump and other top Republicans have questioned whether climate change played a role.  

In 2017, Patagonia filed a lawsuit to block President Trump from reducing the size of the Bears Ears National Monument in Utah, calling Trump’s announcement an “extreme overreach in authority.” 

Trump’s actions reduced the size of Bears Ears by 84 percent.