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Patagonia Manchester Store Launch Party

At the start of this month I had the good fortune to attend the official launch party of the Patagonia store in Manchester. A wonderful time was had by all thanks to the complimentary Cloudwater beer and Idle Hands coffee and the worn wear counter that provided on the spot garment repairs for free. And being Patagonia they couldn’t have an event like this without using it as a great opportunity to do something good and managed to raise £1300 by the end of the night for the excellent Save Our Rivers charity.

It was whilst enjoying the refreshments and getting my synchilla stitched that I got the opportunity to fully ‘take in’ the three storey building and discovered some of the things you might not always notice on a brief shopping trip. For instance did you know that every piece of wood has been locally reclaimed with some sourced from  McVities biscuit factory just down the road.  Similarly all the lights (except spots) have been reclaimed from factories in the Manchester and Oldham area whilst the Matthew Bridge designed mural sits on a wall that has been made with tiles reclaimed from Burscough police station in Ormskirk.

As with all Patagonia locations some serious thought has gone into this one with King Street having been chosen due to its historic nature with lots of work done to preserve the integrity of the building, honouring its surrounding history and culture. Manchester’s proximity to a wide range of outdoor sports opportunities and it’s access to places like the Peak and Lake Districts, the Yorkshire Dales as well as North Wales have also played an important part in Patagonia choosing to set up in Manchester.

Thanks to Patagonia for a brilliant night with special props to photographer Mike Sallabank for reminding me that I really need a haircut/shave and that I had on the best item of clothing on the night too. For more info on the Manchester store go here and keep up with their events and activities on instagram here.

patagonia.com

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