Vintage Patagonia posters are some of the most recognisable pieces of outdoor advertising ever printed. Most of them started life as catalogue covers and print ads from the 1980s and early 1990s, when a small climbing company in Ventura, California decided it would rather show real climbers on real mountains than models in a studio. This guide covers where those images came from, what to look for in a Patagonia poster, and how to choose a size and frame for your wall. You can browse the full range in our vintage Patagonia posters collection.
From pitons to pile jackets: where Patagonia began Patagonia did not start as a clothing brand. In 1957 Yvon Chouinard began forging his own steel climbing pitons, selling them to other climbers out of the back of his car. By the early 1970s Chouinard Equipment was the largest supplier of climbing hardware in the United States.
Its 1972 catalogue made an unusual argument for a gear company: hammering steel into rock was damaging the routes, and climbers should switch to removable aluminium chocks instead.
Clothing came next. Rugby shirts, then shorts, then pile jackets and the fleece that followed. Chouinard wanted to keep the tool business and the clothing business separate, so the clothing needed a name of its own. He chose Patagonia, after the wind-battered region at the southern tip of South America where he had climbed Fitz Roy in 1968. The brand launched in 1973 and has been based in Ventura ever since.
Why Patagonia catalogue posters look the way they do
The look that collectors associate with vintage Patagonia ads came out of a failure. The company's first proper clothing catalogue in 1980 used posed shots, and nobody inside the business liked them. The fix was simple: send gear to climbers, surfers, skiers and photographers, and print what came back. From 1980 onwards Patagonia also invited customers to submit their own photographs from the field.
The result was a catalogue that read more like a magazine. Around half of each issue was given over to photography and essays rather than products. Pictures were often grainy, mid-route and slightly chaotic, with the clothing barely visible. That is exactly why the covers work so well as wall art now. They are photographs of places and moments first, and adverts second.
If you are searching for a Patagonia catalog poster (the American spelling, as printed in Ventura), the covers from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s are the ones most people mean. Bright pile jackets, alpine faces, desert towers and a small logo in the corner.
The mountain in the Patagonia logo
A common question about Patagonia posters is which mountain appears in the logo. It is the skyline of Mount Fitz Roy, also known as Cerro Chaltén, on the border between Argentina and Chile. The jagged peak just right of centre is Fitz Roy itself, set against a sky that fades from purple to orange. Chouinard's 1968 trip to climb it is the reason the brand carries the name at all.
This also explains why searches for a Patagonia poster can mean two different things. Some people want vintage Patagonia brand advertising. Others want a travel print of the Patagonia region, usually featuring Fitz Roy or the Torres del Paine. The posters in our collection are the first kind: reprints of Patagonia's own adverts and catalogue artwork. If you love the region, they make the connection anyway, since the logo on every one of them is a picture of it.
Vintage Patagonia posters in our collection
Each of these is a fresh reprint of the original advert, printed on premium semi-gloss paper and delivered framed and ready to hang.
Patagonia 1986 Vintage Poster Ad
From the year Patagonia's sales were climbing fast and its catalogue had settled into its editorial style. A strong choice if you want a single statement piece from the brand's best-known decade. View the Patagonia 1986 poster.
Patagonia Fall 1987 Vintage Poster Ad
An autumn catalogue cover from the late 1980s, the period most closely associated with Patagonia's colourful pile and fleece. Works well paired with the 1986 print as a set. View the Patagonia Fall 1987 poster.
Patagonia Vintage Poster Ad: Winter 1990
A winter cover from the turn of the decade, when the catalogue was at its most confident. Suits a hallway, ski room or anywhere that needs something colder on the wall. View the Patagonia Winter 1990 poster.
Patagonia Mountain Toppers Vintage Poster Ad.
An alpine-focused Patagonia advert built around the high mountains that gave the brand its name. A natural fit for climbers and anyone who keeps a list of peaks. View the Mountain Toppers poster.
Patagonia Hikers Vintage Poster Ad
A trail-focused Patagonia ad, and the most straightforward of the set. Good for a study or boot room. View the Patagonia Hikers poster.
Patagonia's most famous adverts
Patagonia's later advertising is as well known as its catalogues, mostly because it kept telling people not to buy things. In 1985 the company began giving a share of its sales to grassroots environmental groups, a commitment that later became the 1% for the Planet movement. On Black Friday 2011 it ran a full-page advert in The New York Times headed "Don't Buy This Jacket", asking customers to repair and reuse rather than replace. In 2022 Chouinard transferred ownership of the company to a trust and a non-profit, announcing that the Earth was now its only shareholder.
None of that appears on the 1980s catalogue covers, but it is part of why people still want them. A vintage Patagonia poster is a reminder of a brand that managed to sell outdoor clothing by mostly talking about the outdoors.
Choosing a size and frame for a Patagonia print.
Most of our Patagonia posters are available from A4 (21 x 29.7 cm) up to 70 x 100 cm. Sizes vary by print depending on the quality of the original artwork, and each product page lists exactly what is available.
A4 to 30 x 40 cm: desks, shelves, narrow walls and gallery walls with several prints.
40 x 50 cm to 50 x 70 cm: the most popular range for hallways, bedrooms and home offices.
60 x 80 cm and above: a single feature piece above a sofa, bed or sideboard.
Frames come in black, white, natural wood and dark wood. Natural and dark wood suit the earthy tones of 1980s outdoor photography. Black gives sharper contrast on the brighter catalogue covers. White works in lighter rooms where you want the image to do the talking.
Building an outdoor gallery wall
Patagonia prints sit well alongside other outdoor brands from the same era. Our vintage North Face posters include catalogue covers from 1979 to 2000, and the wider sports and outdoor vintage posters collection adds Mountain Hardwear and Nike to the mix. If you keep the frame colour consistent across a group, the different brands will read as one collection rather than a mismatch. Ordering two or more prints also takes 15% off.