Outdoor clothing company Patagonia has a reputation for reducing and reusing, but somehow, that's increased its profit margin recently. The Ventura-based company has been at the forefront of sustainable business for some time now, partnering with eBay to make it easy for customers to buy and sell used Patagonia wares.

It also link to that initiative on its web site, providing customers with a page to access used clothing and gear to buy or sell from others. On the advertising front, they've previously used Black Friday and Cyber Monday to tell customers "Don't Buy This Jacket", which ultimately failed in their favor.

Less than a year after their "Don't Buy This Jacket" ad, sales have actually gone UP by more than a third. Kyle Stock is an associate editor for Bloomberg Business Week who has covered Patagonia's successful campaign.