Our Sustainability Journey – Mission Zero

Our journey started in 1994 with one person, our Founder and Chairman Ray Anderson. Ray challenged our then 21 year - old company to adopt a bold vision, one that required new thinking and a new model for business. We didn’t have a map, but Ray’s vision was a compass for our journey. As we progressed on our journey, a passion for sustainability took hold with our people and our company was transformed. We invite you to join us on this journey. Read on as we share our compass and our map.

Visit Our Progress for a chronicle of our journey past and future.

Interface Company History

Interface^®, Inc., began in 1973 when our Founder Ray C. Anderson recognized the need for flexible floorcoverings that would facilitate the emerging technologies of the modern office. Over the years, we grew our core business and expanded through more than 50 acquisitions to become the world’s largest producer of modular carpet with manufacturing on four continents and sales in more than 110 countries. In 1994, Ray set the company on a new course, moving us away from the traditional industrial model and toward a business focused on sustainability, using a cyclical model mimicking nature. Today, Interface is a billion-dollar corporation, named by Fortune magazine as one of the “Most Admired Companies in America” and the “100 Best Companies to Work For.”

The Epiphany

In 1994, while preparing remarks on Interface’s environmental vision for a company task force meeting, Interface founder and Chairman, Ray Anderson, experienced a fundamental perspective change. Seeking inspiration for his speech, Ray read Paul Hawken’s “The Ecology of Commerce” and was deeply moved — an experience he has described as an epiphany. It awakened Ray to the urgent need to set a new course for Interface toward sustainability.

Interface’s Values - Our Guiding Principles

Our Vision

To be the first company that, by its deeds, shows the entire industrial world what sustainability is in all its dimensions: People, process, product, place and profits — by 2020 — and in doing so we will become restorative through the power of influence.

Our Mission

Interface will become the first name in commercial and institutional interiors worldwide through its commitment to people, process, product, place and profits. We will strive to create an organization wherein all people are accorded unconditional respect and dignity; one that allows each person to continuously learn and develop. We will focus on product (which includes service) through constant emphasis on process quality and engineering, which we will combine with careful attention to our customers’ needs so as always to deliver superior value to our customers, thereby maximizing all stakeholders’ satisfaction. We will honor the places where we do business by endeavoring to become the first name in industrial ecology, a corporation that cherishes nature and restores the environment. Interface will lead by example and validate by results, including profits, leaving the world a better place than when we began, and we will be restorative through the power of our influence in the world.

Eco Dream Team

When Interface began our sustainability journey, we needed help to understand sustainability and what it meant for our business. We knew that creating a roadmap would require the expertise of many-authors, activists, scientists, and entrepreneurs whose progressive thinking would help us chart our course. We still rely on the input of a team of environmental thinkers that we call the Eco Dream Team. Today, this team is comprised of visionaries whose varying perspectives on what a sustainable future looks like serve to advise and challenge us, while keeping us accountable. We believe our journey is made richer and more effective with the perspectives and ideas of those outside our company.

The Natural Step -Building the Model

What does sustainability mean in the context of our take - make - waste manufacturing business? What does it mean to run a business sustainably? Led by Ray, we began to view our business – both the process and the products -through a lens shaped by the principles of The Natural Step, an international non profit organization working to accelerate global sustainability. Started in Sweden under the leadership of Dr Karl Henrik-Robert, The Natural Step’s teachings are rooted in science, specifically, four system conditions that Dr. Robert deems necessary to maintain the quality of living systems on earth. Interface became the first corporation to adopt The Natural Step principles in the United States and we continue to use these guidelines as our business evolves.

The Interface Model – The Prototypical Company of the 21st Century

From the beginning, we knew that a sustainable Interface would look different, but there was no blueprint in business. But, as we have learned, there is in nature. We asked ourselves -If nature designed an industrial process, what might it look like? The fundamental of nature became guides for how to run our business - using renewable energy, fitting form to function, recycling everything, creating no waste. Using these lessons, we set similar goals for our business, to run on renewable energy, to eliminate waste from our operations, to recycle and then reuse the materials from our products.

We suggest that a company that is aligned with these principles is the model for the sustainable enterprise of the next industrial revolution — The Prototypical Company of the 21st Century — and it is the company Interface is evolving toward.

The Interface Framework – Mount Sustainability and the Seven Fronts

To our founder and Chairman Ray Anderson, the journey to a fully sustainable company would be like summiting “a mountain higher than Everest” – difficult, yes, but with a careful and attentive plan, not impossible. This image of a mountain resonated with our people and became known as Mount Sustainability – a symbol we use to describe not just the size but also the scope of our mission. Interface initially identified seven key areas - the “Seven Fronts” where it needed to progress to achieve the vision of Mount Sustainability. These became key areas where we track and measure our progress.

Measuring Progress - EcoMetrics™ and SocioMetrics™

The Interface sustainability journey is made more focused by measuring our progress. How far have we come? Where are we moving quickly? Where are we lagging behind? In 1994, we created a metrics system to track our progress toward our sustainability goals. Ecometrics looks at the material and energy flows in and out of our company – looking at what we take in, in terms of materials and energy, and measuring what comes out, in the form of products and waste. Key metrics include: waste reduction, energy use, renewable energy, carbon emissions, and water use.

We also measure our company’s impact on people – our associates and the communities we serve. SocioMetrics collects data in several key areas that measure our social capital or investment in people as a company. This takes into account the time and investments we make in sensitizing and educating others on sustainability, in philanthropy and in volunteering.

2020 and Beyond – Evolving Toward a Restorative Enterprise

Mission Zero®

From the beginning, we understood that sustainability had to be approached from a systems perspective or a “whole company” approach. Over the years as this commitment to sustainability reached all parts of our business, it evolved into a shared mission: Mission Zero®. Mission Zero is a journey of constant progress.

What’s next? In the future, we hope to not only change our business, but help others to change theirs - beyond the collaborative networks we participate in today. We hope for Interface to become a restorative company, giving back more than we take. We believe in the power of influence to restore both our economy and our environment. We think the lessons we’ve learned have relevance for others, so we talk about our journey every chance we get. To see how you can hear our story from an Interface representative, visit the Interface Speakers Bureau. For a chronicle of our journey past and future, visit the Our Progress section.