Mission Zero - our commitment to the environment and our sustainability vision

For Interface, the journey to sustainability began in 1994. It now has a new name: Mission Zero. Like so many other steps along this path, this one promises to have a profound effect on our business. The clarity of our founder and Chairman Ray Anderson’s vision and the determination with which he -- and then others at Interface -- strove to “do well by doing good” carried the company forward. Yet, while the company grew quickly and its new, modular definition of floorcovering caught on, the sustainability story remained distinctly secondary in the minds of the marketplace.

Everyone at Interface is now speaking the same language

But in the past few years, with a lot of help from the architect and designer community, government agencies and right-minded organizations, the green building movement has grown. And in the past year, awareness and concern about global warming and potential oil supply problems have surged, cutting across market segments and geographic boundaries.

Interface is now firmly established and thriving as a leader in industrial sustainability.

In this context, the Mission Zero mantra is a powerful internal and external communications tool: a clear, simple expression of our commitment not only to the environment but also to our customers, our suppliers, our peers, our shareholders, and the global community.

Everyone at Interface is now speaking the same language, and our message has become easier for customers to appreciate, everywhere in the world -- even in China, for instance, where there is no word for “sustainability.”

Designer David Oakey shared Interface’s concern for the environment, so as he searched for new ways to make modular carpet aesthetically appealing, he looked to nature for ideas in a technique known as biomimicry. What we discovered was that randomness -- like a field carpeted with autumn leaves -- could be beautiful. This led to a revolutionary new design concept: carpet tiles with color and pattern variations that could be laid in any orientation. Introduced in 2000, Entropy® caught on fast, not only because it looked good but because it was easier to install, maintain and selectively replace, and cut waste significantly. Entropy redefined the category. The concept was broadened into the i2™ collection, which has been the greatest product success in the industry and today accounts for over 40% of our U.S. business.

Triple bottom line -- including social and environmental components as well as the financial

Our progress in making the business case for sustainability has been so compelling, it’s worth remembering that it is based not just on the bottom line but on a triple bottom line -- including social and environmental components as well as the financial -- and that it all contributes to the company’s profitability. We remain steadfastly determined to find ways of reducing our negative impacts on the earth, and persuading others to do the same. But by now we know that doing good really does result in doing well if you innovate and execute. If you know about our founder Ray Anderson, this should come as no surprise. His passionate leadership on the subject of sustainability might suggest that he’s more environmentalist than corporate executive. But he has always been a fiercely competitive businessman. An entrepreneur with a fire in his belly who decided that modular carpet would one day rule the floorcovering market and that he was just the man to make it happen. That vision was 20/20, and the success of Interface proves it. Now, he and the company are also focused on another 2020 -- the target year for reaching Zero. What’s become clear is that the two strategies are actually one, which we are calling Mission Zero. The beauty of this strategy is that if you look at a sustainability activity, you’ll see a business benefit, too. If you look at a smart business move, you’ll see a step towards sustainability as well. They’re tightly intertwined at Interface and, as just about any employee here will mention, “It’s in our DNA.”