ABSTRACT
In 2004, Stuart Rose saved the business from a hostile takeover bid, recalls Mike Barry, Head of Sustainable Business at Marks & Spencer. It was a phenomenal success, one of the most effective business-building campaigns in the history of the iconic British retailer. Interfaces sustainability communication began when those thought-leaders started talking about what Interface was starting to do as a result of their dialogue. In 1999, Interface launched Entropy, the first product developed applying the principles of biomimicry. With the launch of this product, the company started communicating what it was doing in terms of sustainability to its customers, and not just to critical stakeholders. The company followed this up with the 2003 launch of CoolCarpet, the world's first carbon-neutral carpet, which was developed applying product lifecycle assessment (LCA) for the first time. They started implementing its first recycling processes, and around that time, most competitors in the carpet market started talking about sustainability.
