This chapter analyzes existing sustainability approaches and assessment methods which seemed best positioned to underpin designers’ sustainability design practices, and explores how holistically they approached sustainability. The industrial revolution divided integrated, artisan-based production-to-consumption systems into specialized disciplines – including design, production and marketing – in line with the concept of division of labor and the pursuit of increased productivity and efficiency in Europe and the United States. The global ecological and social concerns that had been brewing through the 1960s came to a head in the 1970s, and affected design as well. V. Papanek’s book, Design for the Real World, urged designers to introspect deeply about how they could contribute meaningfully to global social and ecological issues. One of the strongest external drivers for sustainable design and innovation is the growing importance of sustainability in the business landscape, and the consequent emergence of formal and informal regulatory frameworks.