WE’RE NOT A SUSTAINABLE COMPANY & WE DON’T MAKE SUSTAINABLE FOOTWEAR. YET…
Disrupting the status quo and challenging the mainstream has always been the Vivobarefoot way. We started with making barefoot footwear in a world that is cushioned and sedentary. Now, we’re trying to build a responsible business in an industry infamous for exploitation, extraction, short-termism, and waste.
We don’t make sustainable footwear yet. But we’re working hard to make that a reality, and then go one step further.
If sustainability is the idea that we can ignore past damage and just do no further harm, then we don’t think that goes far enough. We have our sights set on regeneration; restoring and renewing natural and social systems through the way we do business.
That’s why we anchor everything we do in 3 pillars:
WE’RE NOT A SUSTAINABLE COMPANY & WE DON’T MAKE SUSTAINABLE FOOTWEAR. YET…
Disrupting the status quo and challenging the mainstream has always been the Vivobarefoot way. We started with making barefoot footwear in a world that is cushioned and sedentary. Now, we’re trying to build a responsible business in an industry infamous for exploitation, extraction, short-termism, and waste.
We don’t make sustainable footwear yet. But we’re working hard to make that a reality, and then go one step further.
If sustainability is the idea that we can ignore past damage and just do no further harm, then we don’t think that goes far enough. We have our sights set on regeneration; restoring and renewing natural and social systems through the way we do business.
That’s why we anchor everything we do in 3 pillars:
01. REGENERATIVE BUSINESS
We commit to building a healthy, profitable, fiercely independent business that delivers a net positive impact for people & planet.
02. REGENERATIVE Product
We commit to developing products that are regenerative to feet, human movement and planetary health.
03. REGENERATIVE community
We commit to bringing more people closer to nature and their natural potential through engagement, inspiring education and healthy connections.
01. REGENERATIVE BUSINESS
We commit to building a healthy, profitable, fiercely independent business that delivers a net positive impact for people & planet.
02. REGENERATIVE Product
We commit to developing products that are regenerative to feet, human movement and planetary health.
03. REGENERATIVE community
We commit to bringing more people closer to nature and their natural potential through engagement, inspiring education and healthy connections.
We’re not regenerative.
We’re not even sustainable. We want our business to grow because we believe the more people in barefoot footwear the better. But growth at any cost is not part of the deal. We’re trying to build a regenerative business in an industry infamous for exploitation, extraction, short-termism, and waste. We’re still a long way off doing that but we’re moving in the right direction - toward meeting and exceeding the highest responsible standards for people and planet.
Integrating sustainability
We measure Vivobarefoot’s success using fifteen metrics - spanning financial and sustainability focus areas. This is the first step towards truly balancing profit alongside our people and planetary impact, as well as demonstrating best practice in how we communicate our progress. reporting.
B Corp Certification
B Corp is a community of certified companies that believe in business as a force for good. We joined in 2020, scoring 98.8. We recertified in 2024, with a score of 119.3. Integrating B Corp best practice across our entire business guides our regeneration efforts.
Accountability
In 2023 we launched ReFrame: our take on the most holistic, integrated reporting framework possible, combining 384 indicators from nine world-class standards. It helps us identify and prioritise impact actions, and recognise we can’t do everything alone. You can read all 52 pages here!
Value Chain Map
An important part of building a regenerative business is being able to tell customers exactly where they’re products have come from, and what the impact of that product is. To do this, we need a value chain, not a supply chain. We want to know about every person, process and material involved in creating Vivos; visit them in person, and start to build partnerships based on trust. Our value chain map charts our progress here, and is updated every 6 months.
THE HUMAN FOOT IS NATURE’S MASTERPIECE
With 28 bones, hundreds of muscles, and thousands of nerve endings, your feet have been millions of years in the making. They are, by far, the cleverest things ever put into a shoe. Modern footwear – narrow, padded, rigid – cuts off their natural potential. Vivos, on the other foot, are wide, thin, and flexible to regenerate your feet and revitalise your natural movement. From circular design to material innovation and value-chain transparency, we’re working hard to develop products that will eventually regenerate planetary health too.
THE HUMAN FOOT IS NATURE’S MASTERPIECE
With 28 bones, hundreds of muscles, and thousands of nerve endings, your feet have been millions of years in the making. They are, by far, the cleverest things ever put into a shoe. Modern footwear – narrow, padded, rigid – cuts off their natural potential. Vivos, on the other foot, are wide, thin, and flexible to regenerate your feet and revitalise your natural movement. From circular design to material innovation and value-chain transparency, we’re working hard to develop products that will eventually regenerate planetary health too.
OUR PRODUCT GOALS
Seven product goals guide our footwear development. These include gaining 100% transparency over our value chain, circular design, ethical sourcing, using bio-based materials over synthetics where possible and – the big one - achieve true regenerative impact for all products we manufacture. We’re a long way off achieving them, but they signal the direction we’re heading in.
OUR PRODUCT GOALS
Seven product goals guide our footwear development. These include gaining 100% transparency over our value chain, circular design, ethical sourcing, using bio-based materials over synthetics where possible and – the big one - achieve true regenerative impact for all products we manufacture. We’re a long way off achieving them, but they signal the direction we’re heading in.
MATERIALS AND SUSTAINABILITY SCORING
There isn’t one global standard for measuring sustainable fashion and footwear products – so we’ve made our own. The V Matrix is our in-house tool for assessing the environmental impact of our footwear.
Developed in partnership with Made2Flow, it scores how complex and durable the product is, whether and what sustainable materials are used, how easy it is to repair, and the future recyclability of the product - giving one overall sustainability score for each style. A Vivo with organic cotton laces, natural materials in the upper, and a natural rubber outsole for example, would score higher than a product with unrecyclable virgin plastics. In time, we’d love to open source the V Matrix to other footwear brands.
MATERIALS AND SUSTAINABILITY SCORING
There isn’t one global standard for measuring sustainable fashion and footwear products – so we’ve made our own. The V Matrix is our in-house tool for assessing the environmental impact of our footwear.
Developed in partnership with Made2Flow, it scores how complex and durable the product is, whether and what sustainable materials are used, how easy it is to repair, and the future recyclability of the product - giving one overall sustainability score for each style. A Vivo with organic cotton laces, natural materials in the upper, and a natural rubber outsole for example, would score higher than a product with unrecyclable virgin plastics. In time, we’d love to open source the V Matrix to other footwear brands.
WE’RE IN THIS TOGETHER
Our community is growing bigger every day. Whether someone is an employee, an ambassador, a value chain partner or a customer, we want to empower everyone in our community to fulfil their potential and embrace a more human and natural way of living, working and everything in between.
LIVING BAREFOOT
Our ‘living barefoot’ values of dance, diversity and simplicity are the key to delivering our mission and making Vivo a great place to work. We’re an open-minded and creative community that challenges the status quo, seeks to live naturally and believes in the powerful connection between human and planetary health. The Ecosystem Team is on a mission to engage and inspire our internal community, no matter where they’re based, and help us retain our unique culture as we grow and navigate hybrid-remote ways of working.
SENSING IN
To ensure we’re showing up for our internal community and the wider world, we work with two teams of proprioceptors. Internal proprioceptors gather feedback from across the business, meeting regularly to reflect and recommend actions. External proprioceptors keep eyes and ears on how we’re engaging with the world, touching base often and keeping us accountable.
HAPPINESS INDEX
The Happiness Index helps us understand how people at Vivobarefoot are really doing. It’s an external, anonymous feedback platform that captures employee engagement and wellbeing, and helps us evaluate what’s going well and where we need to improve. For the most recent Happiness Index analysis, check out our latest Unfinished Business report.
LIVEBAREFOOT COACHING
Our in-house, peer-to-peer coaching helps us navigate the transition towards regenerative business. It breaks down entrenched silos and hierarchies, creates different ways of communicating with each other, and continues seeding a unique culture as we grow. Running the programme isn’t about driving performance, although that’s a happy byproduct. It’s about creating a thriving internal community.
NURTURING INNOVATION
The Livebarefoot Fund (LBF) helps fund, initiate, and nurture projects we believe in – mostly social and environmental impact projects, but also innovation projects within the business. We provide time, energy, and resources to get good ideas off the ground and fully realised. We have big ambitions to scale the fund by unlocking additional funding each quarter, financial performance permitting.
NURTURING INNOVATION
The Livebarefoot Fund (LBF) helps fund, initiate, and nurture projects we believe in – mostly social and environmental impact projects, but also innovation projects within the business. We provide time, energy, and resources to get good ideas off the ground and fully realised. We have big ambitions to scale the fund by unlocking additional funding each quarter, financial performance permitting.
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