Sunday, April 6, 2008 will mark 35 years since Ray Anderson, founder and chairman of Interface, Inc., brought the concept of modular floorcoverings, or carpet tile, to the United States from Europe, to create what would become Interface. In a message to employees celebrating the company's 35th anniversary, Anderson applauded associates for the company's success and growth and for its progress since the mid-1990s to achieve a more sustainable world.

"We have come a long way since April 6, 1973. We not only survived start-up, we went on to thrive," he says.  April 6 is celebrated as the company's anniversary because it represents the day, in 1973, when the business plan for the company was fully funded.

What started with Anderson and one other employee in LaGrange, Georgia, on April 6, 1973, as an idea for bringing modular carpet, or carpet tiles, to North America from Europe has grown into a global enterprise. Today, Interface, Inc. operates on four continents and has sales in more than 100 countries, operating under the brands InterfaceFLOR® (modular carpet for commercial market segments), Bentley Prince Street® (high end broadloom and modular carpet), and FLOR™ (modular carpet for the consumer market).  The Interface family of companies is committed to giving the marketplace a wide range of choices for specifying Earth-friendly and Environmentally Preferable Product (EPP)-certified products, with the industry's first climate neutral carpet, Cool Carpet™.

Anderson thanked Interface, Inc. CEO Dan Hendrix and associates for their contributions to the company's financial success but noted that Interface also exists for a "higher purpose -- and that is for the example we are creating to show the entire industrial world what sustainability is in all of its dimensions:  people, processes, products, and place (Mother Earth), as well as profits."

That higher purpose didn’t emerge until 1994 when Anderson experienced an epiphany after reading Paul Hawken’s "The Ecology of Commerce" and realized that his company's "take, make, waste" cycle of manufacturing products was environmentally and fundamentally flawed.  Interface subsequently set out on a "mid-course correction," considering the impact that each of its business processes has on the environment and setting out to eliminate waste, use less raw, finite materials from the Earth, and become restorative for future generations.

As a result, Anderson and Interface have pioneered the sustainability movement for the industrial world, changing the company's business model in an effort to reduce its environmental impacts.  

Since that time, Interface has made significant progress to reduce its overall environmental footprint by using less water and energy to make its products, reducing overall waste in the production cycle and increasing the amount of renewable materials used. Interface companies worldwide now share a brand promise known as Mission Zero™, or the promise to eliminate any negative impact the companies may have on the environment by 2020.  
Anderson told Interface associates that his company is about "halfway toward its goal of climbing Mount Sustainability," or its goal to eliminate any negative impact on the environment by 2020.

With regard to greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming, Anderson pointed out that Interface is 82 percent of the way to zero by 2020, meaning a net reduction of 82 percent against a 1996 baseline in absolute tons of emissions, despite an increase of sales worldwide by almost two-thirds.  

Anderson challenged Interface associates to continue to build upon the company's progress and accomplish its goal of having zero negative impact by 2020.

"In 2020, Interface will be 47 years old. I will be 86. I hope to live to see the view from the top of Mount Sustainability, and I will be very proud to be standing there with all of you," he told associates. "I think the view will be beautiful beyond description."