We get lots of questions on how we maintain and ensure that our footwear factory overseas is providing a quality work environment for all employees. It’s a great question and we’ve written about such related practices previously here in the Sole Blog. But when trolling through some of these earlier posts I realized that we have not specifically laid out our criteria, findings, and notes in one clear and concise post. So here it is!
- Worker pay. The workers at Sarada Indistries, the factory we employ in Vijayawada, India, pays a fair wage to all workers well above the country base line for pay in this industry which I have to tell you is scary low. Unfortunately we do not have direct control over this as we do not own the factory. We have spent significant time there though, and in speaking with workers directly have learned that they are paid well and often it is the best paying job in the area for them!
- Worker conditions. After having spent significant time on the factory floor Rao and I can comfortably describe the factory as: Highly Functional. Much like you would expect a Toyota auto factory except WAY smaller and less high-tech. Everything and everybody has a specific purpose and process they follow. Defining functional means that adequate lighting and safety precautions are in place, each worker has a comfortable space to work within, a breeze and fresh air comes through large open windows, and ceiling fans provide a nice cooling effect in the warm South Indian climate. Hazardous materials are not used in the production of Common Soles footwear, in fact, our products are so simple that most materials and tools used to assemble them can be found in the typical homeowner's garage throughout the US.
We've been getting the question of what we do with our seconds from many of you so I figured I'd write up a few quick words on the afterlife of a second quality Common Soles flip-flop.
Rao and I strongly believe that all businesses need to incorporate the consideration of environmental health into their business strategy and practices. We have made it a 
We are over 50% of the way to completing this 
Lisa and I were recently traveling the South Island of New Zealand for two glorious weeks. It was absolutely amazing – New Zealand is indeed adventure-land. On several occasions when chatting with folks in NZ we found ourselves telling the tale of what Common Soles is up to. For the most part, everyone responds quite well to our story (or at least we tend to meet very nice people!). They can get into the Common Soles story quite easily, as most everyone appreciates businesses that take on a social bent. 
The Fair Labor Association is a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending sweatshop conditions. We fully support this cause and organization. Being a supporter is one thing, truly understanding he benchmarks they have outlined that constitute good working conditions is slightly more complex. The FLA has assembled a 28 page document that outlines the benchmarks used to determine if a factory is providing good working conditions for their employees. Here’s a 
We’ve sparked a bit of dialogue from our last post on our 
Clearly we’re big fans of social ventures, which basically are businesses that practice conscious capitalism. Some individuals define social ventures as either for-profit or not-for-profit. We define social ventures as those which are for-profit and measure success in terms of delivering profits while operating in a manner responsible to both planet and people. So here in no particular order are our top 10 favorites.
Last Friday Rao and I attended a workshop led by Dr. Ralph Z. Sorenson on the topic of Conscious Capitalism. Ralph is an uber accomplished businessman with professorships at Babson, Univ. of Colorado and Harvard Business School under his belt, as well as working for several multinationals, serving as President of Babson College, managing a private investment firm, and a board member on over 30 boards both public and private. One board he currently sits on is that of Whole Foods.