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.
What’s interesting though is where the conversation typically goes after the initial back-and-forth on what Common Soles is and what we are up to. 9 times out of 10 we hear stories of other small social ventures the individual knows of, either through a personal connection, or something they heard about via the media that resonated with them. Folks get incredibly excited to share the stories of these socially responsible organizations. It’s really neat experiencing the energy that is generated during conversations on social ventures. People get really excited about them regardless of their association with the organization, and regardless of whether or not they have even conducted a transaction with that organization!
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 
Those of you who have been with us since the beginning (spring ‘09) know that we’ve been building Common Soles in real time and in an open and public manner. We’ve solicited you via Twitter, Facebook, this blog, email, grabbing random people on the sidewalk, etc. to garner feedback on everything from colors for our website, to the placement of the arch support in our flip-flops. We appreciate the time and effort you have given us and the candid (very in some cases) responses you shared. So thank you!
I love learning. I didn't until I graduated from college, I then realized how wonderful the gift of education is. How could I appreciate it? I didn't know any other life until then. So when I decided to go back to grad school in 2006 it was with great respect for the educational system, and drive to once again - learn.