Last updated on December 13th, 2021 at 12:04 pm

The triple bottom line (“TBL” or “3BL”) is a framework that suggests that businesses should not only evaluate their success based on how much profit they’ve generated, but also based on how much impact they have on social and environmental causes.  The term was coined in the 90’s by John Elkington, a British business consultant and sustainability evangelist.

At Vermont Woods Studios, we have long been committed to sustainability. Much of the furniture sold in the U.S. today is imported from overseas and built with questionably sourced materials. The global timber trade driven by wood furniture and flooring is run by organized crime and has contributed to worldwide deforestation, especially in critical parts of the world like the Amazon and Borneo Rainforests. Since inception, we’ve been trying to raise awareness about the problems in this global supply chain and how it all contributes to climate change, human rights violations, species extinction, and more.

Our mission from the start was to decrease the demand for imported furniture by offering an alternative that was made in America with sustainable materials and built to last a lifetime. As we’ve grown our business, we’ve doubled down on our commitment to sustainability. We source all our materials responsibly, our products are made in the USA and built to last a lifetime, we work with non profit partners to combat climate change, and we steward a sustainably managed 109 acre working forest at our headquarters in Vermont.

So we thought we were doing pretty well. Then in 2020, our sustainability consultants Alex and Marina at Waste Free Earth introduced us to the concept of triple bottom line sustainability.

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