Nike, Limestone Wetsuits, and CSR Building Blocks

Jun 27, 2011 3 Comments by
Forbes writer Scott James interviewed Tom De Blasis, Global Design Director for Nike Soccer, on corporate social responsibility (CSR).

The post is a great read for learning about Nike’s limestone-based wetsuits (not pictured here), which are superior in performance to those made from fossil-fuel based neoprene.  The limestone wetsuits, which are thinner and warmer than conventional materials, are an example of where quality and CSR can merge.

But the best part of the conversation is when De Blasis talks about not only embedding CSR thinking within an industry, but horizontal collaboration across any and all organizations:
The question that we should be asking ourselves is, “What if CSR became a collaborative corporate initiative, instead of individual companies all doing similar work on their own?”  CSR isn’t a competitive advantage right now and the potential of more focused and collective efforts would both make progress faster and send a stronger signal to people and governments around the world. Davos is a step in this direction, but it should be more action-oriented.

De Blasis is spot on.  We talk about organizational silos, but there are inter-organizational silos that are impeding, not building, a greater sense of citizenship.

And GreenGoPost.com will push this conversation beyond limits in the coming weeks and months.

CSR

About the author

Leon Kaye is the founder and editor of GreenGoPost.com and its advisory division, GGP Media. Contact him to discuss how he can work with your organization or event. His focus is making the business case for sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR). He writes for San Francisco-based Triple Pundit, Inhabitat and now The Guardian, for which he writes about waste, water, and green building. He has also written for AIA's Architect Magazine. Leon lives in Los Angeles, and when he has free time, he enjoys hiking, gardening, cooking, weightlifting, and planning his next trip to one of the 50+ countries he has visited. He has an MBA from USC's Marshall School of Business and is also a proud graduate of the University of Maryland-Baltimore County (UMBC) and Cal State-Fresno.

3 Responses to “Nike, Limestone Wetsuits, and CSR Building Blocks”

  1. Nike’s Road To Integrating Innovation and Sustainability says:
    October 13, 2011 at 2:13 AM

    [...] now must learn from other industries–plus balance a new way of designing and manufacturing products with materials that come from many time zones away.The task is not easy and is still a learning [...]

  2. Nike’s Road To Integrating Innovation and Sustainability | greengopost.com says:
    October 13, 2011 at 11:04 AM

    [...] and now must learn from other industries–plus balance a new way of designing and manufacturing products with materials that come from many time zones away. The task is not easy and is still a learning [...]

  3. Nike Challenges Customers to Design Their Own Virtual Green Athletic Wear | greengopost.com says:
    May 4, 2012 at 8:29 AM

    [...] But Nike is charging ahead with a sustainability agenda that just a few years ago would have seemed unthinkable. And rather than taking a self-congratulatory tone, Nike draws stakeholders in on its journey to [...]

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