Ever since establishing Chaco in 1989, founder and President Mark Paigen has maintained a vision in which there is more than one bottom line. His Triple Bottom Line (TBL) is comprised of three equal parts – People, Environment and Profits – and forms the basic premise on
which Chaco operates. In order to be a sustainable business, Paigen believes, you must have all three of these stepping stones in place.

“Making even the smallest effort in any of these areas can lead to huge
paybacks, whether they're in the form of reducing the amount of waste going
into landfills, keeping great employees for years, or building a very
successful and profitable company,” said Paigen. The initiatives can be as
simple as educating employees to make double-sided copies or as involved as
reinventing an industrial gluing process to make it more environmentally
friendly.

And, while such efforts are always a work in progress, Chaco has implemented
a number of different strategies throughout its history to benefit each aspect of the TBL, some of which include:

  • Turning out lights in any room not in use
  • Providing recycling for the company and employees' home use
  • Working toward SHARP certification to maintain the safest work
    environment possible

  • Switching to a water-based glue instead of the toxic solvent-based glue
    found in many shoes

  • Using environmentally friendly leather tanning processes
  • Utilizing Terreno Vibram soles with recycled content
  • Offering re-soling and re-webbing to keep Chaco shoes on feet and out
    of landfills

  • Loaning an engineer to one of their vendors to help find ways to reduce
    their scrap and waste

  • Using environmentally friendly paper products for marketing materials
  • Recycling inkjet and toner cartridges to benefit local elementary
    schools

  • Offering competitive salaries with generous employee benefits and
    wealth building components

  • Promoting a balanced work ethic with paid time off and encouragement to
    use that time off

  • Surveying employees to improve communication and target areas that
    could work better

  • Paying employees $1/day to use human power (bike, walk) to get to work

To give back to the community, Chaco also gives its employees volunteer paid
time off to work at local non-profits, an initiative that amassed over 220
donated hours in 2004 alone.

“People, the environment and profits are all interdependent,” said Paigen,
“and the success of any one facet is intimately tied to the success of the
others.” While sustainability comes neither easily nor cheaply, Chaco's
founder, management, and employees all see the value of investing in
themselves, their products, and the environment. Moving forward while
adhering to the TBL ensures they'll have stable jobs, great shoes and a
great world to live in over the short as well as the long haul.