Vivobarefoot - 2025 integrated report review
I look forward to reading Vivobarefoot’s Unfinished Business report each year. This year’s is a much more palatable read than previous years - further information is available via links but the report itself is short at 24 pages, including lots of images.
One thing that comes across strongly is their belief in resilience and the importance of purpose-led business in achieving this.
👍🏻 Three things I like:
1. OPEN TO FEEDBACK & USE IT TO EVOLVE
“The feedback was clear: while transparency matters, 100+ pages of detail can obscure rather than illuminate. Very few people (you know who you are!) read it end-to-end, making it paradoxically less transparent.”
Each year I speak to the Vivo team and they are genuinely open to feedback on their report. Each year they make changes in response to the feedback they receive from me and others.
This year they’ve drastically shortened their report and will complement this with quarterly updates. I like that they want people to read the report and are changing it to make this more likely.
I do think it might now be too short and missing some crucial elements – but that’s a discussion for another day.
2. BRUTAL TRANSPARENCY
They are brutally honest about what went wrong with transitioning to a new EU warehouse and the "total chaos … burned-out team … and a lot of very annoyed customers” that resulted. And they share their learnings.
3. MEASURING IMPACT OF CHARITABLE FUNDING
They’ve introduced outcome KPIs to help them measure the “real-world impact” of the projects they support through their Livebarefoot Fund.
They already had a focused strategic approach to funding – this takes it a step further, aiming to measure the impact of this funding rather than just the amount donated.
❓Three questions it raises:
1. WHAT’S THEIR DEFINITION OF REGENERATIVE BUSINESS & THE JOURNEY?
“We don’t make shoes - we make footwear that regenerates feet and natural movement, and one day might help regenerate nature too.”
My understanding is that regenerating nature is a core element of becoming a regenerative business and something which is present from the beginning of the journey. So this sentence stopped me in my tracks.
Maybe it’s them recognising that their current business model, whilst being cognisant of their impact on nature and trying to reduce it, is ultimately having a negative impact on nature and will be for a while?
2. HOW DID THEY FIND A SUITABLE INVESTOR?
They’ve taken on investment this year and mention the importance of “patient capital” at several points.
How did they approach finding a suitable investor? What can others learn from them?
3. HOW DOES FACE-TO-FACE TIME BALANCE WITH EDI GOALS?
I don’t disagree with their reasons for wanting more face-to-face time together as a team. But I’m curious how this balances with their goals around equity, diversity and inclusion.
How do you prevent certain people (e.g. with caring responsibilities / disabilities) from feeling excluded when more face-to-face time is required?
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You can read the report for yourself here. Let me know what you think!
If you’re preparing to write your own impact report, you might find my FREE Impact Reporting Roadmap helpful: