FLOOR_STORY WAS CONCEIVED IN 2014, TO PUSH THE BOUNDARIES OF RUG DESIGN - AND TO BRING JOY TO RESIDENTIAL AND COMMERCIAL SPACES WORLDWIDE.
TEN YEARS ON, AND WE ARE STILL INNOVATING, COLLABORATING AND MAKING RIOTOUS AND THOUGHT-PROVOKING RUGS, AND WE ARE PROUDER THAN EVER OF WHAT WE’VE ACHIEVED.
We have a firm belief that we should grow with our community in an ever-changing world and have a duty to ensure that what we provide has an assurance of quality as well as doing good for our community and planet.
We’ve always been particular about our materials, suppliers and designers, continually striving to do our best by everyone involved in our business. This is why we have set out goals to achieve in the coming year by going through thorough analysis on how we’re currently positioned in terms of our impact from many angles.
See a summary of our goals below. To see the Impact Report in full, click on the button at the top of the page.
OUR GOALS FOR 24/25
- Continue to host a quarterly rug industry roundtable meet up
- Completion of DEI training for all staff
- Use the B Corp assessment to continually improve our impact
- Work directly with suppliers to understand if there are ways in which we can continue to improve the lives of weavers
- Engage regularly with Label STEP to improve our knowledge of challenges and opportunities, and reach 100% certified status with all suppliers
- Invest in two more community designers at our central London studio, giving them a central London base to display products and promote their business
- Collect more accurate carbon data for scope three from our logistics partners
- Work with Label STEP to collect water usage data and processing information for each factory
- Complete an Life Cycle Analysis
JOURNEY OF A RUG
We wanted to visualise where these three key topics impact our business most throughout the value chain, so that we could set our goals and plan our actions. So we’ve mapped out the journey of a FLOOR_STORY rug, and the sustainability considerations at each stage, from beginning to end. Our material topics are relevant at every single stage - which is both hugely challenging and exciting.
POSITIVE STORY TIMELINE
Community, Expression, Integrity and Craftsmanship. Our key values as an independent business striving for positive growth. We’ve mapped how we’ve elevated these beliefs over the past year. See below to learn more about these projects.
LABEL STEP
We take our making incredibly seriously, working with only the most ethical weaving centres to create rugs of exquisite quality. Using only the finest , the weavers tuft, hand-knot and hand-weave rugs with a meticulous attention-to-detail only possible because of their experience and understanding of rug craft.
Each manufacturer that we work directly with, is recognised by Label STEP for being a fair trade carpet maker. The non-profit organisation is committed to assurance of working standards and the wellbeing of weavers and all factory workers. Label STEP works across seven countries which covers all of the main hubs of handmade carpet production. Both FLOOR_STORY and Label STEP are committed to on the ground work to ensure fair trade compliance. Find out more about the 10 STEP Standards here or watch this video.
Most of our hand knotted rugs are made in Nepal, and most tufted and flat woven rugs are made in India although there are some exceptions. Director Simon Goff has worked with these manufacturers for years and makes regular visits himself in addition to the audits carried out by Label STEP.
WE’RE A CERTIFIED B CORP
Our commitment to Workers, Environment, Customers, Community and Governance.
ROUND TABLE
We truly believe that together we are more powerful and over the last 12 months we have hosted three roundtable conversations in our showroom to educate ourselves and our peers through the sharing of knowledge, and discussing ideas of how we can work together to solve the biggest problems in our industry.
VERSO
The hand knotted rugs in our Verso collection are woven by female entrepreneurs in Afghanistan as part of a partnership with the Turquoise Mountain Trust, a charity which was established in 2006 with the purpose of reviving heritage craft.
RENÉE MATERIALS
With the aim of eliminating our pre-consumer waste, we’ve partnered with Renée Materials to turn discarded materials into useful resources that lengthen the life cycle of the things that we simply can't keep. Renée Materials catalogue and distribute our rug samples to their community of creative people seeking materials for projects and workshops.
DESIGNER SPOTLIGHT
As a business that was built from the ground up in Hackney, we know how important it is to feel supported within the creative industry. This is why we started our Designer Spotlight initiative in 2023, where we offer space both in our showroom and on our online platforms to really big up emerging designers.
BECOMING A CERTIFIED B CORP
In February 2024, we were thrilled to join a community of over 2,000 other companies in the UK that are committed to using Business as a Force for Good, and became a certified B Corp.
ECOLOGI
Our partnership for impact projects with Ecologi continued in 2023. As well as reforestation projects through native tree planting in various parts of the world we contributed to projects that turn local organic matter to electricity in India where we make many of our rugs. Other projects included protecting rainforest in a wildlife sanctuary in Cambodia, wind powered projects in Mexico and Thailand and generating renewable solar energy in Egypt. Our ‘Climate Positive Workforce’ has now planted over 1000 trees and avoided over 100tCO2e.
In the long term, we are extremely conscious that reducing our footprint is key to reaching Net Zero and have set a target for a 5% year-on-year reduction in our Scope One and Two footprint.
CUTTING TIES WITH AN OLD RUG
Take a look at these steps on what to do with an old rug to avoid sending to landfill.
FLOOR_STORY ANTI SLAVERY STATEMENT
At FLOOR_STORY we fully endorse a procurement chain free from harm, forced labour or modern slavery, including THB (trafficking human beings). We make it our priority to work with suppliers and third party organisations like Label STEP that share our ethical standards and ensure the highest levels of care throughout our supply chain.
Our suppliers sign a Code of Conduct and our full Anti-Slavery Policy can be found here.
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9 REASONS WHY WOOL RUGS ARE THE PERFECT CHOICE FOR MODERN INTERIORS
October marks wool month so we’re looking at reasons why wool is such a fine material for rug-making
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VERSO, DESIGNED BY GILL THORPE, WOVEN IN AFGHANISTAN.
Revealing the raw nature of rug making through unusual compositions, Verso is a new collection designed by Gill Thorpe.