I had to return the pants I ordered. My account amazingly showed two reimbursement entries: one for the price of the pants, the other for the shipping costs. Nau that's what I call customer service!
What might a creatorship organization look like? Try
Nau, the new outdoor clothing company. Th

e stated intention for their business is:
"To demonstrate the highest levels of citizenship in everything we do: product creation, production, labor practices, the way we treat each other, environmental practices and philanthropy. We believe that companies have a broader responsibility than simple generating profit" (
from website)
That's not to say they don't have an ambitious business plan. They do, projecting $11 million in revenue in 2007 according to
Fast Company's June issue. It is just that they are coming from a world view that says we are all connected and somehow we ought to be able to do business in a way that reflects this.
They not only espouse the notion that the environment, human rights, public health and safety, the communities in which it operates, and the dignity of it employees are on the same level as their shareholders,
they have written it into their articles of incorporation. Designing their organization and ways of doing business from scratch, they created their stores, products, relationships with suppliers and policies to be in line with their intention. Some of the results:
- LEED-certified leased retail space
- minimum age for overseas factory workers
- 5% of sales is donated to charitable organizations that the purchaser chooses at the time of their purchase (the industry standard is 1%)
- to meet their design philosophy of performance, sustainability and beauty, they designed, developed and commercialized 29 of the 30 fabrics used in their first collection AND they are keeping these new fabrics as "open source" to encourage the industry to make use of them
- stores are essentially a "webfront" where customers can try on the clothes but are then encouraged to have the items shipped allowing for small inventories and smaller store spaces
- part marketing and part just fun they have a blog: The Thought Kitchen which Intends to "stir the pot." They recently did an interesting post on the Cascadia Scorecard for sustainability that is worth a read.
- there is a V.P. of Sustainability who is involved in planning and decision-making
True to the principles of creatorship, the people at Nau are intention driven (both in clarity of intended outcomes and passion), view the world systemically and perhaps most importantly, believe in their power as creators on this planet. They are co-creators of a new, consciously chosen way of doing business.