Darcy Winslow, General Manager, Sustainable Business Strategies, Nike Inc. US Martin Charter Editor-in-Chief, The Centre for Sustainable Design, UK What do you see as the key drivers for sustainable prod- uct design? I look at it from the three per- spectives, economically, envi- ronmentally and socially. From an environmental per- spective we are certainly be- ing driven by the increasing volume of environmental leg- islation primarily coming out of Europe. Global warming is a major concern. There is also a growing sense of awareness from consumers – unfortu- nately this has in most cases not been translated into action. When you ask consumers if they would pay more for envi- ronmentally friendly products or participate in product take back programmes, the percent- age of consumers who actu- ally act is low. I think there is growing awareness and hope- fully demand for this type of product will increase. It is imperative for us to help that market transformation. From the social side, Nike has ‘hit the wall’ in terms of human rights, labour practices in our manufacturing environments. This certainly caused us to raise our awareness and our activity around these issues. However, as a result of con- tinual improvements that have been made, some businesses are now modelling themselves on our code of conduct. Un- derstanding the impacts of our business operations in global communities where we do business, for example in China, is becoming more and more important. You have to think beyond your typical boundaries and I think this awareness and business imple- mentation needs to grow dra- matically in the next 10 years. What do you see as the ob- stacles for implementing sus- tainable product design SPD? Engaging people internally and in our business chain business partners is a real issue. You have to identify and engage key strategic part- ners who are amenable to adopting, or have already adopted, similar goals around sustainable product design. By combining forces I think our time to success will be short- ened. In our business there is a lack of affordable more en- Darcy Winslow has been with Nike, Inc. since 1988 and has contributed to a variety of areas, including Bio- mechanical Research and Business Reengineering, Darcy has held Di- rector level roles in Product Testing, Product Development, Advanced Research and Development, and Global Research, Design and De- velopment. Her current position as General Manager of Sustainable Business Strategies was created in late 1999 to integrate sustainability across the value chain associated with innovation, product creation, manufacturing, and the supply chain. The company’s commitment to sustainability and the focus of her work is manifested through the creation and adoption of long-range, aggressive goals designed to pro- tect the environment, consumers and employees, yet remain eco- nomically sound, through the devel- opment of sustainably designed and manufactured products and serv- ices. Additional responsibilities in- clude the development of new busi- ness concepts and policies to re- define value for consumers, shareholders, and business part- ners. Darcy Winslow received a BS Degree from Murray State Univer- sity (Exercise Science) in 1977 and a MS Degree from Portland State University (Exercise Physiology) in 1988. INTERVIEW 53 THE JOURNAL OF SUSTAINABLE PRODUCT DESIGN The Journal of Sustainable Product Design 1: 53–56, 2001 © 2002 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .