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Rick Ridgeway has always been drawn to the edges of what’s possible. As one of the original architects behind the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, now known as Cascale, and a longtime leader at Patagonia, he’s spent the last 15 years proving that the biggest lever for sustainability isn’t competition, but collaboration. Now, that model is evolving again. At Cascale’s Annual Meeting in Hong Kong, Ridgeway announced that the organization has acquired the tools of the Sustainable Furnishings Council (SFC), a move that expands Cascale’s proven measurement system beyond apparel and footwear into home furnishings. “It’s the first major and super significant expansion of our focus,” Ridgeway shared. “There are already companies in the coalition—like Walmart, Target, and Williams Sonoma—that operate in both apparel and furniture. This is a natural progression.” For a man who’s summited Everest and charted new climbing routes around the world, Ridgeway sees this next ascent; bringing verified data and shared standards into furniture, as another form of exploration. Only this time, the map is digital, and the summit is systemic change. From Patagonia to Cascale: Building the Blueprint for Collective Action When Walmart approached Patagonia in 2009 about elevating sustainability, Ridgeway was leading Patagonia’s environmental initiatives. The unlikely pairing sparked what would become a movement. “They asked us to help them with two things,” Ridgeway recalled. “One, they wanted to implement organically grown cotton in some of their private-label apparel. And two, they wanted us to review their supplier scorecard.” MORE FOR YOU That collaboration inspired a bigger idea: what if multiple companies shared one robust tool to measure their environmental and social impact? “We established some foundational rules,” he said. “It had to be multi-stakeholder. It had to involve NGOs, governments, and universities. Everybody had to sit at the same table.” Within a year, the Sustainable Apparel Coalition was born, quickly expanding to include dozens of global brands and organizations. Nike even donated its own $20 million materials measurement tool, which became the cornerstone of what is now known as the Higg Index—a suite of tools that today helps over 40,000 factories worldwide track and improve their sustainability performance. But as the system matured, Ridgeway and his colleagues realized they had built something bigger than an apparel solution. “From the beginning, we knew this had to scale,” he said. “The goal was always trustworthy, verified data from the supply chain. Data that could become transparent and unleash change across the whole ecosystem.” Why Furniture, Why Now For Cascale, the move into furniture isn’t about diversification, it’s about deepening impact. “Some of our members were already using Higg tools in furniture supply chains,” Ridgeway explained. “The modifications aren’t that complex. The real differences are in materials like wood and adhesives. But the methodology—the verification, the consistency—that’s all transferrable.” That’s where the acquisition of SFC’s tools comes in.The Sustainable Furnishings Council has long been known for its education programs and assessments, including the Wood Furniture Scorecard developed with WWF and the Insights self-assessment tool. Rachel Lincoln Sarnoff, Cascale’s VP of Communications, explained the legal nuance: “We can say that we acquired the tools of SFC in the same way we acquired the tools of Better Buying earlier this year, which really speaks to responsible purchasing practices.” For Ridgeway, the goal is to bring those education frameworks together with Cascale’s data-driven Higg tools. “The Higg already measures whether a company has reuse, repair, and recycling programs,” he said. “Those components will accelerate to furniture. And SFC’s training programs will help onboard companies faster.” He’s quick to acknowledge that the furniture sector is earlier in its sustainability journey than fashion was a decade ago. “The furniture industry feels almost like fast fashion in a way,” he said. “There’s so much cheap furniture out there, it seems disposable. But that’s also what makes this opportunity so exciting. We can help shape it differently from the start.” Data, Disclosure, and the Power of Policy As the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and complementary regulations take hold, Cascale’s data tools are increasingly mission-critical. “We have the tool to allow our members to meet that compliance requirement from the EU,” Ridgeway explained. That compliance isn’t just bureaucratic, it’s transformative. The Higg Index allows companies to measure greenhouse gas emissions across Scopes 1, 2, and 3 with verified, primary data. “The goal,” Ridgeway emphasized, “is not measurement, but management. And the goal of management is reduction of environmental impact and increase of social justice year over year, with verified data that eventually becomes transparent.” That transparency is key. As Ridgeway put it, “We’re never going to achieve the vision we set for ourselves in 2013 without that missing element. Little by little, we’re getting there.” He’s particularly encouraged by how policy is driving alignment. “If reporting requirements like CSRD eventually lead to mandatory reductions, then everybody has to play on the same field,” he said. “When that happens, we’ll be there to provide the tools. Because then you’ll have apples-to-apples measurements across the entire value chain.” From Fast Furniture To Durable Value Ridgeway believes the next era of sustainable business will hinge on longevity, making fewer things, but making them better. “We used to think maybe there was a way to run a business that didn’t have to grow,” he reflected. “We tried that at Patagonia, and it didn’t work. So if companies must grow, the best model is committing to quality products that last, that can be repaired and recycled.” This is where furniture has an edge. “If companies partner with customers to keep products working, take them back at end-of-life, and recycle them with the best technologies available,” Ridgeway said, “then therein lies the real hope for meeting Paris [climate commitments] and keeping the world to 1.5 degrees celsius in temperature rise.” Through SFC’s programs, consumers are also becoming part of the equation. The Wood Furniture Scorecard helps shoppers identify brands using certified or reclaimed wood. When paired with the Higg tools’ deep facility data, it creates a powerful loop of accountability between brand, supplier, and buyer. “The measure of your environmental impact in your value chain isn’t the number to keep your eye on most,” Ridgeway said. “The measures that really matter are the health of the planet—GHG emissions, global temperature, deforestation, ocean acidification. Those are the numbers we have to reverse.” Earning And Amplifying Hope After decades of climbing literal and metaphorical mountains, Ridgeway has a clear-eyed optimism about what it will take to change course. “You’ve got to earn hope,” he said. “You can’t just say, ‘It’s a pretty day, everything’s going to turn out all right.’ You’ve got to get out there and work hard. Take whatever tools are in your box and use them to make change.” At 75, he’s still doing just that—helping businesses redefine the relationship between profit and purpose one dataset, one industry, one partnership at a time. “With groups like Cascale,” he told me, “we’re one of the best hopes remaining to reverse the decline in the health of our planet.” That hope, as Ridgeway knows, isn’t given. It’s earned through transparency, collaboration, and the courage to scale what works beyond one sector into an entire system.
