Trust Works 9: Vivobarefoot and the Practice of Regenerative Business

What would the world look like if all companies took radical responsibility for their impact on the planet?

It’s not just a provocative question—it’s a quiet revolution already underway. Vivobarefoot is one of the most compelling examples of regenerative organisations I’ve come across. Not because they’ve “arrived,” but because of how openly they embrace the path. In their own words, they’re still learning—and that’s precisely the point.

Founded in 2012, Vivobarefoot is a London-based footwear company with a clear and expansive mission: to reconnect people and planet through regenerative business practices. They sell minimalist footwear designed to restore natural movement. But beyond the shoes, Vivobarefoot is an organisation reimagining what it means to grow, lead, and operate in service of life.

Reconnection as Strategy

Vivobarefoot’s work is grounded in three simple beliefs:

• The closer people are to nature, the more they will protect it
• The natural world is the only true model of sustainability
• Barefoot footwear is regenerative for human health

This philosophy shapes everything—from materials sourcing and product development to governance, culture, and leadership. It’s a systemic approach rather than a series of sustainability add-ons.

Their goal? Nothing short of becoming a regenerative business—one that gives more than it takes.

Living Barefoot (at Work)

For Vivobarefoot, “barefoot” isn’t just a product idea. It’s a cultural operating system. Internally, they’ve rejected the conventional, “cushioned” modes of business—think hierarchical decision-making, rigid roles, and polished but empty purpose statements.

Instead, they’ve cultivated a working model centred on:

• Self-management from day one
• Adult-to-adult decision-making
• A culture of feedback and reflection
• Sensing-in, rather than reacting
• Operating rhythms that emphasise presence, not performance

This commitment shows up in the company’s visual operating model, “Livebarefoot,” organised around the principles of Dance | Rhythm | Simplicity—a subtle but powerful metaphor for how the organisation moves.

Circles Over Pyramids

Their organisational structure borrows from sociocracy and is built around semi-autonomous circles. There are two types:

• Home Circles – functional units like Product, Marketing, People
• Project Circles – temporary, mission-driven groups tackling cross-functional priorities (e.g. The Evolution Council, focused on fair pay and transparency)

Each circle includes clearly defined roles:

• Sponsor & Purpose Guardian – holds the ‘why’
• Lead – stewards the work
• Project Team – the people delivering outcomes

The model is flexible enough to respond to change, yet structured enough to ensure clarity and accountability.

Leadership as Regeneration

The company’s regenerative ambitions extend well beyond products and processes. They’ve worked closely with Giles Hutchins to embed regenerative leadership—both as personal practice and collective ethos.

Leadership here is not about control, but cultivation:

• Leading by listening
• Holding space for emergence
• Modelling vulnerability
• Encouraging shared sense-making

If you are looking to diagnose your own regenerative DNA you can use the model below.

Progress (Not Perfection)

Vivobarefoot’s 2023–2024 Impact Report reflects a business that’s both growing and maturing. Here are some highlights from the past year:

Regenerative Business

• Revenue grew to £87 million (+19% YoY)
• Over 2.3 million people engaged in the Vivobarefoot community
• Their B Corp score increased to 119.3
• 35% of customers returned for a second purchase

Regenerative Product

• 62,300+ pairs repaired through the ReVivo initiative
• 2,900 pairs of 3D-printed shoes manufactured using localised production
• 55% average VMatrix score (Vivobarefoot’s in-house sustainability metric)
• 100% transparency of Tier 1 and 2 suppliers
• 95% of Tier 1 factories audited annually
• 9.4/10 transparency rating on Material Exchange Index

Regenerative Community

• Internal Happiness Score: 7.7 (up from 7.6 last year)
• Customer Happiness (cNPS): 58 (up from 53)
• 107,000+ users on the VivoHealth learning platform
• 100% of team members trained in Living Barefoot practices
• Reversal of a prior restructuring decision after open team feedback

One thread runs through all of these metrics: a commitment to listening—to nature, to data, and to each other.

Regeneration is a Practice

Vivobarefoot reminds us that regeneration is not a destination. It’s a way of being. One that requires both courage and humility.

Courage to design systems that reflect the world we want—not the one we inherited.
Humility to admit we don’t always get it right.

It’s not easy to run a global business, grow revenue by 19%, increase your B Corp score, and still prioritise internal happiness, circularity, and cultural learning. But Vivobarefoot shows that it can be done—and perhaps more importantly, that it’s worth doing.

Final Reflection

In a world where business is often designed for extraction—of attention, energy, resources—Vivobarefoot offers a different blueprint. One based on reconnection, responsibility, and regeneration.

If we are serious about designing organisations that work—for people, planet, and purpose—we need more stories like this. More imperfection. More experiments. More questions asked out loud.

Vivobarefoot hasn’t “figured it out.” They’ve just committed to walking barefoot, step by conscious step.

Explore other stories in the Trust Works series.