COVER STORY
Cover Story: INVESTING IN THE INDUSTRY
At Ted Todd, responsibly sourcing the timber they use is a key business objective. The full product range is now Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC) certified and they’re not stopping there. John Mitchell, Sales & Marketing Director, tells us why it’s so important.
“We made it our policy a couple of years ago because we wanted to show people the importance of buying a certified timber floor,” says John. “We’re making an investment. We have a full range of products and it is company policy to have everything certified by the end of this year.”
Ted Todd are serious about investing in the industry and the responsible sourcing of timber products. Hot on the heels of a rebranding and a new showroom, John says the company is doing everything it can to act sustainably: “The policy is to help people to recognise that we’re protecting our industry.”
The FSC runs a global forest certification system with two key elements, Forest
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Management and Chain of Custody certification. This allows consumers to identify, purchase and use timber from well-managed forests.
John explains how the FSC certification became more high profile: “FSC certification started about 15 years ago and was highlighted when a major department store was doing teak garden furniture and they had to make their range FSC certified. They were the first major business [to do so] and then timber merchants, and Ted Todd, started introducing FSC certified ranges. Now every Ted Todd range has to be certified.”
John says that Ted Todd are passionate about the industry and acting responsibly in all
aspects of its business, not just product sourcing. “We‘re aiming to have everything certified, right down to our brochures; our paper – everything. We’re working towards that at the moment and hope to achieve it inside a year. We sell a product that’s FSC certified, why not have everything to the same standard?”
Becoming FSC certified and acting sustainably are becoming critical to securing orders and retaining business. “We need to be certified to work with some of our specifiers. Our business is working to meet our customers’ standards,” John says.
“Certification is becoming more and more important,” he continues, “for example,
we deal with a very large, well known national retailer who only comes to us because we’re certified across a broad product range.”
Certified woods can be more expensive but John says that it is a price customers consider worth paying. “Certified wood is more expensive, because of the
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