Lost in Translation: Value In global supply chains, impact rarely breaks down because people don’t care. It breaks down in the spaces between stakeholders. Producers, field teams, NGOs, buyers, formulators, commercial teams, investors. Each is working with a different definition of value, a different urgency, a different set of constraints. What begins as something coherent at the source often becomes fragmented as it moves through systems not designed to hold a shared understanding. This is something I kept returning to while building at Forested. The work was never just operational. It was about holding a through-line. From field teams working closely with producers, to buyers navigating formulation realities, to commercial teams needing products that move, to external stakeholders thinking about certification, funding, or scale. Everyone was right in their own context. The challenge was not alignment in the traditional sense, but translation. The value itself doesn’t change, but the way it needs to be understood does. You see the result of this in moments that feel simple on the surface. An ingredient like shea showing up in a finished product such as amika’s body butter. But behind that product is a long chain of decisions, relationships, and negotiations. Many hands, many interpretations. If regenerative sourcing is to scale, the opportunity is not only in sourcing differently, but in designing systems that can hold meaning across those differences. Systems where value remains legible, and where impact is not lost in handoffs, and where translation between stakeholders is treated as part of the work itself. This is where regenerative design moves from intention to reality. The future of supply chains is not ‘just’ better sourcing. It is also in systems that hold shared meaning. Proud of the Forested team, the Okere City team, and the countless shea producers for the depth of work behind this. Years of building, translating, and holding the through-line alongside personal care brand, amika to bring this body butter to life. #SupplyChain #SystemsThinking #RegenerativeDesign #CPG
Evyn Peddie
3d
A+ marketing research! This is a perfect example of a company really listening to their consumers (including me😋)
Echoing Ariana Day Yuen - love this!
Forested•12K followers
1wI love this!!!