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This week's Alder Man is Jason Paver! He is the Managing Director of Pavers, the leading comfort shoe retailer in the UK, based in York. We discuss the incredible philanthropic efforts of Pavers and his journey in business.
Hey Jason, lovely to catch up with you. Can you introduce yourself and explain your work with Pavers?
Sure! I’m Jason Paver, I'm the Managing Director of Pavers Shoes. We also own Jones Bootmaker, Herring Shoes, Padders and Van Dal. We employ around 1700 people, our turnover is around 160 to 170 million and we have about 180 shops in the UK and Ireland. We also have a JV in India. So it's a decent scale retailer!
How do you think about clothing and style in the workplace?
Simple answer is I don’t! I think to an extent it sets a tone; it is important to be comfortable. I think as long as I'm not wearing the same stuff my dad was wearing and I’m presenting the right kind of atmosphere and bringing the right sort of appearance to the office, then I don’t think about it much. The pandemic has changed things though, it has definitely become more casual. Five or ten years ago it was more suits and ties whereas now its largely an open shirt and knitwear during the winter and just a shirt during the summer.
Could you talk us through the work that Pavers does with respect to the climate and sustainability?
We are really fortunate that we have been profitable for about 50 years now, excluding Covid! This has allowed us the opportunity to do good stuff in areas we feel passionate about. We set up the Pavers Foundation in 2018 and we put in two million for the endowment and so one of the areas we have been focusing on is environment. We have been carbon neutral for the past two years, now approaching three. We have one of the largest solar arrays in the North-East of the UK, on our distribution centre and office and that keeps growing. We have built our first Pavers Forest, with the help of some local school children. We plan on doing that on a much bigger scale, now we know it is workable.
We are in the B Corp accreditation process and are now waiting to get the B Corp recognition. We certainly have been the first major footwear brand in the UK and possibly first major retailer in the UK to get that. We are very fortunate that the success we have professionally is allowing us to invest in things important to us as a family but also as a company. When we do surveys amongst staff and look at what is important to them, environment seems to be going further up.
Finally, what's the best piece of advice you've been given in your career?
Unfortunately I have a terrible memory in general so I can't attribute this to anyone in particular but it's the general principle of the harder you work now the luckier you will be in future. It is something that has really stuck with me. As anyone who has worked in a senior position in a business will know, it that it can be really tough and one of the ways I motivate myself is that the more I do now and harder I work now, the likelihood is that I will be more lucky and more successful in the future.
