B Corp Certification

5 Tips for Getting a B Corp Certification for Your Sustainable Fashion Brand

In Fashion Features, Mingle Mastermind, Sustainable Fashion by Elle Scalzo

Receiving your B corp certification for your sustainable fashion brand can be challenging if you don’t have a solid plan when starting. During our Mingle Mastermind webinar we chatted with Shirin Movahed and two fashion businesses, Joanna MacDonald, the founder of Piper & Skye who is currently working through the registration process, and Andrew Dale, founder of Daveed, the first leather bag company in the world to earn Certified B Corporation status.

Certified B Corporations have a purpose that differs from traditional corporations, who have the single duty to maximize profit. B Corp certifications are issued by B Lab, a nonprofit that verifies a company’s social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose. 

The first thing you should know is there is a difference between a B corp certification and a Benefit corporation. The main difference between being B Corp requires a specific score and you have to reapply for your B corp certification every three years.

Benefit corporations on the other hand are a structure that is built into the company, not a certification you earn. Benefit corporations are also only available in 30 U.S. states. B corp certifications can be obtained not just in the U.S. but in many other countries globally.

Tips for Getting a B Corp Certification for your Fashion Brand

  1. Review the questions to see where you are likely to score well and where your company must improve to receive at least 80 points.
  2. Educate everyone you work with. If your suppliers do not meet B Corp Certification standards, then educate them on their carbon footprint and help them implement sustainable practices. 
  3. It is easier to start implementing these practices when your company is new, so try to start off on the right foot if starting a new business. 
  4. Plan for the process to take several months, to a year, having a dedicated person on your team to work on your B corp certification process.
  5. Incorporate in your legal documents that your future board of directors is to consider non financial factors when looking into the future of the company.

Join us every Friday at 1pm EST for a new Mingle Mastermind session. Register here 

You can watch all our Mingle Mastermind webinars on our Youtube channel and Facebook. 

 

About Elle Scalzo

Elizabeth "Elle" Scalzo is a Junior, communications major focusing on multimedia journalism and minority in speech, at FDU metro campus. She is the Editor-in-Chief for the campus newspaper The Equinox as well as on the executive board for the Epsilon Theta chapter of Alpha Sigma Tau. She enjoys writing and making youtube videos in free time.

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