In Fall of 2023, Ecologyst officially became a B Corporation Certified Company.
In the preceding three years, we took a disciplined approach to documenting our processes and impacts across the organisation. To become B Corp Certified is a dedicated undertaking. We submitted information related to our governance, community, workers, environment and products for review by a B Lab verification team.
As part of the certification process, we evolved our corporate structure by updating our articles to allow all layers of governance to make choices not solely based on shareholder gain.
As a benefit company that operates in BC, the Company committed to promoting the following public benefits:
(i) Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.
(ii) Build and upgrade infrastructures and retrofit industries to make them sustainable, with increased resource-use efficiency and greater adoption of clean and environmentally sound technologies and industrial processes.
(iii) Create and promote decent work and economic growth via the creation of fairly paid impact & clean-tech jobs
(iv) Practice and promote responsible consumption and production and substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse.
So how did we do? The results are in—107.8
We are listed as an organisation that employs 10-49 people in the manufacturing category. If you’ve been following us for some time, you’ll know that the work we do falls under multiple categories:
- Ecologyst Brand (We built a product and supply chain philosophy over the past 20 years)
- Ecologyst Factory (We actually make clothing in one of our own factories—spoiler: most fashion brands don’t do this)
- Ecologyst Stores (We operate and offer products in retail locations—directly to you through our own stores)
- Ecologyst Films (We partner with communities and tell powerful stories through film)
- Awi’nakola (We partner with members of the foundation to do ‘good trouble’ work together)
- Ecologyst Production + Collaboration (We partner with other brands or organisations acting as the manufacturer behind the scenes)
- Ecologyst Café (We created a place to gather, share ideas, and get some of the best coffee in Whistler)
So what is a B Corporation? Essentially it’s a verified way to measure our organisation’s overall social and environmental impacts over time while setting targets to improve in various categories for the future. For context, the minimum score to become a B Corporation is 80 points.
Below are three key points to the process:
- We showcase our social and environmental impacts through data and documentation
- We made legal changes to our organisational governance structure to include the environment as as a stakeholder in our decision-making process
- We offer transparency with a public profile regarding our score, and more
We celebrate this milestone for the business with you as we commit to building a better future for the next generations to come. Every decision we make now has an impact, and we are working to evolve the current paradigm of how clothing is made in North America with a cleaner path forward. The way we did business in the past doesn’t have to be the way we do business now, and in the future.
Thank you for being a part of this journey and making it possible. Without you, we wouldn’t be here today.
Let’s build it back better, together.
