Feminine-founded ladies’s model Birdies is now a licensed B Corp, the corporate introduced Tuesday.
Based in 2015 by Bianca Gates and Marisa Sharkey, the San Francisco-based shoe startup started toying with the thought of pursuing certification in late 2019, Gates informed Sourcing Journal. “What we’ve discovered is that lots of people affiliate these corporations with environmental impression, however the actuality is {that a} B Corp is a for-profit firm devoted to utilizing enterprise as a power for good,” the CEO stated.
Verification requirements embody transparency and accountability for each social and ecological efficiency. Gates stated Birdies constructed upon current applications and explored new options on its path to certification. It has prioritized community-building and charitable giving since its inception, appearing as a founding sponsor of Angel Metropolis Soccer Membership, Los Angeles’ new ladies’s soccer group, and launching Fly Collectively, a nationwide mentorship program that helps younger ladies from underserved communities attain their objectives. The Birdies has seen greater than 100 people cross via this system because it started a number of years in the past.
When it got here to environmental stewardship, Gates stated that Birdies was inspired by B Lab, the governing physique of B Corp, to pursue extra sustainable supplies and implement waste-reduction processes all through its provide chain. “This was an space we hadn’t put as a lot consideration into, and we acknowledged that we needed to make this as a lot of a precedence as social impression,” she stated. “We needed to mainly deconstruct our shoe and study, from scratch, concerning the areas we wanted to enhance.”
Birdies started by streamlining packaging to reduce waste, and in search of non-virgin or low-impact inputs for its sneakers. It requested suppliers in China and Vietnam to establish reliable sources for supplies like upcycled satin and silk from deadstock and manufacturing unit waste, together with extra eco-friendly rubbers and latex.
“There’s a lot we’ve discovered that we will do proper now that’s extra environmentally pleasant and it doesn’t price us rather more cash,” Gates stated. “What it does do is power corporations to ship staff to the markets abroad, to study, and research, and discover the correct suppliers to make extra sustainable product, versus going with the extra conventional scalable processes that style has used for dozens of years.”
Birdies additionally shifted its design calendar to accommodate provide chain and logistics challenges disrupting abroad manufacturing and transport. “Through the pandemic we had been unable to get most of our sneakers on boats, so sadly we needed to air ship them,” Gates stated. “We are actually designing a lot additional out”—to the tune of 12, versus six to 9, months forward, she added. Now, 80 p.c of Birdies merchandise are transported over the ocean in a much less carbon-intensive methodology.
To take care of the problem of product waste, Birdies partnered with Soles4Souls, which helps ladies from underserved communities throughout the globe create microenterprises for shoe gross sales. It has donated greater than 50,000 pairs in extra stock to this system, “which provides as much as about 1.6 million kilos of CO-2 emissions that we’ve eradicated,” and diverted greater than 70,000 kilos of textile from landfills, Gates stated.
Birdies now joins a group of 5,000 corporations in 70 international locations and 150 industries pushing to redefine success in enterprise. Gates stated that participating with the B Corp certification “isn’t just a couple of seal of approval—they’re additionally pushing us, encouraging us and stretching us in areas we weren’t as aware about, and educating us about areas the place we might make a bigger impression.”
“As we attempt to help and uplift ladies via our inside work, ongoing campaigns, partnerships and philanthropic efforts, we’re extraordinarily happy with the work we’ve performed to date and are excited to proceed to enhance and use our enterprise for good,” co-founder and president Sharkey added. “B Corp gives us a robust approach to information and speed up our transformation round how we do enterprise, and pushes Birdies to actively take part in making the world a greater place.”
