Nisolo has been B Corp Certified since 2017, and we’re now rated #1 among all leather goods companies and top 3 in footwear.

Nisolo has been B Corp Certified since 2017. B Corp Certification is the most rigorous and holistic 3rd party verification in existence today. Certified B Corporations meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability. Focusing on using business as a force for good, B Corps embrace a new way of doing business that envisions a more inclusive, equitable, and regenerative planet and economy.

Certifying as a B Corporation goes beyond a product or service-level certification. It’s the only 3rd party certification that measures a company’s entire social and environmental performance, making it difficult to obtain. To become B Corp Certified, organizations take the B Impact Assessment (BIA), which evaluates a company’s business model and its operating impact across the areas of Governance, Workers, Community, Environment, and Customers.

Over 50,000 organizations have taken the BIA to become a B Corp, yet only 7% have qualified.

The BIA consists of approximately 200 questions, and the claims made in each response are tested and verified by two distinct certification analysts who review requested evidence and documentation to ensure accuracy. Qualifying requires a score of 80, yet the median score across all 50,000+ businesses is a 50.9. Today, there are approximately 4,000 certified B Corps across 150 industries in 74 countries around the world.

Among fashion brands, there are approximately 120 brands who have qualified to become Certified B Corps, and Nisolo is ranked #1 in leather goods and in the top 3 in footwear. Before we unpack Nisolo’s score and how we stack up vs. other brands, let’s take a step back and talk about the importance of third party certification in general, a point that must not be overlooked.

Third party verification is when an independent organization audits your practices to assess whether or not they’re legit. At Nisolo, we believe everything our business impacts should be measured and improved. And, internally, we’ve been on a long journey of improving our practices, taking this very seriously since inception.

Yet, as sustainability becomes more and more “on trend” and brands continue to leverage eco-friendly language to increase sales without the practices to back it up, external, third party verification has become non-negotiable. “Sustainable” and “ethical” in the fashion industry have become as ambiguous as “organic” in the food and beverage industry, putting TRUST between brands and consumers at risk like never before.

This is why we believe the greatest threat to long-term social and environmental progress today is “greenwashing,” which essentially means spending more time, effort, and money on appearing to be socially and environmentally responsible rather than investing in ways to actually be more responsible. Greenwashing is a big problem in the fashion industry: 40% of 500 fashion brands recently surveyed by the Competition and Markets Authority claimed to be "eco-friendly,” but had no data to substantiate their claims.

With all the misinformation out there, the best way to determine which brands are doing right by people and the planet is to look for third party verification and certifications.

NOTE: B Corp Certification is not comprehensive of ALL social & environmental impact  

B Corp’s BIA assessment has improved over time (we most recently took version 6.0), and is a solid assessment that accounts for much of Nisolo’s activities. However, not all that we do gets credit in the current form of the assessment, as it is not comprehensive of our complete social and environmental impact. For example:

• • We did not receive any points for publishing our lowest wages or launching the Lowest Wage Challenge to raise awareness for living wages in the fashion industry.
  • Also, how we financially supported unemployed shoemakers and helped them find new jobs through the pandemic (while most of the industry did quite the opposite with its workers) went uncredited as well.
  • We did not receive points for being vertically integrated and owning our own factory in Peru, thus having greater control of the practices within parts of our supply chain.
    
    

That said, the assessment does do a solid job of giving Nisolo’s impact a broad overview in a way that allows consumers to compare brands within the same industry and across distinct industries.

Whereas the median score among 50,000+ past applicants is a 50.9, an 80 is a passing score, and the average for Certified B Corporations is a 93.8, we most recently scored a 115.4! While the vast majority of fashion brands would never be able to become B Corp Certified because of their poor social and environmental practices, there are around 120 brands who have achieved this feat. The 115.4 Nisolo received for our social, environmental, and governance practices ranks higher than 93% of fashion brands that have become Certified B Corps, placing us at #1 among leather good brands and #3 among footwear brands (with the other two footwear brands beating us out for their bolt on giving models).

Here is how our score compares to a few familiar brands:

Here is an overview of how we performed in each area of the B Impact Assessment.

A core value of ours is “mejorarse siempre,” which means “always be improving.” We’re thankful for what we’ve learned from our most recent assessment—we’ve learned where we are doing well according to the assessment, we’ve learned about areas that matter to us but not as much to B Lab, and we’ve learned where we can improve as we move forward. We’re grateful to be a part of the growing community of B Corps doing right for people and the planet. We look forward to strengthening our positive impact on the people who make our products and the natural resources we depend on, and, as always, we’ll keep you updated along the way.

As we shared earlier, in an age where “sustainable” and “ethical” in the fashion industry have become as ambiguous as “organic” in the food and beverage industry, we believe that the importance of third party certification is more pertinent than ever. TRUST is critical between brands and consumers, and certifications like B Corp, Climate Neutral, etc., are a key part of maintaining this trust and holding brands accountable.

We encourage you to be bold. Help hold the fashion industry accountable by asking your favorite brands (as well as those who seem to do the most eco-friendly marketing) what 3rd party certifications and auditing they have in place to validate their claims.

If you have recommendations for how we can improve as a brand, please shoot us an email to support@nisolo.com, as we’d love to hear your feedback.

Together, let’s push the fashion industry in a more sustainable direction.

Thanks for tuning in.