Mulberry announced this week that it has received B Corp accreditation, stating that it achieved the certification “in recognition of our purpose-driven approach” and now joins “a global community of like-minded organizations seeking to work with transparency and with accountability.” The British fashion group joins the likes of Richemont-owned Chloé and French resale company Vestiaire Collective, as well as Patagonia, Aesop, footwear brands TOMS, Veja and Allbirds, Gap Inc.-owned Athleta, $1 billion Carlyle Group-based BeautyCounter, Khloe Kardashian’s Good American brand, and Kendall Jenner’s 818 Tequila brand, among others, all of which boast B Corp status.
It is clear that a growing number of companies, including in the fashion and luxury space, are angling to add B Corp to their credentials. To put it in perspective, in the last five years, the B Corp ranks have nearly tripled to more than 7,800 businesses worldwide, spanning over 160 industries and 92 countries, the Los Angeles Times reported in December.
> The B Corp. certification system, created and maintained by B Labs, “provides third-party authentication of a business’s social and environmental performance. Applying businesses can become a B Corp if their performance on five dimensions – governance, workers, community, the environment, and customers – exceeds a certain threshold and they adopt a legal structure that mandates stakeholder considerations, such as the Benefit Corporation form,” per Harvard Business Review.
