B Corp certification: it's in the bag!

Asphalte has just been awarded B Corp certification, and that's no mean feat!

To tell you the truth, we feel like Leo after his Oscar.

But we’ll try and find the right words nonetheless. What the certification means and the part it plays in Asphalte’s future.

In a nutshell, B Corp certification is an international organisation that recognises a company's good social and environmental practices.

The "B" stands for "Benefit for all". For the economic well-being of the company itself, of course, but also for its ecosystem, the people and the planet.

It is one of the most highly regarded certifications in the world and is obtained following an in-depth audit that generally lasts several years. There are less than 10,000 "B Certified®" companies worldwide, which gives you an idea of just how demanding it is.

It's a big deal, and your faithful sartorial suppliers now have a new shiny certification to show for their efforts.

As you may suspect, we're not the type to hang our awards on the wall like hunting trophies.

But we're particularly proud to have received this award, and here's why.

Since we started in 2016, we've been trying to do things in the best way possible. Clothes, mostly. In practical terms, this means that we strive to make them locally, with minimum impact, maximum dignity, and use noble fibres and quality natural materials.

More than an objective, it's an approach: We want to show that it's possible to create a clothing brand that is economically viable, has minimal environmental impact and great social responsibility. A healthy company that doesn't need to run its employees, its partners or the planet into the ground in order to grow.

And just as well, B Corp was created to bring together diverse companies across all sectors who share this vision in a way that’s relevant to their industry.

The idea is to combine pragmatism and idealism. To accelerate the ecological and social change by showing that another way is possible: An economy that benefits people and the living world rather than just profitability figures.

To be certified B Corp is to embody the dream of a fairer, more reasonable, more inclusive and more equitable system; and that seemed to be very Asphalte-compatible to us.

Here's the broad outline.

In 2021, we contacted B Corp to get to know them and understand the certification process. We quickly realised that it would take more than a few niceties and words to get this over the line. And so much the better.

As the months went by, we were asked to answer endless questionnaires (the irony), dig out hundreds of documents and provide ample information on our HR, our impact, our production chain, our logistics, and so on. It was a long, arduous, sometimes painful process, but we stuck at it.

Overall, the rating is based on five criteria:

In 2022 and 2023, we're still staying true to our transparency principle by showing B Corp's analysts everything Asphalte has under the bonnet. And we can tell you that they've looked at it with more scrutiny than your local garage does during your old banger’s MOT.

With endless back and forth, PDF after PDF, video after video, our application followed its course until this email dated 9 April 2024 announcing Asphalte was finally B Corp. certified.

3 years to join the 410 fellow certified French companies. For context, there are 4 million French companies out there so it’s quite a feat.

In practical terms, this means that we'll be able to put this famous logo on our website and some of our communications.

That's all well and good, but it's not going to solve the fashion industry’s big problems.

Nope, but it gives customers a good idea of what’s happening behind the scenes. And the more they opt for B Corp companies, the more change it will drive.

This certification means two things to us:

Even if they are not perfect, the indicators chosen by B Corp to rate companies have the benefit of being stringent and stable. The score we've been awarded is like a snapshot of Asphalte at a given time, offering an accurate picture of the main areas on which we need to continue improving. Soon, we'll be able to compare future results and understand our progress which is interesting for a company.

During the certification process, we spotted a number of areas that we felt could be improved. Now that we're part of the “B Corporation”, we'll be directly involved in developing it and making this certification even more rigorous, credible and valuable.

That's it. It was important for us to share the news with you, we hope it wasn’t too self-congratulatory. As you can see, we're working hard to do things in the best possible way, but we're well aware that this is only the beginning.

Sure, we're proud of this certification, but it’s certainly not an end in itself. It's not the finish line, just the beginning.

Now that we've got a list of things we can do better, you can be sure we'll be doing everything we can to do so. As for our overall objective, it hasn't changed since we started in 2016: to create a caring company that makes ever better clothes and is part of the environmental solution, not its problems.

Thank you for your time and your loyalty, by definition we couldn’t do this without you. We've got a long way to go, but you know what they say: together, we go further.

ASPHALTE