Behind the B: A Behind the Scenes Look Inside What Makes Us a B Corp
What's Behind the B? Being a B Corp means valuing your workers, customers, environment, and community as much as your profits (or more!) — and having corporate governance that keeps those values in place. We've been verified by B Corp through a rigorous assessment, which is broken down into five categories: Environment, Governance, Community, Workers, and Customers. This month, we're diving deeper into each category to detail how our core values are aligned with B Corp standards. However, becoming B Corp certified is only the beginning - we are constantly reviewing our impact assessment and looking for ways to further improve.
Environment
Sustainability is an important aspect of the B Corp assessment, which includes metrics such as product materials and design, resource usage, product end of life waste, source reduction, packaging materials, and toxin reduction. Our business model bakes in sustainability as we lean on our demand-driven supply chain that includes sustainable processes (ex. solar powered factories) and materials (ex. organic cotton, up-cycled fabric, and natural dyes). We look for suppliers who do things differently – especially those that are kinder and gentler to this earth.
Governance
The governance category evaluates our ethics, accountability, decision-making, and transparency, as a whole. We continuously strive to have the greatest impact, both ethically and environmentally, that we can and we share this information with our stakeholders, employees and the public. With 'transparency' and 'ethically made' as foundational elements of our core values, sharing our impact is something on which we're always laser-focused.
Community
The community category evaluates our civic engagement, supplier vetting and representation, policy advocacy, supply chain transparency, etc. This is about looking outwards and looking inwards. Empowering underrepresented suppliers and vetting each maker prior to sourcing is a key component of what we do at TTM. We believe that everyone deserves an opportunity to have fulfilling, safe, and fairly compensated work.
Workers
We tend to focus on the dignity of work for our partner artisans, suppliers, and garment workers. But what about our own employees? This category focuses on metrics like employee satisfaction, salary and benefits, and training. We offer all full-time employees healthcare, retirement plans, and vacation days. This year, the cultivation of our culture committee has resulted in even more employee opinions being heard and implemented. Having scheduled social activities and community events means more time for our team to de-stress and refocus!
Customers
The customer category focuses on client feedback, stewardship, product testing, and privacy. As a turnkey supply chain solution, we want to make it as easy as possible for clients to grow sustainably and ethically. We strive to include our clients in the process as much as possible to ensure their custom ideas come to life, which is why we're working to expand our technology platform to include client-facing elements for seamless communication!
We’re looking forward to a future where all business is a force for good. That’s why we’re proud to be part of the worldwide B Corp community, and we want you to join us on the journey. So get #BehindtheB! Let’s start an open conversation, and do great things together.
