Australian fashion brand Outland Denim has claimed a revised B Corporation score of 160.2. This is a jump of 43% from its maiden score of 111.5 in 2018, following a rigorous recertification process that takes place every three years.
B Corp certification is assessed across five categories – governance, workers, community, the environment, and customers. Organisations are required to meet high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability to achieve certification, and must meet or exceed a score of 80.
There are currently 5,000 certified B Corps across 79 countries, 154 industries, and over 400,000 workers. Overall, around 200,000 businesses globally have taken the assessment, with an average score of 50.9. The average Australian business scores 83.2.
Outland Denim became the first Australian denim label to become B Corp certified in 2018, and the second denim brand globally to be certified.
“After three especially challenging years of trade, this news was like all our Christmases coming at once,” Outland Denim founding CEO James Bartle (pictured) said.
“Our team has worked incredibly hard since our inception to create a positive impact model for the fashion industry, and importantly for the vulnerable people we employ, and this is a hugely encouraging result.”
Each Outland Denim garment is made in the brand’s vertically integrated production and finishing facility in Cambodia, which was founded to offer holistic support, training and employment to young women who have experienced exploitation.
The company said it utilises water and energy saving technologies, sustainable, vegan-friendly raw materials, and biodegradable packaging. Last year, it launched a batch of ‘clay-dyed denim’.
B Lab Australia and New Zealand CEO Andrew Davies praised Outland Denim’s new result.
“Their mission-driven work of enhancing the lives of some of the world’s most vulnerable people in their supply chain and reducing the environmental impact of denim production is a strong example of how the global B Corp movement is changing our economic system for the better,” Davies said. “We encourage more businesses in the fashion industry and beyond to follow their lead.”
In 2022, Outland Denim was recognised as a B Corporation Best for the World™ honouree in the area of Community, claiming its third Best for the World™ title.
Best for the World™ identifies the B Corps whose verified B Impact Scores across community, customers, environment, governance, and workers rank in the top 5% of all B Corps in their corresponding size group.
As well as reaching a score of 80 or more, businesses must also make a legal commitment by changing their corporate governance structure to be accountable to all stakeholders and exhibit transparency by allowing information about their performance measured against B Lab’s standards to be publicly available.