IMPACT
We are passionate advocates for changing the way business is done and how supply chains are managed. At Fairware, we focus our internal efforts on responsible sourcing, justice, diversity, equity and inclusion, community impact, advocacy, and environmental responsibility. Collectively, these areas serve as our Impact Agenda to support sustainable manufacturing and responsible business practices. We work with clients to drive change in supply chains while promoting their brands and supporting them along their journey to sustainable impact.
Sustainability is more than having a few ‘green products’ in a merchandise assortment. It’s about how your merchandise lives up to your brand values and helps tell your story. If your brand has a good story, so should your promotional products. Our goal is to support our clients in making their merchandise matter.
We think about the impacts of the products we sell, their potential to change behaviours and how product selection can support more environmentally responsible products and ethical manufacturing practices.
Sustainability isn’t a sidebar for us, it’s what we do, all day, every day.
IMPACT REPORT
View our latest Impact Report to learn about our approach, actions, and goals in the five areas addressed by our Impact Agenda. This report holds us accountable, and we hope it inspires our clients, suppliers and community to join us on the journey to a more sustainable, viable, and fair future. Read on:
Fairware Impact Report 2022IMPACT AGENDA
This is our guide to using our business as a force for good in the world, and it covers these 5 areas of our business operations:
1) RESPONSIBLE PRODUCT SOURCING
Ensuring that the workers who make our products are treated fairly, their health and safety are a priority, and their workplaces meet or exceed international labour standards. Also, to ensure that the products we source meet international product safety standards and prioritize environmentally preferred materials.
- Sustainable materials research and knowledge are what set Fairware apart. Assessing the good from the bad (or the green from the greenwash) is a passion for us.
- We love to share insights with our clients and provide accurate information on recycled content, organic certifications and other relevant data. We survey all our suppliers to document their social and environmental programs.
- We maintain a network of decorators, distributors, and supplier partners across North America to minimize the carbon footprint and costs of shipping.
- Beyond providing research, we excel in helping link your sustainability priorities with your product selection. By helping your team select the most sustainable products for your promotional marketing efforts and corporate gifts – we can help you tell your story and animate your brand’s commitment to social and environmental responsibility.
- We even worry about what happens when things go wrong. Learn more about Fairware’s Merchandise End of Life Policy.
2) JUSTICE, DIVERSITY, EQUITY & INCLUSION
Ensuring fair treatment, access, opportunity, and advancement for all our team members and working to be an anti-racist organization in all that we do. The more diverse we are, the better we will be.
- As a team, we undertake training and learning on diversity and inclusion. An important piece on this journey has been looking at the challenges faced by indigenous peoples in Canada due to historical injustices. Understanding our role in Truth and Reconciliation is important to us.
- Our Co-Founder, Sarah White, is a member of the Presidents Group, a network of change-driven BC business leaders who champion more accessible, inclusive workplaces. The Presidents Group engages with employers and business owners around the province to improve employment outcomes for people with disabilities and create a more accessible consumer marketplace. They strive to make BC the most progressive province for employment for people with disabilities. Embracing an accessible and inclusive workplace is just good business.
- In addition to being a B Corp, Fairware is a certified Women-Owned and LGBTQ+ owned business.
3) COMMUNITY IMPACT
Ensuring we’re active participants in the communities where we operate by supporting volunteerism and being good corporate citizens. We’ve been a Certified Living Wage Employer since 2017.
- Our staff-led Impact Committee meets regularly to ensure we live up to our promise to be a great community partner.
- Fairware continues to have a long-term commitment to the Vancouver Street Soccer League (VSSL) through volunteer hours, donations of money and products.
- VSSL is a volunteer-run organization which reaches out to individuals who have been homeless, are currently homeless or are at risk of homelessness, as well as individuals who feel marginalized within their communities or are recovering from drug and alcohol addictions. We address these issues through inclusivity and soccer – believing we can enhance all our lives through the principles of fair play, community building, supportive partnerships, and health and safety.
4) CORPORATE ADVOCACY
Ensuring we use our position as business leaders to lobby and advocate for important social and environmental issues affecting our team, community, supply chain, and industry.
We’re not shy to use our voices to drive the change needed to build a better future. From supporting the Climate Strike to lending our name and voice to calls to action, if we believe in it, we’ll stand up for it. Our stance on not working with the fossil fuel industry is one example of how we walk our talk.
5) ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY
Ensuring our business practices and those of our supply chain partners support a healthy planet. Our focus is on Climate Impact and Zero Waste.
We need to decarbonize our business model and move fast. We know it won’t be easy and that we need to go beyond the ‘low-hanging’ fruit to implement meaningful tactics. Climate risk threatens not only our business but also our communities, our health, and our livelihoods through increased weather events, air pollution, and water scarcity (to name just a few).
We’re committed to halving our emissions from our baseline by 2030 and achieving Net Zero Emissions by 2040. In 2023, we committed to the UN Race to Zero Campaign and the SME Climate Hub and declared our Net Zero Climate Commitment. We’re measuring against our baseline of 2019.
You can learn more in our Impact Report, and our biggest focus is working with clients and suppliers to reduce the need for air shipping through better planning and education.
CERTIFICATIONS
CERTIFIED B CORPORATION
Fairware is a founding Canadian Certified B Corp member and, as such, Make Business a Force For Good. We became a B Corp in 2010 to prove our commitment to ethical sourcing and being an impact business. The B Corp’s rigorous certification process and the incredible community of business peers have helped guide us to improve our business, inside and out. Certified B Corporations are leaders in the global movement for an inclusive, equitable, and regenerative economy.
CERTIFIED WOMEN’S BUSINESS ENTERPRISE
As a women-led Canadian business, we received certification from WBE Canada. The group certifies businesses that are at least 51% owned, managed, and controlled by women, introduces them to opportunities with our government and corporate members, and provides best practice resources and training on how to do business with large organizations.
CERTIFIED LGBTQ+ BUSINESS
We have met all the criteria of a diverse-owned business, have been approved as a certified LGBTQ+ business enterprise, and can thus use the LGBTBE designation authorized by Canada’s 2SLGBTQI+ Chamber of Commerce.
CERTIFIED ECOVADIS SILVER
EcoVadis helps Fairware manage ESG risk and compliance, meet corporate sustainability goals, and drive impact at scale by guiding the sustainability performance improvement of your company and your value chain. In 2022, we achieved a silver rating with a score of 64/100, putting us in the 88th percentile of companies ranked.
LIVING WAGE FOR FAMILIES
Fairware became a Certified Living Wage Employer in 2017 to show that we recognize that paying a living wage is a long-term investment in community economic prosperity. We all benefit when we reduce poverty in our communities.
MEMBERSHIPS & COMMUNITY SUPPORT
COMMUNITY OF ACCESSIBLE EMPLOYERS
To further their understanding and commitment to inclusion, COO and Co-founder, Sarah White is a member of the Presidents Group, a network of change-driven BC business leaders who are champions for more accessible, inclusive workplaces. Fairware joined the group in 2017, looking to understand and learn how to succeed when hiring folks with barriers to employment.
RECIPROCITY ROAD
Fairware is a member alongside 11 other distributors, representing a unique cross-section of branded merchandise agencies across North America. Reciprocity Road believes in building Brand Good initiatives by supporting give-back experiences that strengthen brands, client relationships, and employee loyalty.
CLIMATE SMART
The Climate Smart Certification is for businesses to Measure (Carbon Footprint), Reduce (Emissions), and Leverage (how offsets work). Fairware has measured and verified our GHG Emissions with Climate Smart since 2010 and continues to work to understand and mitigate our climate impact.
VERITREE
veritree provides transparency and verification to the tree and kelp planting process through its dedicated data-driven restorative platform. We partnered with veritree in January 2023 and have since been planting 10 kelp for every order made with Fairware.
FAIR LABOR ASSOCIATION LICENSEE
As a Category C Licensee, we commit to the FLA Workplace Code of Conduct and the 10 FLA Principles of Fair Labor and Responsible Sourcing. Fair labour is good for people and good for business. That’s why we participate in the Fair Labor Association’s collegiate licensee program.
RESTORATIVE COALITION
Shortly after partnering with veritree, we joined their Restorative Coalition as a founding member. Joining other action-oriented and purpose-driven companies to embed nature restoration into business and contribute to the healing of our planet.
CLEAN CREATIVES
Joining the Clean Creatives project in 2022 signifies our official commitment to abstain from working with fossil fuel clients. The Pledge of Clean Creatives commits agencies, creatives, and strategists to refuse any future contracts with fossil fuel companies, trade associations, or front groups. This initiative demonstrates our dedication to securing a sustainable climate for the future.
UN GLOBAL COMPACT
As a Participant in the United Nations Global Compact, Fairware is committed to aligning strategies and operations with universal principles on human rights, labour, environment, and anti-corruption and taking actions that advance societal goals. These are the specific SDGs we’re working to address: #1 No Poverty, #3 Good Health and Well-Being, #5 Gender Equality, #8 Decent Work and Economic Growth, #10 Reduced Inequities, #12 Responsible Consumption and Production, #13 Climate Action, #17 Partnership for the Goals.
