SUSTAINABILITY
Today's trending word is sustainability.
No matter how big or small a company you look at, you're bound to come across their corporate responsibility promises and programs. And that's a great thing, because we're all called to "cultivate and protect" nature and the wider creation!
According to Op Media, responsibility includes the following areas: environmental responsibility, social responsibility, and economic responsibility.
At Shop, values and mission are at the heart of everything we do. The company was born out of social and societal responsibility ; our entrepreneur Mimmi also runs the Blooming Desert Africa organization, to which 35% of our profits go. The proceeds help former child soldiers in East Africa through education and at the same time support the surrounding community through changing programs. We take social responsibility seriously and are passionate about seeing change both near and far!
The picture below shows Blooming Desert Africa trainees learning brick making and masonry in the organization's vocational training program in December-January 2023.
Environmental responsibility is reflected in the preference for Finnish companies in purchasing supplies and in reducing the logistical burden in this way. The clothes are made by local tailors in Finland and the jewelry is made with Finnish craftsmanship. The packaging materials are recyclable and the emphasis is on "zero waste" thinking even when manufacturing the products (for example, surplus fabrics are used to make other products).
Economic responsibility creates the foundation for other areas. Although we are a charitable brand, our responsibility is also to make a good financial result. According to Op Media (2021), this is achieved through responsible means when business operations are transparent, and we at Shop believe in this!
We are also a member of the Finnish Work Association and the members are committed to the following principles:
- create jobs in Finland, strengthening both economic and social well-being.
- ensure the occupational safety of employees and support their skills, well-being, equality and diversity in the work community.
- identify the most significant environmental impacts and emission sources of the operation and implement measures to minimize their harmful effects.
- take into account the responsibility of production and operations, including in procurement and the subcontracting chain.
We also received the Finnish Federation of Work's Social Enterprise label in May 2023! The label indicates that the company was founded for a social purpose and the majority of its profits are used to promote a social goal. We are very proud and happy about this recognition, and we will continue to focus on developing our operating methods, finding responsible partners and being transparent about the origin of our products.
As our customer, you can be sure that we work wholeheartedly to keep sustainability at the center of everything!
