Orba gains B-Corp accreditation In record time

Kiwi eco footwear start-up Orba, creator of a world-first biodegradable sneaker, has become a Certified B Corporation, within just months of launching.

To achieve the certification, businesses must meet the highest social, environmental, transparency and accountability standards, with only 82 businesses in New Zealand gaining the accreditation to date.

Orba co-founder and sustainability manager Gillian Boucher (pictured above) says the certification process was extremely rigorous, with an impact assessment including over 200 questions on governance, workers, community, environment and customers.

“The responses to these questions determine the areas in which a business has the greatest positive impacts, and the whole thing is third-party verified to ensure transparency and reliability,” she says.

“The minimum score required is 80 points, with the average for NZ companies being 81. Orba scored 85.9 points, which is outstanding for a start-up, and we are absolutely thrilled.”

Gillian says Orba was able to achieve the rare accreditation in such a short time because their whole founding team has been committed from the start to working to solve the problem of pollution in the footwear and fashion industries. 

“The concept of being a “business for good” flowed from that, not just about pollution, but in every sphere of operations,” she says.

As sustainability manager, Gillian was tasked with putting sustainable practices at the core foundations of the company’s decision-making and overall business model. She says being a start-up business meant they had the opportunity to implement good practices from the beginning.

“When I started looking at B-Corp requirements, I realised that a lot of criteria, such as a business sustainability framework, a living wage for all employees and implementing transparent and sustainable supply chain management were already established and embedded into our business.

“I think more mature businesses would find changing long-established internal practices and management structures to meet B-Corp criteria more challenging.”

By becoming a certified B Corporation, Orba is making a public commitment to their customers that they have the highest standards when it comes to sustainable business practices, making positive social and environmental impacts with every pair of Orba shoes that are made. They join a small but thriving community of Certified B-Corp companies in New Zealand, including names such as Kathmandu and Ecostore, that put sustainability at the core of their business.

www.orbashoes.eco