b CORPS WE LOVE
Certified B Corporations are some of our go-to businesses for material & product sourcing as well as everyday lifestyle purchases. Before we dive in you may be wondering, “what is a B Corp?” It's a third-party certification that verifies businesses as balancing profits with purpose. Often confused, it is different from a Benefit Corporation. Here is the description from B Corp’s website:
“Society’s most challenging problems cannot be solved by government and nonprofits alone. The B Corp community works toward reduced inequality, lower levels of poverty, a healthier environment, stronger communities, and the creation of more high quality jobs with dignity and purpose. By harnessing the power of business, B Corps use profits and growth as a means to a greater end: positive impact for their employees, communities, and the environment.”
Here we have compiled some of our current favorite B Corporations that are using their businesses to do good. Still have holiday shopping left? Maybe you can find something from one of the brands below!
Design Brands
Highlight: Beautiful, unique light fixtures made in Brooklyn, NY, committed to reducing their carbon emissions and investing in their community.
Highlight: First and only completely PVC-free textile wallcovering company.
Minna Goods
Highlight: Ethical sourcing and fair wages for makers - their home goods are gorgeous!
Highlight: Commitment to material health, natural materials, and certified harmless textiles.
Minna Goods via Instagram
Home Goods & Gifts
Highlight: High quality products to help people enjoy and experience the outdoors with ambitious standards of giving back through philanthropy and volunteering locally and internationally.
Highlight: Marketplace filled with unique and creative gifts, experiences, homegoods and apparel. Just browsing on their site brings us joy!
Highlight: Helping consumers eliminate single-use plastics in their kitchen & cooking adventures with plant based & biodegradable materials. They also give back to planet greening efforts and their local community.
Highlight: Making it easy to purchase responsibly, Earth Hero is one of our go-to alternatives to Amazon. They make it easy to shop by category, brand or values.
Clothing & Textiles
Highlight: A workshop/studio that focuses on quilted clothing and objects designed around the human sense of touch. Everything is ethically made through artisan partners in India.
Highlight: On a mission “to keep the north cold”, this Minneapolis based clothing company gives back through climate change fighting organizations and carbon offsets to create climate positive outerwear.
Food & Drink
Highlight: An Oregon dairy co-op crafting delicious butter, ice cream, cheeses and more while supporting farmers, families, communities and the planet.
Highlight: Focused on giving back to their local community, reducing their planet impact and making really good beer, Lakefront Brewery is the first and only B Corp Certified brewery in Wisconsin. We highly recommend their Good Food Award Winning Fuel Cafe Stout for winter.
Highlight: A simplicity and transparency focused Minnesota cereal brand working to do better everyday. We have started many mornings with their delicious muesli!
Highlight: Another local Minneapolis food business, Peace Coffee started as a co-op with the goal to treat international Coffee farmers better. They’ve been roasting, packaging and delivering fair-trade, organic coffee for over 20 years, and although you can purchase their coffees nationwide, their local deliveries are 50% bicycle powered year round.
Peace Coffee via Instagram
We love the B Corp Certification because it’s a quick and easy way to feel good about buying from or supporting a business. This list is a small piece of the B Corp Business Directory. We highly recommend doing a search of your own when looking for a certain type of business or product. And of course, there are other businesses doing good everyday, you might just have to search beyond the certification to find out how.