Community Spotlight: NoNetz

Patti Messina of NoNetz, a Brooklyn-based swimwear startup that produces anti-chafe swimwear for men and boys, believes it’s good business to be a business committed to good. Above all, the company defines success in terms of both profit and community and environmental impact.

Why join the movement?

“I joined this movement because I was looking for ways to improve my business; we are small, and we wanted to do the absolute right thing. We’re not out for profit at any cost. We walk a very fine line, and we didn’t listen to advisors when they said to offshore our manufacturing. It’s about knowing your business and what you stand for. To us, it’s not just about how much money you make, but how many people you help along the way.”

Pride points

“We are trying to minimize our carbon footprint and have gone to great lengths to manufacture within the U.S.,” says Patti. “We source our fabric by purchasing scraps stored in American warehouses across the country, and our swimwear liners are made in North America. We’ve had to sacrifice short-term profit to do the right thing, but it has been worth it to us.”

Although she received criticism for prizing values over supposedly “smart” business decisions, Patti’s efforts to be sustainable and supportive of the community are starting to produce dividends.

“By the end of 2016, we will be debt-free and profitable, and we did it our way.”

Improvements and goals

The Best for NYC Challenge has helped Patti improve the employee experience and look to make additional changes in the future.

“We had no idea we were underpaying some of our employees. After we got our results back from the Challenge, we realized some of our wages were below living wage. We have since changed that. We are also going to improve how we vet our vendor supply chain. We are even creating new questions to ask based on ethical trades practices that fit our size and goals, and getting our vendors to sign off on responsible practices.”