A first-time Best for the World honoree in 2015, Oliberté rocketed onto the Overall and Communities lists with scores of 138 and 81, respectively. The first Fair Trade certified shoe manufacturer, Oliberté produces every single pair of shoes at their factory in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia with an eye towards workers’ rights and sustainable employement. But why are they a Certified B Corporation? Watch this two-minute video to find out.
Tal Dehtiar, Founder: “Oliberté is the first premium footwear brand all made in Sub-Saharan Africa, and we’re also the owners of the first Fair Trade certified shoe factory in the world at our factory in Ethiopia.
We show that not only can we create fairly traded footwear, but we can create some of the best premium footwear, all made by people working very hard in the middle of Ethiopia and other countries where we source our products.
In footwear, the only place where you ever save money is on labor, and so most companes go to where the cheapest labor pool is, and sometimes that creates some really negative effects. We went out there and said, ‘Not only are we not gonna save money, but we’re gonna make a committed effort to making sure we’re taking care of our workers and making sure their families are taken care of.’
We became a B Corp because for us, it was that smart third-party verification that we weren’t just being a smart business, but a smart ethical, social company. If you really do believe in taking care of yourself, your employees, your products, and the world around you, there really is no other certification that makes sense outside of your business registration.
Being part of the B Corp organization means you’re part of a network that’s trying to change the face of commerce around the world. The more companies that join, the more we will be able to talk to governments and officials about making real change and creating real impact.
Oliberté is one of only a thousand B Corps today, but there’s hundreds of thousands of businesses out there and you know, if we can get even a few more of them on board, some pretty amazing things are gonna happen.”
You can learn more about Oliberté on their B Corp profile or website, or get to know the rest of the Best for Communities and Overall honorees.
