Beginning Boutique’s commitment is simple; we want to be better and do better, for the planet, for the people, and for the future.
Since launching our sustainability in equality initiative in July 2020, we have continued working extremely hard behind the scenes at BBHQ to do better and want to share what we have achieved and put in place so far. We understand that we have a long way to go, but we are committed to continue to do better, and are putting in place the policies and processes which will help us get there!
FOR THE PLANET
Beginning Boutique is committed to doing better for the planet. We are committed to working towards greater sustainability practices, and being completely transparent whilst doing so. This means reviewing our current position and impact on our environment. We are passionate about ensuring that the role we play contributes positively to future generations.
If you’ve placed an order with us over the past two and a half years, you would have seen our amazing vibrant pink mailers. In 2019, we successfully changed over our parcel packaging to 100% compostable materials. We are on a mission and committed to ensuring all aspects of your package are Australian made, compostable and carbon neutral.
It is part of our large steps forward to significantly reduce our carbon footprint. Dispatching parcels out to all of you is such a huge part of our business, so we want to do it as environmentally friendly as possible!
We actively encourage our customers to locate your local composter via https://www.aora.org.au/find-a-composter
Tip: Our cotton bags are great to reuse in your luggage or storage for garments at home!
Beginning Boutique has already made changes internally towards implementing recycling and upcycling programs. We believe in minimising waste products where we can as well as upcycling and reusing items where possible. This helps mitigate waste products reaching landfill.
Beginning Boutique actively engages in upcycling excess and old stock on a frequent basis, to ensure that our garments can be repurposed to people in need. Beginning Boutique has partnered with programs such as Thread Together; a company who focus on sourcing new and excess basic clothing items from fashion brands, in a bid to redistribute to those in need within our local communities. Our donations to the Endeavour Foundation and Link Vision have enabled their organisation to create opportunities for people with disabilities.
So far, our donations have saved over 3,680 kilograms of clothing from reaching landfill and helped hundreds of members of our community who need these items the most. That’s equivalent to over 13,800 garments!
We’ve partnered with Greenfleet to help us minimise our carbon footprint and ensure we can continue to deliver you your fave outfits without harming the planet in the process!
In 2021 we successfully sequestered over 8,000 tonnes of CO2. Which is so major and we’re so proud of doing that! We have so much more to do to reach carbon neutral status, so touch base back here to come along on this journey with us! We will ensure to update this page regularly.
Fun Fact: over 8,000 tonnes of CO2 is approximately equivalent to the production of 325,000 t-shirts, OR taking 1,883 cars off the road, OR 10,087 domestic flights, OR the emissions from 331 persons living in Australia for one whole year!! How cool!
FOR THE PEOPLE
Our people - employees, customers, suppliers, models, influencers and followers - are the community that makes BB what it is today. We have always been dedicated to putting our people first, promoting a safe space for communication and expression as well as equality and diversity for all.
Beginning Boutique invests in our employees by supplying the appropriate training and education needed to encourage future growth and development. Our team is currently based across three different locations in Australia and meets the requirements of Fair Work Australia. We encourage our employees to have a healthy work-life balance as well as providing an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) to support our employees with their mental health. Beginning Boutique does not tolerate discrimination or racism of any kind and encourages equal opportunities and diversity within the workspace.
We work collaboratively with a variety of talented models, influencers and brand ambassadors. We vow to continue to represent diversity across our designs, website, socials, EDMs and campaigns. Striving to be inclusive in our search for brand ambassadors is important to us, as we believe this is the core of who we are as a brand. At Beginning Boutique, we are committed to transparency and authenticity in our representation. As we believe in celebrating real beauty, we do not engage in any editing practices that alter the true appearance of our models, content creators or customers.
We recognise our ability to give back to our community and believe it is so important that we continue to help those in need where we can. We pledge to donate 1% of our annual profits to go to those who need it most. We will also be dedicating space on our social channels to our charity partners to give them a new platform to educate and inspire others. Head over to our Charity Partners page to find out more here
FOR THE FUTURE
We are always striving towards new goals to do better. We aim to reach our 2025 goal to make our BBHQ completely carbon neutral. We pledge to implement the following policies and procedures, to be transparent with our People, and to provide updates when progress has been made. We are committed to doing better and will be taking small and large steps forward to successfully implement this.
Our BBHQ employees are committed to this sustainability journey with us and pledge to do better in 2022 and onwards. We are committed to reducing our carbon emissions in all aspects. We are currently in the process of reducing and removing all single-use plastics. Beginning Boutique will be moving to purchasing and using biodegradable options only. This includes reviewing all of our office supplies. Our BBHQ has already moved to using recycled paper, however we endeavor to move to a paperless office. The majority of our processes and systems are already electronically accessible!
BBHQ is conscious of its electricity usage and switched over to green energy at the end of 2018. We were able to do one step better and install solar power at our warehouse! We plan to implement new ways to monitor and reduce electricity consumption for our computers and warehouse processes.
You might have noticed that all our 9.0 Swim collections drops now include recycled fabrics and are tagged with the BB Conscious badge! How cool! We’ve been working with our suppliers to ensure you continue to receive the best quality that is kinder to our environment.
We are also working towards more sustainable options in our BB Exclusive (own-brand) using more natural fibres in apparel and eco friendly metals in accessories. Giving you, our amazing customers, the products you know and love with a conscious mindset!
Beginning Boutique is also committed to representing all our customers by offering a wider range of sizes and fits across our products which can now be seen across all our channels. More BB Babes, yasss!
Beginning Boutique has built strong relationships with our own-brand suppliers over the years and we intend to continue to do so! We are working on a major project to ensure that all of our BB Exclusive suppliers continue to be socially, ethically and environmentally compliant.
Beginning Boutique strives to continuously educate our People on environmental and social issues, and take actions to make appropriate changes to do better. With COVID-19 impacting our ability to get out safely into the community and be physically involved, we have successfully been able to host a series of keynotes in the office with Minus18 for IDAHOBIT, Stars Foundation for NAIDOC Week, Greenfleet, Beyond Blue for Mental Health Week, R U Ok Day, and International Women’s Day with our inspiring female-CEO, Sarah Timmerman, and girl boss, Jacqui Toumbas. We look forward to many more opportunities to gain education on social topics super important to BB and our key values.
