FatFace, the British fashion and lifestyle retailer, has improved its B Corp score from 80.4 to 89.1 following a successful recertification process.
The announcement comes after the retailer hosted a panel with Bianca Foley, Sustainability Consultant, Podcaster and Presenter, Hannah Reiss, Head of Comms at B Corp, Nicola Arkell-Reed, Co-founder of fellow B Corp Beeble, and Nick Stevenson, Trading Director at FatFace, to mark B Corp Month.
The discussion focused on FatFace and Beeble’s journeys to certifying as B Corps, the importance of being part of the B Corp community, and the changing B Corp standards. To meet these developments, FatFace is launching a new internal B Corp committee – Gen B’s –which will play a critical role in shaping the business’s next ESG strategy.
Nick Stevenson, trading director at FatFace, said: “We are so pleased to have improved our score across the board, with sourcing raw materials gaining the most points. Being a B Corp means constantly evolving and improving. With new standards coming into effect, our first step is understanding the changes and mapping out how we’ll meet them when we recertify in 2027, and our new Gen B working group will play a crucial role in this.”
FatFace has been a B Corp-certified business since April 2023. Following its acquisition by Next in October 2023, the retailer successfully recertified in 2024. It has also aligned its supplier code of conduct with Next’s Code of Practice, based on the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) Base Code.
New data released from B Lab UK highlights the strong performance of purpose-led businesses:
- Between 2023 and 2024, small and medium-sized UK B Corps experienced a 23.2% increase in turnover, outpacing the national average of 16.8%
- Employee headcount among UK B Corps grew by 9.6%, compared to a national decline of 0.5%
- UK B Corps are also 104% more likely to only use renewable energy within their operations
Hannah Reiss, head of communications at B Lab UK, said: “B Corp Month is an opportunity to celebrate the remarkable strides made by B Corps while recognising the ongoing journey towards greater impact. In the UK, there are now over 2,500 B Corps of many sizes and sectors, spanning every region – each one con