Sustainable Practices

We are thrilled to announce that Mondetta, our parent company, is now a Certified B Corporation™! Certified B Corporations™, B Corps™ for short, are for-profit companies dedicated to using business as a force for good. Now that we’ve reached our goal of becoming a Certified B Corporation™, the work doesn’t stop here. We are committed to improving our score in the B Impact Assessment and expanding our approach to sustainability across all of our platforms. In addition, we are proud to announce that 80% of the Spring 2021 collection is certified sustainable – our most ecofriendly collection yet!

In our commitment to responsible fashion, we are rethinking, restructuring and improving upon the way we conduct business at every touchpoint, placing sustainability and ethical stewardship at the core of everything we do.

Our goal is to reduce our environmental footprint by minimizing waste, using sustainable fabrics and implementing ecofriendly practices as we strive to reach the highest level of social and environmental responsibility. We recognize that there is a long way to go for our company and for the clothing industry at large but remain unwavering in our commitment to fostering positive change.

We believe in the importance of transparency and accountability, which is why we have decided to start publishing a yearly sustainability report, starting in 2021. It is important for our customers to know where we currently stand, what strides we are making and where we want to go – as this is a journey that we must take together. Follow the Sustainability section of our website for important news and sign up to our email list to receive our report and progress updates along the way.

Going beyond the final product, we understand that sustainability and responsible stewardship must be incorporated into every aspect of our business to truly achieve the goals we’ve set.

As part of our overall mission, we are taking steps towards big change at our head office and warehouse in Winnipeg, Canada.

Head Office

Energy Efficiency

We use LED lighting and Energy Star-rated appliances in our office space and warehouse.

By using these efficient alternatives, our lighting it is estimated to use at least 75% less energy, and last 25 times longer than the traditional incandescent option.

Internal Paper Saving

We have a recycling program for all office paper usage and by diligently tracking and reporting our monthly paper consumption and encouraging staff to “go digital”, we were able to reduce our 2019 yearly consumption of paper by 34%. 2020 saw a dramatic decrease in paper usage as our staff transitioned to a work-from-home setting in response to the global pandemic.

We continuously work to reduce excessive paper consumption by:

• collecting all wastepaper for recycling or reuse.
• changing to paper made from recycled fiber whenever possible.
• changing to paper made without a chlorine finish whenever possible.
• selecting papers with fibers from responsibly managed sources whenever possible.
• purchasing papers from environmentally committed and transparent manufacturers whenever possible.

Our Team

We believe that diversity breeds creativity and that sentiment is reflected in our team. Our company founders are first-generation immigrants to Canada, coming here as refugees. This experience has helped inform our staffing mandate, whereby inclusion and acceptance is at the core of our workforce.

• Over 30% of our workforce identify as a racial or ethnic minority.
• Over 40 different nationalities are represented in our workforce.
• Over 50% of our managers identify as female.
• Over 70% of our workforce identify as female.
• Over 75% of our executive team identity as a visible minority.

Employee Benefits

What sets us apart is our people and we know the importance of investing in them.

• All full-time employees are provided a robust, employer-paid benefits package with full health benefits.
• Our flex time program allows employees the ability to modify their working hours to best fit their schedule and family obligations.

Career Growth

In an industry where often, the only constant is change, we believe our staying power is largely attributed to our dedicated team of talented individuals. We are passionate about investing in our employees’ development and supporting them to reach their professional goals. We believe in providing training opportunities and promoting from within whenever possible because when our staff succeeds, we all succeed.

Giving Back

The Mondetta Charity Foundation (MCF) was created to give back to the countries our founders are originally from and expand the organization’s philanthropic efforts on a global scale. The Foundation supports a primary school in Kampala, Uganda and an orphanage in neighbouring Kenya. Furthermore, 1% of all MPG sales are donated to the MCF’s initiatives in East Africa.

Additionally, the cities largest foodbank; Winnipeg Harvest, is located next door to our head office. This vital foodbank provides much-needed assistance to thousands of under-served members of our city, especially within in the downtown core community. In addition to regular donations, members of our staff volunteer with the Winnipeg Harvest community garden program to supply fresh produce for those in need. To save water for irrigation purposes, we have installed rain barrels to collect and reuse water for the garden.

Garment Production

How We Design

We are proud that 100% of our clothing is designed and tested in Canada at our headquarters in Winnipeg. We are pleased to be able to provide a major source of industry jobs within the city while supporting the local economy.

While our clothing is manufactured overseas, we believe that it is equally important to take care of the people who make our clothing. That’s why we ensure each of our manufacturing partners are committed to the highest levels of social compliance, alongside environmentally conscious production.

Superior Quality

Our styles are designed to go the distance. Using the highest quality fabrics, finishings and manufacturing processes, our finished products are designed to last, maintaining its integrity wear after wear and wash after wash. This means that our pieces work into your wardrobe for years to come and less clothing ends up in landfills.

Samples

All sample garments are sold locally to prevent apparel from reaching landfills and proceeds from those sales are donated to charity.

Our out-of-date fabric samples are donated to a local art program to be reused for a variety of projects.

Footwear purchased for seasonal photoshoots are reused or donated to a local charity.

Hangtags

To reduce the number of hangtags we produce each season, we have amalgamated essential product information onto one tag, wherever possible, eliminating multiple tags per item. The information deemed non-essential was removed from hangtags and can now be found online, conveniently listed on each item’s product page.

This decision has resulted in a nearly 50% reduction in our hangtag production.

Currently, all of our hangtags are FSC® (Forest Stewardship Council) certified. Dedicated to promoting responsible forestry, this designation ensures the paper product used to create our hangtags come from responsible sources and have been verified to meet FSC’s strict environmental and social standards.

In addition, we are sourcing recycled materials for hangtags whenever possible and are continuously looking into sustainable alternatives. We are proud to have met our goal (by Fall 2021) to use 100% recycled post-consumer materials for all our hangtags.

Packaging

We are excited to announce that we met our previous goal (by Fall 2021), that all of our polybag packaging is now made from recycled post-consumer materials. Currently, our large, tri-branded polybags – which are used to contain individually wrapped items while in transit – are made from recycled materials. However, since we still require individual plastic bags – which we call polybags, to package individual items, these plastic bags have been replaced with 100% recycled post-consumer materials. We are offsetting some of the outlying impact by recycling any additional polybags received by the warehouse through a special program with our waste contractor and TerraCycle®. This program ensures all polybags are properly recycled and repurposed, rather than going directly to a landfill.

If your city or community does not have curbside options for recycling polybags, you are encouraged to do the following:

Find Local Recycling Programs

Most grocery store chains will accept polybags for their recycling programs. Be sure to inquire with your local grocer and drop off your bags while grocery shopping, to reduce the environmental impact.

Learn About TerraCycle®

TerraCycle® is a specialty recycling service that operates in 20 countries, including Canada and the United States. They believe that nearly everything we touch can be recycled and collect polybags and typically non-recyclable items through innovative recycling platforms.

Learn more about the platform and see a list of typically non-recyclable items that can be recycled in your community at the link below:

Reuse

There are a variety of useful ways to reuse polybags in all aspects of your life. Here are some top tips from our team:

For Travel:

• Use them to store footwear while traveling
• Use them to store dirty laundry while traveling
• Store in your purse pockets and use to cover your purse/briefcase etc. when unexpected weather strikes

For the Household:

• Use them as liners for smaller garbage bins
• Use as a protector for your tablet or phone when you want to read or watch a show in the bathtub
• Use to collect leftover slivers from soap bars and when the bag is full, you can melt the pieces together to create a new bar of soap

For the Garden:

• Use to cover small pots to create a mini greenhouse and help plants sprout
• Use to create starter pots for plants. Just poke a few holes in the bottoms of the bags, fill with soil and plant your seeds
• Cut the bottom off a couple of bags, then slide up your legs to protect your knees from getting dirty when weeding the garden
• If you think an early frost is coming on, cover fragile plants with plastic bags to protect them from damage

Have tips to share on how you reuse polybags?

Please reach out to us by emailing customerservice@mpgsport.com with the subject line: How I Reuse Polybags.

You’ll be automatically entered to win a gift card and your idea could be added to our website!

E-Commerce

It’s estimated that e-commerce uses approximately 30% less energy than traditional brick-and-mortar retail.

This statistic is based on a Carnegie Mellon University study that found “e-commerce delivery uses less primary energy and produces less CO2 emissions than traditional retailing…Overall, e-commerce had about 30% lower energy consumption and CO2 emissions compared to traditional retail.”

We’re proud that our direct-to-customer online business contributes to this reduction in energy and non-renewable resources.

Photography

This season we amplified our approach to sustainability and ethical practices by shooting all ecommerce photography locally and in-house while destination photography was shot on location using local talent only. This eliminated the need for travel, reducing our environmental footprint and safeguarding health and wellness while supporting our global community.

Inclusive Representation

We believe that representation is important, and diversity is beautiful. That’s why we ensure our models represent a wide range of ages, body types and ethnicities. We know our customers represent a diverse group of women and men from all walks of life and we believe that our visual representation should reflect that.

In addition, we believe that health and wellness come in a variety of shapes and sizes and that fitness should be celebrated and accessible by all. That’s why we offer inclusive sizing, from XS to 3X, designed to look amazing and outperform on every body.

Social Activism

The fashion industry and social justice movements have always been closely tied and as such, we are always on the pulse of ever-evolving world issues, current events and social movements. We are proud to be an inclusive and equal opportunity company with a strong commitment to social responsibility. These values are reflected in our corporate activism polices such as our companywide paid holiday to observe JuneTeenth and Aboriginal Peoples Day.

We know that the observance of these important holidays will look different for each employee but our desire is to allow each person the time to focus on reflection, education and advocacy, while continuing important conversations on racial inequalities that remain deeply rooted into the fabric of our society.

Let’s Keep the Conversation Going

We want to hear from you! We’re always looking for ways to improve and some of the best ideas come from our customers.

Please drop us a line with any questions or comments below

We always ensure your feedback reaches the right team and promptly reply to every inquiry.

We greatly appreciate your loyalty and are thrilled that you’re coming along with us on our journey towards sustainability and B Corporation certification. Thank you for caring – we can’t do this alone!