One & All - 2022 impact report review

When I listened to Donald Moore (Chair of One & All) speaking on the Little Bit Radical podcast, I knew I needed to review One & All’s impact report as part of this series.

I was also excited to read this report because school uniform is something that bothers me and that I’ve posted about on LinkedIn before.

👍🏻 3 things I like...

1. DEMONSTRATE THAT BEING ‘GOOD’ MAKES COMMERCIAL SENSE

“We know that it’s possible to do good and be successful, because our own performance proves it.”

They talk about how they started their journey towards B Corp / better business in 2009 when the business was struggling. And share the positive impact it’s had on customer satisfaction, sales, employee morale.

“We’ve achieved year-on-year growth for the past decade. These are compelling results for anyone who thinks sustainability is just the latest buzzword.”

2. CHILD LABOUR CASE STUDIES

They share two specific examples of where they identified cases of child labour and how they dealt with these. Having spent time working in international development, I particularly appreciate that they realised the solution isn’t as simple as banning child labour / letting these people go. They took the time to understand the humans behind the problem and recognise this when developing solutions.

3. GIVING WATER FILTERS TO BANGLADESHI WORKERS

They provide free water filters to workers in their Bangladesh partner manufacturer.

What I particularly like is that they can talk about the number given out as well as the impact on sickness, doctor visits and medical cost expenditure. i.e. actual impact measures. 

And it’s easy to see how those figures are also beneficial to the business from a commercial perspective.

❓3 questions it raises

1. IS UNIFORM MORE SUSTAINABLE THAN NO UNIFORM?

This is a question I’ve grappled with as a parent, especially one who didn’t have uniform at secondary school and felt this helped us all develop our own character and style.

I often wonder if it would be better for my sons to just have a handful of outfits that they wear out rather than two different sets of clothes and shoes.

2. DO THEY THINK ABOUT CLEANING AND REPAIR WHEN DESIGNING UNIFORM?

Do they influence the colours / materials uniform is made of so that it’s easier to keep it clean and repair it?

This links to something else I’ve posted about before – why do so many schools have white / pale coloured shirts?!

3. WILL THEIR RECYCLING PROGRAMME JUST APPLY TO THEIR UNIFORM?

They are developing a way of collecting, recycling and repurposing preloved uniform. I’m curious whether it will only apply to their manufactured uniform or to any items of uniform.


***

You can read the report for yourself here and let me know what you think.

And I’d encourage you to listen to Donald Moore’s podcast interview from July – search for A Little Bit radical on your podcast platform, the podcast from Standing on Giants.


If you’re preparing to write your own impact report, you might find my FREE Impact Reporting Roadmap helpful:

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