Patine is a mission-driven company: mini explanatory guide

Patine has become a “mission-driven company”.

The result of teamwork that began in April 2021 to formulate our reason for being as precisely as possible, which we are now revealing to you!

Patine's mission: To make possible and offer a new brand model that reconciles fashion desires, humans and nature.

We explain why we did it, what it means, why we believe it's necessary for any company that wants to be responsible…and why it's not enough on its own to be a responsible company :)

This article, designed as a mini-guide, may be useful to entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs who are planning a career change this summer. Perhaps it will also be helpful to young, up-and-coming brands, our 531 shareholder-customers, or employees looking for a truly fulfilling job… Happy reading, everyone!

What does “mission-driven company” mean?

This is a very recent French legal framework. Introduced by the PACTE law in 2019, it allows companies whose development serves a social and/or environmental mission to publicly affirm their commitments. As of June 2022, there were approximately 650 mission-driven companies in France…out of a total of 3.82 million companies.#happyfew.

What does this imply?

Clearly, this adds some constraints, but thankfully they're useful :) There are 3 legal obligations:

• The company's purpose must be clearly defined and included in its articles of association.

• to link it to objectives in terms of environmental and/or social impact

• establish a mission committee that ensures they remain a priority.

At Patine, our reason for being“to make possible and propose a new brand model that reconciles fashion desires, humans and nature”is therefore officially enshrined in our company statutes alongside the four environmental and social objectives associated with this mission. Our mission committee meets twice a year to 1) determine the annual objectives related to our mission and define the indicators to be monitored, and 2) evaluate the achievement of these objectives. This committee is composed of five members external to Patine and one employee.

How to define one's mission?

We don't have a magic formula, but we do recommend taking several weeks for this step. We've formalized 5 principles based on our own experience.

• Take several days to jot down, even in a somewhat disorganized way, why you do things, what excites you, how you want to be useful. This will serve as the basis for a more structured workshop later to build your mission.

• The founder(s) of a socially responsible brand organically carry the mission. But by working on the formal mission with the entire team, it can be taken further.

• List all environmental and social actions already undertaken, then isolate those that have had the most impact and meaning for team members. If you have already conducted a carbon footprint assessment, this will also help you prioritize and assign an objective value to your actions.

• Once the mission statement is written, put it through "quality testing". A purpose statement must be robust; we explain this point just below.

• Don't hesitate to seek guidance. We collaborated with our friend Thibaut Ledunois from the impact studio ethiwork. He knew us well and pushed us to our limits.

What does a Robust mission mean?

- This is a mission that will last over time. From year to year the objectives may evolve, but the mission does not change.

- This mission is just as important as the company's growth and profitability objectives.

What are Patine's environmental and social objectives?

Our first mission committee meeting took place in April 2022 and highlighted the importance of having targeted and achievable objectives. Here they are, along with an example of a concrete action associated with each one, the idea being to be as specific as possible:

Encouraging our customers to love and wear their clothes for a long timeFor example, we're implementing a repair service. We've completed a pilot test for repairing jeans and are currently seeking partners to develop this service more widely and profitably. If you have any suggestions, we'd love to hear them!
Reduce our carbon footprintFor example, we continue to improve our material sourcing for our best-selling essentials in the catalog to reduce our overall impact on CO2 emissions, water pollution, and water consumption. We have just increased the percentage of recycled cotton in the composition of our best-selling items (50% recycled cotton instead of 40%) to weave our Willie fabric (the jersey for our T-shirts) and Marty fabric (the fleece for our sweatshirts).
Reduce our waste upstream: implementation of a chain for the recovery of our textile waste (fabric scraps from cutting have been collected and rewoven since 2020).
Sharing our best practices and encouraging more responsible initiatives and brands: continue to engage with different media and events, set up a section dedicated to our CSR innovations on the new Patine website, more regular posts on LinkedIn on these topics.

Who are part of our mission committee?

Our G5 Patine committee is made up of figures from diverse professional backgrounds. This committee therefore comprises a range of skills, interdisciplinary expertise, all contributing their knowledge: ready-to-wear, eco-responsibility, food, logistics, impact, and sustainable development. Among them is our queen of healthy eating, Delphine Plisson fromThe Plisson HouseEmmanuel Giraud from the adapted companyASAR Development, Thibaut Ledunois our favorite fashion activist, dear Priscilla JOKHOO who takes care of us, and Marie-Anne Vincent VP atSweep, expert in green finance.

What is the point of being a mission-driven company?

PATINE Paris was created in 2017 to offer a new brand model: we don't simply want to "take into account" environmental and social objectives; they are intrinsically part of our model. We didn't wait to become a mission-driven company to create a business and clothing that respect social and environmental criteria. However, it seemed important to us to formalize this mission using the legal tools at our disposal for three reasons:

To grow without ever straying from our path: the mission provides a framework that empowers the entire team, fostering accountability, alignment, and effectiveness. There are 10 of us at PATINE Paris. We found it easier to transition to a mission-driven company now. If we manage to grow, it will be simpler and built on a clear foundation.
We decided to open up our capital in 2021. This was an ethical and responsible fundraising effort, as the majority of our shareholders are the brand's customers, and it was carried out on an ethical financing platform.LITA.co(Poke Eva Sadoun Pierre Schmidtgall Marième Diop Emilie Brosseau) Our shareholders hope for a capital gain one day, but they know that we will never sacrifice our environmental and social objectives for growth. And our status as a Purpose-Driven Company sets a framework, a limit to growth at any cost.
It is also a way to highlight, at the national level, the need for a new business model, by joining the 650 companies officially designated as Purpose-Driven Enterprises.Community of Purpose-Driven Businesses

We believe this framework is particularly useful for fashion companies like ours, driven by creativity. Many of us are motivated by good intentions and a desire to do good. We have a wealth of ideas and a tendency to create long lists of projects. Yet, when it comes to responsibility, we've observed that the ratio of creativity to effort is 5% to 95%. The Purpose-Driven Company framework compels us to focus our efforts, avoid spreading ourselves too thin, and prevent any risk of greenwashing.

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Is this similar to a B Corp certification?

No. B CorpB Lab Franceis an international label for which a number of criteria must be met before certification can be obtained, while “mission-driven company” is a legal requirement. Furthermore, after a year of work, we have also finalized our B Corp application and are awaiting our accreditation.#fingerscrossedAs with our status as a purpose-driven company, we're glad that frameworks exist to advance companies' environmental and social commitments, but it's far from enough. So, we continue to innovate and be demanding at every stage of the production chain and in every department of our company. We can always do better. If you're an entrepreneur, this article has inspired you to become a purpose-driven company, and you have any questions, write to us at hello@patine.fr!

Join us at the end of September for the presentation of our CSR report, which will include, in particular, our Scope 3 carbon footprint assessment with key figures and data. To receive it and follow the Patine project, you canSubscribe to our emailshere, and findour wardrobe of essentials this way:)

PS: To learn more, we've recorded a podcast withFrench Federation of Women's Ready-to-WearAdeline Dargent and Chloé CohenNew Modeland of course Thibaut Ledunoisethiwork, impact studioto tell our story you canListen to it here.

Have a great summer, Patine club, xoxo

Team Patine

good news / Patine is a mission-driven company: mini explanatory guide

Patine has become a “mission-driven company”. The result of teamwork that began in April 2021 to formulate our reason for being as precisely as possible, which we are now revealing to you!