▲Morethan has received B-Corp Certification with its fashion brand Continew in February 2022

‘Morethan’, a Korean social enterprise supported by SK Innovation, has recently become a Certified B Corporation (or B-Corp).

Morethan makes and sells fashion items such as leather bags and wallets by up-cycling natural leather seats, seat belts, and airbag fibers collected from scrap cars or automobile production processes. Morethan is gaining popularity not only in Korea but also abroad with its flagship brand ‘Continew.’ It has been collaborating with several global automakers such as Porsche, Volvo, Renault, Ford, and Hyundai to solve environmental problems, while also providing jobs to support the independence of various vulnerable groups, including career-interrupted women.

Receiving the B-Corp Cetification is a significant leap for Morethan to be recognized as a global social enterprise. B-Corp is a well-known global certification system awarded by ‘B-Lab’, an American non-profit organization that evaluates and certifies the level of corporate social responsibility, assessing the social and environmental impacts based on transparency and reliability. Through the B Impact Assessment, B-Lab evaluates a company’s practices and outputs across 5 categories: governance, workers, community, environment, and customers.

B-Corp system is particularly active in North America, South America, and Europe. As of February 2022, 4,508 companies from 77 countries have acquired B-Corp certification, of which 18 are Korean.

Among them, Morethan is the first and only fashion company in the country to become a B-Corp. Morethan (Continew) measured using the B Impact Assessment (BIA) tool for empirical evaluation through objective measurement in the process of creating environmental values among ESG. It gained a particularly high score (62.8 points) in the environment category among the five criteria. The total B Impact score of the company is also pretty high (99.3 points) compared to the current median score of 50.9 points.

▲ Overall B Impact Score that Morethan (Continew) received (Captured from B-Corp’s homepage)

Regarding the achievement of obtaining the B-Corp certification, Choi Yi-hyun (Ian Choi), CEO of Morethan shared that “I can’t be more proud of ourselves with the score of 99.3. I am more than thrilled that our business model is being recognized for having a positive impact on society and the environment. In the future, we will strive to gain more recognition in other areas such as the local community and governance.”

In order to grow into a global company, Morethan has started the process of establishing a design-focused Head Quarter in London, UK, and is preparing for localization and globalization at the same time. Continew products are mostly exported to the United States and Austrailia, and recently, orders from Singapore and the UK have also increased. Morethan is expanding their business area with the goal of entering the global market through local settlement rather than simply entering into sales and distribution. According to Morethan CEO, in the third quarter of 2021, Continew sales recovered after more than one year of COVID-19 crisis and exports reached KRW 140 million, which is about 14 times compared to 2020’s record.

Morethan’s genuine efforts to practice ESG management and create more social-environmental values was also recognized by the British Council Korea. Last month, CEO Choi was chosen to be the Winner of the Social Action Award at the ‘Study of UK Alumni Awards 2021-2022’. Kim Min-yang (Alice Kim), CEO of Grape Lab, another social enterprise supported by SK Innovation, also attended the event as one of the finalists of Business and Innovation Award.

▲ (Left) Choi Yi-hyun (Ian Choi) CEO of Morethan (right) and Kim Min-yang (Alice Kim), CEO of Grape Lab, attend the ‘Study of UK Alumni Awards 2021-2022’ held in Seoul in February 2022. / (Right) ) Choi Yi-hyun (Ian Choi) CEO of Morethan takes photos at the Award.

SK Innovation’s effort and support will continue for their amazing dream in order to keep on a poignant performance of musician groups with developmental impairments who provided comforting music and heart to all despite a frigid year-end season.