Skandinavisk wants to inspire the world to live more Scandinavian. More in balance with nature, within society, and with the self. They believe a more balanced Scandinavian approach to life is better for all, and that living ‘more Scandinavian’ is not just where you come from, it’s also how you think, how you treat others and the world that surrounds you, and what you treasure.
The Certified B Corporation lives this vision by creating sensory Scandinavian stories designed to leave a lighter footprint. Each fragrance captures a chapter in the story of Scandinavia, one that is precious to the locals and exotic to the outside world. The company then carefully blends each fragrance so it can be enjoyed either in the home or on the skin.
Founded in 2012 and proudly independent, their fragrance collections can be found in more than forty countries, many of the world’s leading retailers, at their Copenhagen flagship store and online at skandinavisk.com.
Seven years after its foundation, Skandinavisk was looking for a way to measure whether the company lived up to its promise of a better world and benchmark itself against the world’s best in the process. This was when Skandinavisk found out about the B Corp Certification – a rigorous, holistic impact assessment designed to demonstrate that a business is meeting high standards of verified performance, accountability, and transparency.
Skandinavisk achieved B Corp Certification in 2019. Their initial score, scraping through at 84.1 points, laid bare their imperfections and reminded them of all the things they’d rather not admit, says founder Shaun Russell.
It was also an opportunity to be educated about the many other things a company should be doing but which we didn’t even know we didn’t know. For us, the first round of certification was a lesson in the tremendous difference between how good you think you are – as a company, as a leader - and how good you truly act.
Less than a year after certifying as a B Corp, Skandinavisk took the unprecedented step of replacing its entire product collection. Not because the old collection wasn’t working – after all, it had helped them win growth awards and to certify as a B Corporation – but because the certification process had taught them how much better it could be.
Skandinavisk’s ‘next-generation’ collection is now more local, natural, organic, ethical, and responsible. It launched in the spring of 2020, just as a global pandemic shook the world. The coincidence of timing nearly broke the company, but they gradually realized that a seismic event like COVID-19 obliged people to rethink their habits and start making more sustainable choices.
This determination has been vindicated in their recertification improvement of over 30 points and in their ability to deliver continued profitable growth despite the economic turmoil.
©Skandinavisk, a Certified B Corporation
The two most significant improvements Skandinavisk has made since the first certification were the changes they made to the two primary product categories – candles and personal care – both of which contributed to the Impact Business Models (IBM) in land conservation and toxin reduction.
The company switched from using standard wax bases such as palm and soy to the less familiar Swedish rapeseed wax in their candles. The new wax base is local, renewably farmed, traceable, and non-GMO. In independent tests, it also has the lowest environmental footprint. However, it was not an established industry option and obliged Skandinavisk to reformulate all their fragrances so they could deliver the same scent performance with this entirely new base. As the primary component of their largest scented product category, this was quite a risk to take.
Skandinavisk also reformulated all the washes, lotions, and creams to maximize the amount of certified organic ingredients until just before the point where product performance would be compromised. Despite being obvious to the company, prioritizing soil before skin was a radical philosophy in the beauty industry. The result is a personal care collection with a greater volume of certified organic ingredients than industry certification standards require.
In addition, Skandinavisk’s active role in shaping and leading the B Corp Beauty Coalition, the first example of industry collective action emerging from the B Corp movement, was also recognized.
While the company is very proud of the 30+ point improvement achieved during recertification and of the actions already taken this year that will contribute to improved impact the next time around, they know the job is never done, and there are still another 85 painful points to seek. (Companies that go through the B Impact Assessment can earn a maximum of 200 points and must reach a minimum of 80 points – amongst other criteria – to achieve B Corp Certification.) Take a look at Skandinavisk’s public B Corp profile to learn more about their score and impact!
For the next recertification, Skandinavisk will be working toward improvements in the diverse areas of workforce development, civic engagement, supply chain management, and conservation.
B Corp Certification is not a marketing advantage. It’s a North Star by which to navigate.
The B Corp community is a safe and welcoming place where curious minds from all over the world find their peers and magic can happen.
Being a B Corp does great things for company culture. It’s a priceless unifier, helps retain the best people, and is a magnet for other impact-minded talents.
