Bibi: a sustainable trajectory

With headquarters in PAROBÉ / RS, Bibi was founded in 1949 and is a reference in the children's footwear market. In addition to the headquarters, the company has a branch in Cruz das Almas/BA.

Employing more than 1.3 thousand people in its two units, the company's annual production goes past the 2 million mark, of which it exports 20% to 70 countries. In Brazil, the Bibi brand is present in more than 3.5 thousand multi-brand sales' points, in addition to e-commerce and a network of franchises with more than 130 stores.

For many years working with sustainability initiatives, and these were strengthened throughout the 1990s with the arrival of Marlin Kohlrausch to the company’s presidency, Bibi has the concept in its DNA. During the 1990s, one of the highlights were the citizen campaigns, focusing on the preservation of the environment, missing children, health tips through primers and distribution of toothbrushes for the little ones. These actions were developed by the company and delivered mainly through the individual packaging of the shoes, interacting with the final consumers.

Over the years, Bibi began to develop endomarketing projects, such as Bibi University, Good Morning Company, How Are You Today, Affective Meeting, Coffee with the President, as well as a code of ethics and conduct, always aiming at ethics, transparency, agility, and positive relationships.

In the education field, in partnership with the Department of Education of Parobé and the Rotary Club, Bibi has distributed the Financial Primer to employees and students of the Municipal Education Network of the community, bringing notions of financial education.

Still in the social area, Bibi maintains the Talent Factory, which, in partnership with the National Service of Industrial Learning (Senai), professionally qualifies young people aged 17 to 21.

The program is carried out in the factories in Parobé and Cruz das Almas. Annually, 56 young people, on average, are trained to the challenges of life, bringing a vision of business, family and financial planning, ethics, as well as the craft of development and production of shoes. Many of these new talents are recruited and become part of the official team of the company.

Environment

The brand of children's shoes is proud of its actions towards the environment, the Brazilian market and society, considering issues such as conscious consumption of energy, reduction of pollution level, correct disposal of waste, non-use of toxic substances in shoes and relationship with employees and community. Currently, actions such as the correct allocation of industrial waste of the company get featured. With that, 56% of the waste is recycled and 44% is co-processed (transformed into raw material for the cement industry through a partnership with an Italian multinational).

In summary: there is no waste.

At the end of an entire sustainable production process, Bibi presents children's shoes with 100% non-toxic materials. In this sense, actions are carried out with a focus on the development and monitoring of 125 suppliers (and 2,650 materials), so that all shoes are produced with materials free of toxic substances, which makes the company, in a global sphere, be able to prospect and to consolidate itself in markets that position themselves with a very high level of demand in terms of principles of sustainability.

In the case of cowhide used in leather, the brand works with 100% of the suppliers of tanneries certified within the international standard LWG (Leather Working Group) and CSCB (Brazilian Leather Sustainability Certification). With regard to packaging made with recycled paper, 100% of those used are purchased by suppliers certified by FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) and B Corp, and already focusing on textiles, there is the use of recycled fibers (polyester) from PET bottles. The adhesives used in manufacturing are also all water-based - and non-solvent. Another relevant fact is that Bibi acts in the development of suppliers with regard to the production of sustainable inputs. For this, it promotes annual supplier meetings with awards for best practices and sustainable projects.

Bibi also frequently prepares the gas emission inventory of its industrial operations and makes the acquisition of electricity from renewable sources. By purchasing energy from sustainable sources, Bibi is part of the Sustainable Profile Program, which is a pioneer in Brazil in providing recognition for the environmental and social contribution provided by companies that buy energy from alternative sources.

Following an internationally accepted methodology, the program accounts for greenhouse gases (GHGs) regulated by the Kyoto Protocol that are no longer emitted by the brand, certifying it with the Energy + Clean Profile seal. Since 2014, the company has already stopped emitting 1,322,717 (tCO2e) into the atmosphere, which corresponds to the planting of 3, 422 trees.

In the social area, Bibi promotes numerous actions with the community, such as the donation of masks and shoes in different places, especially in the regions where it operates with its manufacturing units, providing good memories with the donation of shoes for newborn babies in the maternity hospitals of public hospitals.

Next steps

The commitment to sustainability will continue in the coming years, so much so that Bibi has just released a list of commitments that goes all the way to 2030. From an environmental perspective, the objective is to continuously improve the environmental management system of the network, aiming to develop processes that result in eco-efficiency gains and the reduction of environmental impacts.

It also focuses on developing projects and actions that strengthen the purpose of the brand, which is to do good to generate good memories, while also bringing a favorable result for society.

In the economic field, among the results that the brand hopes to achieve by 2030, is to expand the franchise network to reach 250 stores in Brazil and 100 abroad. In the environmental field, Bibi hopes to achieve, annually, 100% compliance of products manufactured in the Reach Standard (Regulation No. 1907/2006 European Parliament) regarding toxicity. Other issues include a 20% reduction in waste generation in new product development and industrial operations by the year 2025.

On the social side, the brand wants to promote the constant professional qualification of young people from local communities through the Talent Factory program, which includes the hiring of at least 30% of the program participants.

Still in the social field, the company aims to allocate 52 minutes per year, per employee, to carry out voluntary work of local impact, which have some type of connection with the purpose of Bibi. In this way, the objective is to donate, per year, the equivalent of one day of production of shoes from Bibi factories to institutions that are also related to the purpose of the brand.

In order for consumers to stay on top of all the actions developed by the brand, Bibi has also created a landing page area information.

Sustainable Origin

Being certified since the creation of Sustainable Origin, in 2013, from 2018 Bibi began to boast the maximum certification, Diamond. In 2021, Bibi achieved recertification at the same level, reiterating the efforts and projects promoted by the network in the field of sustainability. With an audit carried out by the multinational company Bureau Veritas, which is based in France, the audit process was carried out from 21 to 24 September, taking into account 124 indicators* on issues that encompass the environmental, social, economic and sustainability management fronts.

*Sustainable Origin certification -Version 2.0 (in the scoring system of Version 2.0, in order to earn the certification, the company must achieve a minimum of 50% of the mandatory indicators of a total of 124 indicators. This minimum percentage refers to the Bronze level, and are followed by Silver (75%), Gold (90%) and Diamond, the maximum level (100%).