Barker Specialty (asi/132690), a 2024 Counselor Best Place to Work, is making strides in sustainability.

The Cheshire, CT-based distributor announced recently that it has received a bronze ranking from sustainability assessment firm EcoVadis, putting it among the top 35% of more than 100,000 rated companies.

“It has been a goal of Barker Specialty to become better stewards of the planet, our people, customers and anyone we engage with,” said Jane Leukart, director of sustainability. “Being awarded a Bronze Medal from EcoVadis validates our efforts and inspires us to keep getting stronger.”

EcoVadis is a leading collaborative platform for sharing sustainability data between businesses. The assessment covers four pillars: environment, labor and human rights, ethics and sustainable procurement. Barker Specialty said its highest marks were in labor and human rights, followed by environment. The distributor added that it has been working toward achieving carbon neutrality, through measures that include implementing a solar array.

Barker Specialty has an approximately 75-year history. After they married in the late 1940s, Herb and Gloria Barker began selling souvenir salt and pepper shakers up and down the Atlantic coast. Soon enough, they were fielding requests for custom products and “tangible advertising,” so in 1951, they founded what would become Barker Specialty.

Seven decades later, the Barker legacy remains strong: The company was Counselor’s 2022 Family Business of the Year. In June of 2023, Barker Specialty announced that it was the first North American promo products distributor to partner with Sweden-based lifestyle brand and certified B Corp Agood Company, offering its environmentally friendly products to buyers. In response to Counselor’s 2024 Best Places to Work research, employees said the three words that best describe the company are “innovative,” “passionate” and “collaborative.”

In May, the company acquired Wolfepromo, and the month before it named Karen Heiligman as chief operating officer.

EcoVadis is becoming an increasingly popular way for businesses in the promotional products industry to assess their sustainability efforts. Last month, for instance, Counselor Top 40 distributor Geiger (asi/202900) noted that Geiger UK had been awarded EcoVadis Platinum status for the third year in a row.

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