Sallie Tomato + Sustainablilty

Sallie Tomato is continuously developing ways and improving how we contribute to social, environmental and economic sustainability. We are passionate about creating a sustainable business, and improving how we contribute and give back. It’s important for us to meet the present needs of our customer base, while not compromising future generations and our natural environment.

Sustainability doesn’t detract from our business goals, but instead, it motivates our company purpose and creates a value-driven approach to our business strategies. 

With sustainability rooted at the foundation of our business, it becomes incorporated into every business aspect, and as a whole, we hope to contribute and accomplish larger goals. By engaging in sustainable actions over the course of our business’s existence, we believe we can amount to a large impact over time. 

Also, we'd like to take this time to extend our sincere thanks to you for making these sustainable goals become a reality within our company. Without you, there'd be no us! We pledge to do our best to take care of our planet!

This page details the ways we are making an impact, and areas we need to work towards contributing to. We want to thank our customers for supporting Sallie Tomato, which gives us the ability to make a greater impact. 

1. NO POVERTY: End poverty in all its forms everywhere.
1. In 2025 we plan to collect donations to give to a charity that contributes to ending poverty. 
2. ZERO HUNGER: End hunger, achieve food security, and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.
1. In 2024 we plan to collect donations to give to a charity that contributes to ending hunger.
3. GOOD HEALTH & WELL-BEING: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.
1. Annually, our company donates to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, and we actively seek other charities to contribute to good health and well-being.
4. QUALITY EDUCATION: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.
1. We are working to provide free, quality education for sewing. It is a valuable skill that is becoming omitted from public and private school curriculum. By publishing comprehensive video tutorials, and information on our website, anyone around the world can have free access to a growing library of information and resources to teach them how to sew and craft.
2. We are proud to provide over 170 blog posts contributing to sewing education, and will continue to grow our library of information over time. New blog posts containing valuable content are added at least four times per month. These blog posts are free and can be accessed anywhere, anytime. Our YouTube channel also provides free sewing education. Our lifetime analytics as of 2021 show that our channel has had over 5.7M impressions and over 27.2K hours of watch time from over 50 countries. New videos are added consistently each month to continue education, and appeal to a larger, more diverse audience.
3. We are working towards translating our pattern instructions and website into multi-language formats.
5. GENDER EQUALITY: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.
1. We support gender equality by offering designs, tutorials, and marketing that appeal to all genders. As a woman-owned company, we highlight other woman-owned businesses in our industry and makers to empower and encourage other women.
6. CLEAN WATER & SANITATION: Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.
1. Once per month, our entire staff meets in different locations in our local community to collect trash.
2. In 2026 we plan to collect donations to give to a charity that contributes to clean water and sanitation.
7. AFFORDABLE & CLEAN ENERGY: Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.
1. In 2026 we plan to collect donations to give to a charity that contributes to affordable and clean energy. 
8. DECENT WORK & ECONOMIC GROWTH: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.
1. In order to support decent work and economic growth, we only collaborate with businesses that have safe and ethical human and environmental standards in place. We prioritize these standards as well within our own company and provide routine training for a productive work environment and personal development of employees.
2. In addition, we’ve helped build economic growth in our region and worldwide by providing jobs and products to supply other businesses.
9. INDUSTRY, INNOVATION & INFRASTRUCTURE: Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation.
1. Annually, we host a sample sale (of our pattern samples and prototypes) where 100% of proceeds are contributed to the Sallie Tomato Scholarship Fund. The scholarship is offered to students nationwide who are pursuing a business-related degree. Not everyone has access to higher education, so by offering this scholarship, it's our hope to help make an entrepreneur's dreams become a reality. More information about our 2024 scholarship can be found here: https://sallietomato.com/pages/2024-sallie-tomato-entrepreneurship-scholarship
10. REDUCE INEQUALITIES: Reduce inequality within and among countries.
1. To reduce inequalities and support inclusion, we pay living wages and actively eliminate employee, customer, and community discrimination.
2. We are working towards translating our pattern instructions and website into multi-language formats, and supporting all cultures, races, ethnicities, and genders.
11. SUSTAINABLE CITIES & COMMUNITIES: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.
1. In 2021, we are proud to have donated $2,500 as a Silver Sponsor to a local park restoration, Friends of Clausen Park, located in Fox Lake, Wisconsin.
2. In 2023, we are proud to have donated $500 to our local American Legion Post 521 in honor of Veterans Day. 
12. RESPONSIBLE CONSUMPTION & PRODUCTION: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.
1. We are proud to offer a product called cork fabric, which helps contribute to responsible consumption and production because it has a 100% sustainable production process, and is eco-friendly. It is estimated that every year, cork oak forests retain up to 14 million tons of CO2. The cork oak increases its ability to absorb CO2 during the natural regeneration process following harvesting the bark to produce the cork fabric – a harvested cork tree absorbs, on average, five times more CO2.
2. In addition to sustainable fabrics, all of our product packaging is recyclable. It’s important to us that our products are ethical and sustainable to leave minimal impact on this earth.
3. We consciously recycle daily and make at least one or more annual donations to help with the sustainable redevelopment of our environment. In 2021, we donated to a local park restoration and the Amazon Conservation Association.
4. In addition, all of our Patterns are available as PDF Downloads, for reducing the use of printed paper.
5. To promote sustainable consumption, we plan to continuously release tutorials and inspiration for repurposing and recycling old items into something new. Check out the projects we've create so far from thrifted items here: youtube.com/sallietomato
13. CLIMATE ACTION: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.
1. We've taken action to combat climate change by offering our customers the option to make their order carbon neutral at checkout. The donation is calculated by the exact cost of offsetting each order's carbon emissions and will fund verified sustainability projects. We're proud to offer this sustainable shopping experience! Read more about how your donations are used towards projects and make an environmental impact here: https://ecocart.io/impact
2. In 2023, we donated $1,000 to The Friends of Horicon Marsh, which is an organization that works towards improving our environment. 
14. LIFE BELOW WATER: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas, and marine resources for sustainable development.
1. In 2027 we plan to collect donations to give to a charity that contributes to life below water.
15. LIFE ON LAND: Protect, restore, and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and half and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.
1. We're proud to offer a sustainable shopping experience by offering the option to donate towards verified sustainability projects at checkout. Read more about the projects your donations are used towards here: https://ecocart.io/projects/
16. PEACE, JUSTICE & STRONG INSTITUTIONS: Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.
1. In our designs and marketing, we strive to continue to include an equal representation of the population to promote an inclusive community within our industry. We want everyone to feel included, represented, and connected with our mission and vision.
2. We are continuously working with companies from around the world to spread the love of sewing and crafting and diversify our offering. In 2021 we featured collaborations with Caribbean company, Meme Bete, as well as Indian company, Myra Bag. In 2022 we collaborated with a company from Portugal, Bent & Bree.
3. In 2022 we highlighted the culture, art, and heritage of over 60 different countries, across 6 continents in our Around the World Sewing Series.
17. PARTNERSHIPS FOR THE GOALS: Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development. 

1. In order to strengthen our means for sustainable development, and share our contributions with our customer base, we have created this page on our website dedicated to our sustainable goals. It's our hope that making our efforts public will motivate other businesses to actively work towards making a sustainable impact. 

With our strong devotion to addressing sustainability and incorporating Sustainable Development Goals into our business mission and vision, we can only give our best effort and hope that our customer base recognizes, and even participates, in our efforts, with only the best intentions in mind. 

Thank you for reading and your support and love for Sallie Tomato!

Jess and the Team from Sallie Tomato