March 26 - 30, 2025
Enercare Centre, Exhibition Place
Toronto
What Sustainability Means At One Of A Kind
Our Pledge to move FasterForward
As a part of Informa, One Of A Kind will be aligning our efforts to contribute to our company’s commitment in building a sustainable business. Through the FasterForward program, our aim is to become a positive impact business by embedding sustainability into everything we do, and seizing opportunities to help our customers and communities to do the same. Some of our key ambitions include becoming zero waste and net zero carbon by 2030 and developing brand initiatives to promote the achievements of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Read on for more information on what we are doing to inspire sustainable developments and to run both environmentally and socially responsible events at One Of A Kind. To learn more about Informa’s FasterForward commitments, click here.
The Impacts We Want to Make
In order to take meaningful steps to drive impact environmentally, socially and economically, One Of A Kind is a proud supporter of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals. We seek to focus on initiatives that will allow us to contribute positively on the following SDGs: good health and wellbeing (SDG 3), quality education (SDG 4), decent work and economic growth (SDG 8), reduce inequalities (SDG 10), climate action (SDG 13), and responsible consumption and production (SDG 12).
To learn more about the UN’s 17 interconnected ambitions to address the most significant challenges and knowledge gaps in the world today, please click here.
How Will We Do This & What We Have Achieved So Far
We believe the most significant contributions we can make in driving positive change is to focus on our operations, our content, and our communities.
As a part of Informa, One Of A Kind is one of many events produced by the world’s largest exhibition company. Our approach to sustainability is guided by the following three objectives:
Aim #1: Inspiring Sustainable Development
What this means: We need to ensure we are evolving how we do business so we can make a positive impact socially, economically, and environmentally. Through our efforts, we also want to inspire everyone involved—our staff, visitors, exhibitors, and partners to move the dial forward.
What OOAK is doing:
Fueling the Local Economy
Since 1975, we have been providing a platform for small businesses to build their brands, expand their audiences and to sell direct to consumers. In Canada, small businesses are the country’s largest employer, putting more than 8.4 million Canadians to work. Between our Winter and Spring events, One Of A Kind facilitated more than $35 million in product sales on the show floor. When people come to One Of A Kind, they are not simply buying a beautiful product, their purchases are also fueling the operation of small businesses, in turn contributing to the health of the local economy.
Making More Accessible Options Available
- We offer various entry level exhibition options, along with scholarships for first time exhibitors, newly launched businesses and out of province vendors to help alleviate the cost of doing the show. Click here to learn more
- A portion of our Rising Stars Section (a section for first-time exhibitors) is reserved in priority for makers and artisans who self-identify as Black, Indigenous, or Persons of Colour (BIPOC). Those selected will also receive 50% off their exhibit space in this entry-level section.
- For our 2023 Spring Show, we are proud to present the Let’s Duuo This Scholarship powered by Duuo—our preferred insurance partner—to help small businesses offset cost of participating at our events.
Supporting Local Charity
Since 2013, One Of A Kind has partnered with local charities at our Winter and Spring events. With the help of our generous visitors, we have raised more than $72,000 to give back to our communities. At our 2022 Winter Show, One Of A Kind will continue to work with CAMH: The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. With the donation we collect at our event, we aim to continue to help raise awareness and increase access to mental health resources.
Being Craft Champions
Our generous visitors have the option to “pay it forward” and purchase a ticket so that a newcomer to Canada can attend One Of A Kind free of charge. Working with the New Circles Community Services, this program provides an opportunity for new immigrants to get to know their community and to feel inspired by creativity.
Supporting Arts Education
For over 40 years, One Of A Kind has provided a platform for creative entrepreneurs to make a living doing what they love. At the 2022 Winter Show, One Of A Kind will be donated over $3500 ($1 off every youth ticket sold at the Show) to VIBEArts, a Toronto based charity committed to providing children and youth in under resourced communities with high quality community and school based arts education.
Sharing Resources
We acknowledge that all of us have the capacity to learn, grow and change. We are committed to sharing resources on topics like cultural appropriation, inclusive language, unconscious bias so that everyone within our community can contribute, be heard, and succeed at the Show
Aim #2: Running an Environmentally Responsible Event
What this means: We strive not only to produce best in class events, but also ones that work actively on reducing our carbon footprint through energy efficiency. We are also conscientious about the choices we make when it comes to energy use, waste reduction and procurement.
What OOAK is doing:
Working with LEED Certified Venue
Enercare Centre is a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified venue. As of January 2022, the venue has also signed the Net Zero Carbon Events Pledge—a global initiative to address climate change across the events and meetings industry, per the targets laid out in the Paris Climate Accord, to commit to achieving net zero by 2050. For more information about Exhibition Place's green initiatives, please click here.
Diverting Waste
- We work with our venue and partners to ensure all utensils and serve ware onsite are compostable. The venue management program also diverts all food waste away from landfill and into compost.
- At the Show, we encourage everyone to bring their own shopping bags and reusable water bottles/coffee cups so that we can reduce single use waste products.
- Currently, over 50% of our show signage are recyclable, and we reuse over 30% of signage from show to show.
- By not having a printed show guide allow us to eliminate the use of over 4000 pounds (2000 kilogram) of paper.
- The sales team have opted to print recruitment info on seed paper with the hopes to extend the life cycle of this product.
Becoming Carbon Neutral by 2025
- By not installing aisle carpet, we are also eliminating the use of over 160, 000 square feet of carpet (this roughly equals to 3 football fields!). Carpet can only be reused so many times before they end up in the landfill.
- One Of A Kind has a consolidated shipping program for vendors coming from Calgary, Vancouver and Montreal. This program allows us to take an active step to save on carbon emission from transport.
- One Of A Kind is 100% powered by renewable energy through Informa's renewable energy program.
- Through our partnership with GO Transit, we encourage visitors to take public transportation to attend our Show.
A Shared Responsibility
As the flagship event supporting craft and its makers, One Of A Kind believes in championing creativity through craft. Through our brand, we also want to be championing sustainability within our business and with the community we serve.
Our commitment to sustainability will be ongoing. And while we continue to learn, grow and accelerate change, we want to invite everyone to join us on this journey, so we can work together to reimagine a brighter future.
Looking for ways to help? Here are 3 simple tips for our visitors, exhibitors and sponsors and partners to consider when you are visiting, exhibiting or showcasing your brand at One Of A Kind:
For Visitors
- Continue to shop local: When you choose to support local businesses, the money you spent is also recirculated, improving infrastructures, creating more job opportunities, and enriching your communities!
- Opt for the better choice: Reduce waste at the show by bringing your own reusable shopping bags and water bottles. We also encourage everyone to take public transportation when possible.
- Go paperless: If you can avoid it, do not print your ticket to the Show. Simply show us the QR code on your phone or mobile wallet and we can scan you into the event.
Exhibitors
- Reuse and recycle: Build your booth using sustainable and long-lasting materials that can be reused and repurposed for different events. If you need to upgrade to something different, be sure to join our exhibitor Facebook Group where you can sell your structures and extend their life cycles.
- Communicate our efforts: Are you giving a portion of your proceeds to a local charity? Are you minimizing the use of plastic in your production? Share what you are doing with the One Of A Kind Show, as well as our show visitors so that your efforts can be amplified! As vendors of One Of A Kind, it is also important for you to understand our commitments as an event, and help us spread the word on what we are doing to drive positive impact environmentally, socially and economically.
Sponsors & Partners
- Let’s Work Together: We are always looking for collaborators so we can create a more sustainable and equitable event. Got a great idea? Reach out and let’s chat!
- At the 2022 Winter and 2023 Spring Shows, we are proud to work with Resuit —a fit based, peer to peer clothing sharing app where you can buy, rent or sell your own wardrobe.
- Offset Carbon Emission: Ask us about the sustainable sponsorship opportunity where we will purchase renewable energy on behalf of your brand to support projects around the world that have been certified as reducing or avoiding greenhouse gases being emitted. At our 2021 Winter Show, a portion of Volvo's activation fee was used for this purpose.
- Reduce Waste: Encourage less printing of marketing material and provide information digitally when possible.
- One Of A Kind Sustainability Awards: In partnership with Rootree , we introduced our inaugural Sustainability Awards at the 2022 Winter Show. Congratulations to Mimi Island Designs (Winner of the Environmental Impact Award), Brooks Pepperfire Foods (Winner of the Social Impact Award) and Taste of the Okanagan (Winner of the Community Impact Award) for doing their parts to promote sustainability within their businesses.
