CINCINNATI—Cintas Corp. unveiled its new Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) branding identity, which was created to help raise awareness and bring consistency and cohesion to Cintas’ ongoing ESG efforts and initiatives.
The newly introduced brand will be prominently featured and discussed in the Cintas 2022 ESG Report, which will be published in January 2023. The company’s third sustainability report will recap the company’s fiscal year 2022, which ended on May 31, 2022.
“Cintas’ sustainable business strategy dates back to our company’s origins and we have always worked closely with the communities in which we live and serve, so the theme ‘A Shared Drive for Better’ is a natural fit as we develop our ESG brand,” said Christy Nageleisen, Cintas Vice President of ESG and Chief Compliance Officer. “As our ESG Journey progresses, we will continue to innovate and refine our processes to help sustain the world we live in, build on our culture of respect, belonging, and inclusion, and hold ourselves accountable with world-class business practices. This approach is inherent to our almost century-old, shared drive for better.”
“We believe our new ESG brand will help us bring attention to the heightening focus on sustainability and it will be important as environmental, social, and governance issues gain greater awareness and attention from different groups,” said Todd Schneider, Cintas President and CEO. “We’re proud of the work we’ve done to advance our ESG ambitions over the years. This work has created better outcomes for us all, and we know our continued attention to effecting more sustainable solutions is critical for our continued success. Our culture is one of ‘positive discontent,’ and we always strive for better in every aspect of our organization.”
Cintas’ ESG Vision
The new ESG brand is themed “A Shared Drive for Better” to bring into focus the collective impact Cintas believes it can make for a better future.
The company’s strategy builds on its collaboration with its customers, employee-partners, shareholders, suppliers, and communities the company serves. Cintas aims to bring everyone together to identify opportunities and to implement changes that support safer, cleaner, and more sustainable workplaces.
Cintas’ ESG Vision articulates its ambitions in this area: “Guided by our principles, we work together to provide businesses with the sustainable products, services, and solutions they need for a better workday, supporting our partners and the communities we serve, building a better future.”
Logo & Visual Identity
The new Cintas ESG logo features three distinct colors to represent the three different components of ESG: environment, social and governance. The brand’s visual identity features a “water leaf” in the logo. This helps impart the importance of the environment and water stewardship in the company’s ESG Journey.
ESG at Cintas
Cintas’ sustainable business model has underpinned the company’s growth strategy and imparted a holistic “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” mentality throughout the company’s operations.
This approach dates to the company’s origins almost 100 years ago during the Great Depression. Out-of-work circus performers Doc and Amelia Farmer went around to Cincinnati-area businesses and collected their dirty, discarded shop rags from their trash bins, and brought the dirty rags home to launder them. When the rags were clean, Doc and Amelia then sold them back to area businesses, thereby extending their useful lives and reducing companies’ ongoing need to replace their discarded rags with brand-new rags.
Since then, the company has grown and expanded business operations to include uniform and apparel rental programs, facility services, first aid and safety products and services, and fire protection services.
Cintas’ cultural focus on its Principal Objective, its Corporate Character and Management Systems—defined by Founder Dick Farmer in his book, “Spirit is the Difference”—has resulted in ESG-centric business practices embedded holistically into Cintas’ operations from its start.
To learn more about Cintas’ ESG program, including its most recent reporting, visiting cintas.com/esg.
