Three eco-friendly franchise brands leading the way on sustainable success
By Hannah Foulger
Eco-friendly practices are in high demand. Gen Z and millennial customers in particular are taking sustainability seriously when deciding how and where they spend their money. According to a First Insight report on consumer spending, 62 per cent of Gen Z shoppers prefer sustainable brands. Alongside millennials, they are more likely to purchase from companies based on their personal, social, and environmental concerns.
Read on to see three eco-friendly franchise brands in Canada that are taking their environmental and social impacts seriously.
New Creations
New Creations is a unique mobile franchise founded in 1988 by Canadian entrepreneur Larry Stevenson. The brand boasts more than 40 years of experience in the fixing business, and the system has collectively completed millions of repairs. From cracks and chips on kitchen counters, to ripped up car seats, New Creations eliminates massive waste by repairing surfaces so damaged items don’t have to be disposed of. Working with New Creations also helps corporate clients avoid unnecessary waste and meet their green targets.
According to the New Creations president, and Larry’s son, Josh Stevenson, franchisees are not required to have repair skills before buying a franchise. What a franchisee does need, he says, are interpersonal skills and proactivity (to develop client relationships), as well as the ability to problem solve.
On the job, each franchisee can scan the repair with their phone and New Creations’ AI tool helps find the right training video to show them how to make the repair and information on which of their products to use. The brand also offers human support at head office and franchisee peer groups.
Repairs generally only take a couple hours and can be spread throughout the day, making this flexible business an ideal choice for franchisees with families and those looking for a healthy work/life balance.
After all, it’s a family business. “My dad would see the potential in fixing something that others didn’t,” Stevenson says. His dad began the business fixing rips and tears in vehicles, but clients often asked him to fix other damaged items. “He hated stuff being thrown out and wasted when it was still fine. It just needed a little repair. Fast forward to today, and we can repair over 100 different surfaces. That’s our specialty. We can fix what no one else can.”
Winmark Corporation
Winmark Corporation is the proud parent company of resale retail brands Once Upon A Child (children’s clothing, toys, and other items), Plato’s Closet (teen clothes), Play It Again Sports (sports equipment), Style Encore (adult clothes), and Music Go Round (musical instruments). It has been a leader in the circular economy for more than 35 years. “We’ve been able to recycle two billion items since 2010,” says Shannon Hoppe, VP of franchise development. “That’s 185 million items per year, 510,000 per day, and six items per second.”
Winmark’s successful business model is uniquely resistant to a fluctuating economy, as their inventory is not affected by supply chains or tariffs; they buy inventory directly from consumers within the community. Customers may be even more attracted to Winmark brand stores when the economy is struggling and they can save money, particularly on clothes and equipment for children who perpetually outgrow these items.
Unlike thrift stores, which do not pay resellers for their wares, or consignment stores which only pay resellers if their items sell, Winmark pays on the spot for quality items. This way, they maintain a revolving stock and keep items from the landfill. They have also entered into partnerships with manufacturers and brands such as Rawlings and Easton and CCM Hockey to extend the life of their products.
“Consumers—particularly millennials and Gen Z—are prioritizing sustainability,” says Hoppe. “They’re looking for circular fashion. They want to reduce waste. The resale market is projected to outpace regular retail in terms of growth. This positions our bands to continue to be leaders in a socially responsible way, driving forward our mission to provide resale for everyone.”
Hoppe says that what new Winmark franchisees really need is “the drive to own their own business,” along with “a passion for sustainability and truly giving back to their communities and the financial readiness to open their own business.” It also helps to have a clear understanding of, or experience with, the brand. “You need to be motivated, organized, and enjoy working with people and the public. If anyone is willing to follow our proven model, then they would make a great addition to one of the Winmark brands.”
Winmark opened the first Music Go Round store in Canada in September, marking their 1,377th location worldwide. And, they have 2,800 territories available to new franchisees in North America. “We have so much room to add talented operators to our system that truly believe in our model, [and] what we stand for,” Hoppe says. “Winmark is only successful if our franchisees are successful.”
Foxy Box Laser & Wax Bar
While wax bars have been popping up everywhere over the last few years, Foxy Box Laser & Wax Bar has been steadily building their brand since 2012, when the first salon opened in CEO Kyla Dufresne’s dining room in Victoria, British Colombia. The wax bar was a bold new concept, and Dufresne brought a perfectly brazen attitude into her marketing.
“I was a bartender at the time, so that proved to be such a great start for my business, because it was also my networking platform,” Dufresne shares. “Any customer that came into the bar, I would give them a Foxy Box card, so they woke up the next day with a Foxy Box card in their pocket.”
To this day, that energy lives large at every Foxy Box location. Team members are called “vagicians” and the walls are populated with cheeky messages like “Damn, you’re foxy.”
All cheekiness aside, Foxy Box takes sustainability seriously. They work with Green Circle, an organization that recycles the waste from Foxy Box locations. That recycled material is used in creating things like garbage bins, combs, and bike tires. In 2024, Foxy Box diverted 70,000 pounds of waste out of landfills.
This initiative isn’t cheap, but Dufresne says, “Our franchisees are not out of pocket for that money. Customers are happy to support a business that is sustainable.”
Customer preferences have led other changes, too. In 2021, acknowledging the diverse identities of both their customers and their franchisees, Foxy Box changed all of their branding and products to be gender neutral, a direct response to the feedback from their customers. Services are specialized to body parts, not gender.
The brand has recently assembled their first Franchise Advisory Committee, giving their franchisees a stronger influence within the system. Dufresne is proud of the franchisee community that the brand has built, not only through logistical support provided by the company, but also by setting up new franchises in a way that accommodates the initial anxiety around building a new business.
“We’ve got a robust initial training program,” Dufresne says. “Before our franchise partners open the doors, we send a whole team to train their first fleet of vagicians and front of house staff. We’re really setting them up with a well-oiled machine.” They take a pause for a few weeks before a grand opening, to make sure everyone feels confident.
After opening, franchisees are partnered with a franchise business coach for weekly calls, and two months after opening, the trainer comes back to review with staff. The brand also runs regular events to help franchises turn one-off customers into regular members and help franchisees “really get into their community.”
Foxy Box plans to take over the world “one box at a time,” and to do so while mitigating every ounce of waste they can.
Check out this article in the Resilience of Franchising Issue of Franchise Canada, 2025, titled “On-Brand Sustainability”