The Modern Ambition and Mondetta active wear lines are made for their times. Photos courtesy of Mondetta
Pivot. It’s perhaps the most ubiquitous business term since the start of the pandemic. But it’s not new to the Mondetta lexicon. The multi-tasking Winnipeg-based fashion powerhouse was pivoting long before it was a buzzword. It’s one way to stay several steps ahead of the competition. M ost famously known for its 1990s flag shirts and more recently for celebrity- endorsed athleisure apparel, Mondetta has successfully managed to adapt to changing times and trends for 35 years. So it was no surprise that president and CEO Ash Modha had a COVID-19 strategy in place before most people even knew there was a curve to flatten. “We have an office in Asia and we started
seeing this whole COVID thing take place in late December (2019), and we thought, ‘Oh boy, this is going to be something very catastrophic,’ ” Modha says. He was on a business trip flying from Thailand to Korea when he learned his subsequent trip to Shanghai had been cancelled due to a shutdown in China. So he hopped a flight home to Winnipeg and got down to business. “I thought ‘We’ve got to get ready for this,’” Modha says. “People were laughing at me, thinking I was losing my mind.” Clearly he wasn’t. Before Canadians even knew they needed it, Modha’s team in Asia was manufacturing personal protective equipment (PPE) for jurisdictions from Newfoundland to B.C., and quickly went on to become a major PPE provider. The pandemic also provided the company with time to focus on realizing a goal of becoming B-Corp certified, while ramping up its athletic leisurewear brand MPG. Certified B Corporations are highly regarded for their dedication to using business for good. Their standards of
social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability are top notch — and they’re legally required to make decisions based on how they will impact their workers, customers, suppliers, the community and the environment. In January 2021, Mondetta became the ninth Canadian clothing company to acquire the certification. While many fashion lines claim to be sustainable, the Mondetta brands – MPG, Mondetta Originals, Modern Ambition and Mondetta itself – actually have the paper to back it up. “We feel that if we stay ahead in terms of compliance, we can stay ahead of the competition,” Modha says. Charity is also an important element, and it’s an area that hits close to home for Modha and his brother Prashant, who is Mondetta co-owner and CFO. The siblings and their family immigrated to Winnipeg from Uganda in the early 1970s with just the clothes on their backs. The Mondetta Charity Foundation is a way to give back to the children in their homeland, and to help
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SPRING 2021
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