While fashion houses worldwide tried to race against time for the
organization of the MFW runway shows (whether online or physically with proper
precautions), Alessandro Michele, the creative director of Gucci, was planning
a fashion revolution starting with saying goodbye to the September
Fashion Week.
Back to the roots
By embracing this philosophy, Italy’s most valuable luxury brand revealed the launch of Gucci
Equilibrium, an online platform part of its 10-year sustainability plan.
From words to deeds
Starting from
2015, Gucci has developed a 10-year sustainability plan that consists in various strategies with the aim to operate in respect
of the planet.
Kering,
the global luxury group that owns Gucci, has developed the Environmental Profit and Loss (EP&L) accounting, which measures all the company’s environmental impacts and
allow it to make better-informed decisions.
Using
the EP&L as a benchmark to chart its sustainability progress, incredible
results were achieved: a 39% reduction for combined impacts and a 37% reduction
for greenhouse gas emissions alone since 2015 with reduction targets at 40% for
their total footprint and 50% for greenhouse gas emissions by 2025.
Furthermore, as shown in Gucci
website, the environmental plan also includes:
·
Use of paper and packaging
sourced from certified sustainably managed forests (FSC);
·
Reduction of waste, paper and
water in all offices, warehouses, stores, production sites and supply chain;
·
Increased attention to the use
and management of chemicals;
·
Development of innovative environmentally
friendly materials;
·
Sustainable sourcing and
traceability of raw materials, in respect of nature, biodiversity, animal
welfare and local communities.
Stronger together
Gucci
made it very clear: the intention is to find a new state of equilibrium
in a world that is constantly changing. And this can only happen by turning the
system upside down: its vision is to move away from fashion’s linear model in
order to embrace a circular one.
By
sharing projects with the most varied realities all over the world, Gucci
proudly proves that unity is strength.
Through the ‘Gucci-Up’
program, the company managed to reuse around 22 tons of leather scraps from
2018 and 2019: the regeneration of these offcuts was made possible thanks to
the partnership with NGOs
and women-based projects.
In fact, the program supports social cooperatives in Italy that work for the
re-integration into communities of people from marginalized groups.
By combining circularity
and social enterprise, the partnership with another initiative, called ‘I was a
Sari’, proved to be successful. Pursuing the mission to upcycle leftover
materials to produce embroidery (which is a decorative needlework) for the global
fashion market, I was a Sari trains women in disadvantaged communities
around Mumbai to become world-class embroiderers and helps them gain financial
independence.
A green future
The road is still long but there is every reason to think that all
efforts will pay off.
As the CEO Marco Bizzarri
explains in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera: ‘Values create value. Sustainability
is not a cost: it is a matter of respect.’
And
hopefully, in the future, fashion industry will entirely focus on sustainable
and circular economy, having a positive impact on every aspect of the world.
Sources:
https://equilibrium.gucci.com/it/
https://www.gucci.com/us/en/st/sustainability-landing/environment
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/sep/12/gucci-carbon-neutral-climate-crisis