Fashion leaders to meet at G7 summit to improve sustainability, from H&M to Gucci

Fashion brands including Gucci and H&M will meet at the G7 summit this weekend in a global pact to fight the climate change crisis and improve sustainability.
The summit will see 32 fashion leaders, including Francois-Henri Pinault, the chief executive of Kering, and the owner of Zara’s parent company, Inditex, meet in Biarritz, France.
The coalition, otherwise known as “The Fashion Pact”, also includes brands such as Adidas, Burberry, Chanel, H&M, Ralph Lauren and Stella McCartney.

Representatives said its objectives draw on the Science-Based Targets (SBT1) initiative, which focuses on action in three essential areas for safeguarding the planet – stopping global warming, restoring biodiversity and protecting the oceans.
“The idea of engaging at the G7 level is also around getting the commitment at the governmental level to address these types of concerns with a sense of urgency,” Michael Beutler, director of sustainability operations at Kering, told Vogue Business last month.

The meeting comes months after French President Emmanuel Macron called on Pinault to bring together a group of brands to set unified sustainability goals for the sector.
“We have to work collectively,” Pinault told the Copenhagen Fashion Summit in May. “It’s about a few leaders who are willing to put themselves in an uncomfortable situation to force themselves to move.”
In recent months, Pinault has worked to bring together a coalition of industry leaders wanting to come together and set goals to reduce the industry’s negative impact on the environment.
“The mandate is really to move the sector,” Marie-Claire Daveu, Kering’s chief sustainability officer, added. “The G7 is a starting point.”

Kering has been a key leader when it comes to addressing the industry’s sustainability issues.
In May, the global luxury fashion company – which manages brands including Saint Laurent, Gucci and Balenciaga – published new animal welfare standards that included a list of requirements for the treatment of cattle, calves, sheep and goats throughout their entire lives, as well as guidelines for abattoirs.

In addition, it pledged to stop hiring models under the age of 18 on its catwalk and in advertising campaigns.

“We are conscious of the influence exerted on younger generations in particular by the images produced by our houses,” Pinault said at the Copenhagen summit. “We believe that we have a responsibility to put forward the best possible practices in the luxury sector and hope to create a movement that will encourage others to follow.”
The policy will come into effect early next year, in time for the autumn/winter collections.
Last month, Inditex announced a pledge to use purely sustainable fabric in its clothing by 2025 as part of a wider strategy focusing on sustainability.

The company aims for all cotton, linen and polyester used by the group to be organic, sustainable or recycled by 2025.
“Sustainability is a neverending task in which everyone here at Inditex is involved and in which we are successfully engaging all of our suppliers,” said chief executive Pablo Isla.
Moreover, the company stated that 80 per cent of the energy used in running the company (stores, logistics centres and offices) should be renewable by 2022.

As for recycling, the fashion conglomerate will supply all stores with containers to collect clothes and a pick-up service – already active in China and Spain – at home to be expanded to Paris, London and New York later this year.
The news came amid the formation of a new All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) to analyse sustainability in the clothing and textiles industry in the UK.
With the new APPG, which is supported by sustainability charity Hubbub, MPs from all political backgrounds will come together to review supply chains, materials used, and consumer behaviours.


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London Fashion Week Will Be Completely Fur Free

Avery Matera

September 7, 2018 1:38 PM

Venturelli

Following the news on Thursday that Burberry will be going fur-free, The British Fashion Council has announced that London Fashion Week will be following the same model. Aside from Burberry, design houses such as Victoria Beckham, Erdem, Stella McCartney, and Christopher Kane of the London-based set have already pledged their alignment with a cruelty-free design process but others will now be forced to follow suite if they choose to participate in the official events.

In an interview with The Business of Fashion, Burberry CEO Marco Gobbetti shared, “I don’t think it is compatible with modern luxury and with the environment in which we live, and Riccardo has a very strong view as well on this,” adding, “It’s part of what Burberry is today.” The Guardian further reported that this change comes as a result of what the British Fashion Council is calling their Positive Change Initiative, which Caroline Rush, the BFC’s CEO, noted shows the industry is “seeing a cultural change based on ideals and choices made within brands.” She added, “The fur dialogue is ongoing and the stance of brands such as Burberry, Stella McCartney, Gucci, Yoox Net-A-Porter, Versace and Vivienne Westwood, among others, to look at alternative options to fur will encourage more brands to consider what options are available to them.”

While London is the first major Fashion Week city that has made such an announcement, it indicates a larger trend in the industry as a whole as the world becomes more eco-conscious and educated on sustainability. Michael Kors in New York and Gucci in Milan have both made recent announcements to the same effect, so it might not be long before all cities make similar pledges to London.

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Talks of BURBERRY to Buy COACH - What Could This Mean?

Burberry Group Plc shares rose the most in almost eight months after the Betaville financial blog said Coach Inc. is considering merging with the British trench coat maker. Burberry Group Plc shares rose the most in almost eight months after the Betaville financial blog said Coach Inc. is considering merging with the British trench coat maker. Start your day with what’s moving markets. Get our markets daily newsletter. 

The U.S. maker of purses and accessories has been working with financial advisers at Evercore for several weeks on a possible deal, the website said, citing two people familiar with the situation it didn’t name. Burberry shares traded 3 percent higher at 1,494 pence at 1:59 p.m. in London after rising as much as 8.1 percent, the biggest intraday gain since Feb. 26. Coach traded at the equivalent of $36.21 in Frankfurt, up about 1 percent from Thursday’s close in New York. Representatives for Burberry and Coach declined to comment. Earlier this year, the Financial Times reported that London-based Burberry asked its advisers at Robey Warshaw to help prepare a defense for a possible bid.

“A merger of Coach and Burberry would primarily be a merger of problems,” Exane BNP Paribas analyst Luca Solca said in a note. “M&A history in luxury has shown that mergers don’t obviously help in regaining brand traction and desirability.”
Burberry and Coach are both grappling with a slowdown in luxury spending, and have reshuffled management to try and turn their fortunes around. Burberry has named Marco Gobbetti to replace Christopher Bailey as CEO next year, while Coach named Valentino veteran Wendy Kahn to run designer shoe brand Stuart Weitzman, which it bought last year.