LUXURY
PASSIONS50
FORTUNE.COM// JA N.1 .19industry generates more greenhouse gas
emissions than do international maritime
shipping and aviation combined, says the UN
Framework Convention on Climate Change.
And that’s saying nothing of the unethical
labor practices that have plagued many of the
world’s fast-fashion and luxury brands.
It’s partly this colossal irresponsibility that
sparked the idea for Veja, the footwear in-
dustry’s Parisian darling that has been at the
vanguard of the sustainable fashion sphere
long before “sustainable” was even a buzz-
word. In 2005, while other brands were being
born online, François-Ghislain Morillion and
Sébastien Kopp saw opportunity with a physi-
cal emblem of their generation: the sneaker.
Unlike the big names in the category that
spend 70% on advertising and 30% on raw
materials and production, they devoted all
their resources to a sustainably manufactured
product (that costs five to seven times as
much to make as other sneakers cost) and the
people who make it. This happens in Brazil,
where they have access to fair-trade cotton
and wild rubber from Amazonia, and facto-
ries that pay their workers fair wages. Today,
they also use upcycled tilapia hides; recycled
plastic bottles; and flannel, silk, and other
eco-friendly materials for their shoes—that
are as good-looking as they are well made.
Thirteen years later, with nearly 2 million
pairs sold around the world, the founders
continue to push the message that sustain-
able business is ultimately good business.
This works for Veja because it was built as
a sustainable brand at its onset. But legacy
brands, with embedded supply chains and
manufacturing facilities, face a bigger challenge.
Few in the industry are rising to the task
quite like Kering, for whom sustainability has
become a moral lodestar. In 2017, just before
being named the top sustainable textile, ap-
parel, and luxury goods corporation by the
Corporate Knights Global 100 Index, the con-
glomerate publicly announced its quantitative
objectives in sustainability through 2025.
Chief among them: reducing its environmen-
tal footprint overall by 40%. The rest of its
actions, which touch every step of the supply
chain, as well as manufacturing, distribution,
and R&D, are explicitly outlined online, sug-
gesting transparency is no longer an enemy to
luxury’s aura of exclusivity.
“We are sharing the knowledge we gain and
open-sourcing the innovations we develop,”
explains Marie-Claire Daveu, Kering’s chief
sustainability officer.
And as unlikely as change may once have
been in the rarefied world of high-end jewelry,
disruption has also found its way to Place
Vendôme, the Parisian mecca of the world’s
most prestigious watch and jewelry brands.
Courbet launched in May as the scene’s first
100% ethical and sustainable line, using re-
cycled, traceable gold and lab-grown diamonds
of the highest color grade. These are 30% less
expensive than mined diamonds—the lat-
ter producing 15,000 times the pollution of
lab-grown ones, which are made with solar-
powered machines. Department stores world-
wide have already started calling to place orders,
and local interest was instantaneous. Ethics
are a big part of it, says cofounder Manuel
Mallen, but aesthetics matter equally—which
is why so many eco-only brands have failed to
win over consumers. “For good to triumph, the
product has to be beautiful,” he says.“For good
to triumph,
the product
has to be
beautiful .”Veja works
directly with
organic cotton
producers in
Brazil (above)
and Peru.COURTESYOFCHARLOTTE^ LAPALUS