Prada commits to putting leather waste to good use
Luxury group Prada has agreed a new finance package of €90 million with Milan-based financial services group UniCredit.
This five-year loan is the latest in a series of ESG loans that Prada has signed up to, financial facilities with a mechanism that allows for a reduction in the interest rate if the borrower achieves sustainability targets. ESG is a reference to environmental, social and corporate governance.
Prada has said it is the first company in the luxury goods industry to avail itself of these loans.
On making the UniCredit announcement on February 10, Prada’s chief finance officer, Alessandra Cozzani, commented: “This is an important stimulus to achieve increasingly ambitious goals towards a sustainable economy. We are proud to be among the first players in the luxury sector to have embarked on this path and to be considered a reference in the field today.”
Targets Prada will seek to meet as part of its agreement with UniCredit will include reducing waste from its leathergoods and footwear production. It has committed to passing waste materials on to third parties so that they can be used to make new products, to generate energy or to make fertiliser.
Image shows the Prada leathergoods factory at Scandicci, near Florence.
