Saint Laurent, Gucci lead Kering's circular leather goals
In a recently released report, Circularity ambition: coming full circle, Paris-based luxury goods group Kering updated the industry on its progress away from a “take-make-waste” approach, as the group described it, towards circularity.
Significantly, a whole section of the report was dedicated to Kering-owned Saint Laurent’s use and reuse of leftover leather. The majority of leather cutting now takes place within the brand’s own ateliers, the group said, in order to improve efficiency and ensure access to the “most advanced” technology.
Saint Laurent’s Monogram line of small leathergoods has previously incorporated surplus leather leftover from its matching handbags, the report stated, while over the past few years an unspecified “exclusive partnership” has allowed the brand to make “new leather materials” through upcycling its own leather cuttings. According to Kering, the latest example of this is due to be launched for autumn-winter 2021, as part of Saint Laurent’s Sunset line of leathergoods.
Going further, the brand reported that most of its new stores opening throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa have been decorated (back of house) with the leather offcuts from previous collections, which have been assembled into flooring. This stated preference for reusing existing materials has “significantly” reduced the brand’s environmental impact, it said.
Meanwhile, Gucci recovered and was able to reuse and/or recycle 27 tonnes (27,000 kilograms) of leather scraps as part of its in-house Gucci-Up scheme between 2018 and 2020. The brand achieved this through collaborating with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and social cooperatives based in its home nation of Italy, the report explained (but did not go into detail).
In 2020 alone, Gucci collected and reused 25 tonnes (25,000 kilograms) of leather offcuts as fertiliser and recovered 17 tonnes (17,000 kilograms) of brass and gold from leftover and discontinued accessories’ hardware.
Further, as of last year all the house’s discontinued non-branded leathers (and fabrics) are also now reused internally or via external channels, including donating said materials to non-profits.
Balenciaga’s spring-summer and autumn-winter 2021 collections have reportedly both incorporated “sustainable” materials (93.5% of which have met Kering’s own standards for sustainability, in terms of the raw materials and manufacturing processes used) and the upcycling of second-hand clothing and accessories, inclusive of purchased deadstock or military surplus boots, motorbike trousers and women’s leather shoes.
Bottega Veneta, for its part, has been incorporating biodegradable polymer and recycled plastics in its shoe collections “for years”, Kering said, as well as using recycled nylon in its leathergoods and ready-to-wear collections.
Image: Saint Laurent via Instagram.
