Being one of the foremast global luxury brands brings recognition and value, but it also comes along with responsibility. On the one hand for customers, employees and shareholder, on the other hand for the environment. I want to introduce my todays´ article with a quote of the current CEO of Burberry Mr. Marco Gobbetti who recently said the following:
“Modern luxury means being socially and environmentally responsible. This belief is core to us at Burberry and key to our long-term success. We are committed to applying the same creativity to all parts of Burberry as we do to our products”
Interesting in this quotation is the emphasis on the social and environmental responsibility as part of Burberrys core. This fact underlines how important it is for Burberry to capture the sustainable need of the people worldwide and increase their public image. Public attention gained Burberry already in 2017 when they announced to aim to source 100 % of its cotton through the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) by 2022.
Additionally to the BCI, Burberry engaged with their supply chain partners, academics, NGOs and internal and external stakeholders to set up a responsible sourcing strategy for cotton.
Just recently Burberry’s responsibility programme director, Pauline Bohl, proclaimed that since 2017 the brand has already sourced 21% of our cotton through the Better Cotton Initiative. Not surprisingly in my eyes is the fact that Burberry is the one and only luxury brand among 38 different brands who is involved in the initiative. The brand has shown over the last years an instinct to capture peoples needs and being distinctive without loosing the exclusiveness and reputation they enjoy in public. Whether going as one of the first luxury brands digital or now being the first who is highly involved in using 100% sustainable cotton, Burberry is the leader of the team.
As part of the responsibility agenda “Creating Tomorrow´s Heritage”, the brand focuses on 3 goals, which cover Burberry´s operations:
1) Stop the practice of burning unsaleable products, which is supported by Burberry´s business strategy to tackle the causes of waste.
As the company announced in September 2018, they acknowledged to had burnt unused merchandise with a value of US$37 Million in 2017 to preserve the exclusiveness of the brand and as a guard against counterfeit. The response was a firestorm, particularly by environmental groups and investors. However, Burberry´s management released a statement afterwards to stop burning unsaleable merchandise in the future due to their sustainable strategy.
Interesting is, that even though a few weeks before Burberry had confessed their efforts of burning merchandise, the Dow Jones Sustainability Index ranked Burberry as the leading luxury brand in year 2018. They have been included in the index’s "Textiles, Apparel & Luxury Goods" sector for the fourth year due to their series of eco-friendly initiatives.
This index is highly used by investors, who take sustainability considerations for decision-making and investments into account.
2) 100% of Burberry products have more than one indicator that leads positive change.
The brand aims to achieve environmental improvements, through for instance cotton made products, which are sourced through the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI).
Furthermore, Burberry established in 2017 the Burberry Material Futures Research Group to invent new sustainable materials for the fashion industry. Ultimately, the brand just recently announced to stop using real fur and will phase out existing real fur products.
Interesting in my opinion is a statement of Wendy Higgins of Humane Society International UK. She said, that “Most British consumers don’t want anything to do with the cruelty of fur and so this is absolutely the right decision by this quintessentially British brand. Burberry´s (…) sending a strong message to designers like Prada still using fur, who are looking more and more isolated and outdated by the day.”
The quotation underlines the influence of the British consumers on the brands decision. As I investigated in the previous articles, Burberry has a really strong bond to their roots, so for me it seemed like that due to the rejection of British consumers the brand adjusted their strategy towards a “Non-Fur-Strategy”.
Additionally, Burberry stands out with that strategy, since direct competitors like Prada still use real fur and isolate themselves.
3) Support one million people in the communities that sustain Burberry’s business and the wider luxury industry.
One of the brands goals is it to develop a more inclusive and sustainable cashmere industry through a commitment with Oxfam and Pur Projet in Afghanistan, since most of Burberry´s apparel contains cashmere.
Hence, the efforts of Burberry towards a sustainable production due to their social as well as environmental responsibility are in my eyes the right direction to go. It shows how innovative the brand is especially for new beliefs and trends which are actually contrary to their old business activities. Can you imagine that the majority of costumers back in the days would like to buy a jacket with non real fur? A brand, that claims to be luxurious and exclusive uses recycled gabardine for the trench coat? I don’t think customers would have been happy.
However, beliefs have changed. In fact, consumers are changing, thus it is tremendously important for a brand to react quickly. The sustainability and environment awareness has been strongly increased for the last years and so the demand for “environmental friendly” products. To integrate sustainability in the core of the brand strategy, was, particularly in the long term, a thoughtful decision.
A wise man once said "The Earth is a fine place and worth fighting for." - Ernest Hemingway
Cheers!
Niklas
Sources:
1)https://www.drapersonline.com/news/burberry-named-leading-luxury-brand-for-sustainability/7032166.article
2)https://apparelinsider.com/1444-2/
3)https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/sep/06/burberry-to-stop-burning-unsold-items-fur-after-green-criticism
4)https://www.burberryplc.com/en/news-and-media/press-releases/responsibility/2018/burberry-is-the-leading-luxury-brand-in-the-2018-dow-jones-susta.html
5)https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/fashion-beauty/article/2165225/where-burberry-waste-goes-now-british-fashion-brand-isnt
6)https://bettercotton.org/23-more-renowned-companies-pledge-to-source-100-sustainable-cotton-by-2025/
Picture Sources:
1) https://www.burberryplc.com/en/news-and-media/press-releases/responsibility/2018/burberry-is-the-leading-luxury-brand-in-the-2018-dow-jones-susta.html
2)https://www.just-style.com/comment/more-action-needed-to-trace-raw-materials_id120891.aspx
3)https://www.wgsn.com/blogs/lfw-ss18-burberry-christopher-bailey/
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