Luxury fashion brands need to work together if the industry is to bring about lasting change, according to Antoine Arnault, head of image and environment at French luxury giant LVMH.
“I think it’s important that we bring together the leaders of this industry, the luxury industry, to work together,” he said at the Global Fashion Summit, held June 27-28 in Copenhagen.
Arnault, who is also CEO of Berluti and son of LVMH chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault, pointed out that last year LVMH hosted a forum for its wines and spirits division that brought together industry experts. “We worked, as we say, as ‘open source’. We have tried to share best practices and to think about how we can help suppliers to become better in many areas.”
“And that is also an issue in the fashion industry that we have to work on. So I would say that maybe we could try to get everyone, not just LVMH, but the entire industry, on the same page.” He added that LVMH is also reaching out to its competitors “to find the right standards , the right way to do business”.
Even if luxury companies don’t produce as many garments per year as fast fashion giants, they often have huge supply chains and a huge environmental footprint. LVMH – parent company of the fashion houses Louis Vuitton and Dior – is the largest luxury group in the world. Last year it achieved record net sales of €79.2 billion and a profit from recurring activities of €21.1 billion.
Not joining the Fashion Pact
The group had come under criticism in the past for poor sustainability practices and a lack of transparency in its supply chain. At the Global Fashion Summit, Arnault addressed the company’s decision not to join the Fashion Pact, an initiative launched four years ago aimed at driving the green transition in the industry.
“I know that a few years ago we were very much criticized when we didn’t sign the famous Fashion Pact. Simply because we didn’t think it was right at the time to be associated with the fast fashion players in this industry. We felt, without wanting to criticize their approach, that we would not do the same. And we also felt that we can’t all be lumped together – we can’t have the same goals or the exact same mindset,” Arnault explained.
Regarding sustainable goals, Arnault said the group had decided to move away from “very long-term goals that were impossible to validate or sometimes even to understand” and instead set short- and medium-term goals.
environmental goals
The company has set a goal this year to reduce its energy consumption by 10 percent between October 2022 and October 2023; Reduce greenhouse gas emissions from energy use by 11 percent and reduce Scope 3 emissions by 15 percent. It has also committed to ensuring full traceability for all its raw materials by 2025.
It remains to be seen whether the company will achieve these goals. Arnault said he is “very optimistic” about sustainability at LVMH in the years to come.
He noted that designer Stella McCartney – whose eponymous label LVMH acquired a stake in in 2019 – is also helping to pick up the pace with her “hyper-innovative” approach to new materials. “She has all the solutions; we just need to be able to scale them and make them usable not only for smaller brands but also for big maisons,” he said.
Arnault is just one of many industry representatives attending this year’s Global Fashion Summit. Other heavyweight fashion companies present include competitor Kering, sportswear giant Nike, Tommy Hilfiger parent PVH and The North Face parent VF Corp.
Keep an eye out for more coverage of the Global Fashion Summit from FashionUnited.
This article originally appeared on FashionUnited.uk. Translated and edited by Simone Preuss.