Outstanding Presentation on Sustainability last nite: Laurent Claquin (ISSP NYC)

Laurent Claquin (left) & Tensie Whelan (right)

Ahead of the Sustainability Curve: Kering Americas

Mr. Claquin shared many examples of how Kering Americas is setting the pace for sustainability in the luxury fashion industry, including:

• Charter and Code of Conduct – Sustainability has been integral to both company documents since the Nineties
• Part of Annual Reviews – Kering Executives are rated each year on how well they achieved the company’s sustainability goals
• EPNL – Environmental Profit And Loss Index (A unique app developed by Kering used to determine the environmental impact of their products).
• Responsible Sourcing – raw materials used in Kering products are responsibly sourced, e.g., their diamonds are 100% traceable to certified mines
• “Vegetable Leather” – Stella McCartney, one of the Kering Companies, uses a plant-based leather for many of their product lines.
• Recycling Fabric – The company recycles by removing the polyester from used fabrics and reusing the cotton
• Less Water / Fewer Chemicals – are metrics in much of the company’s production.
• R&D To Grow Leather From Stem Cells.

Q. What Got You So Interested In Sustainability?

When asked the above question by Mark Wolf, one of the co-founders of ISSP NYC, during the Q&A, Claquin gave a surprising and memorable answer:

A. “I was once on one of the Greek Islands in the Mediterranean around 30 years ago, and I wanted to order locally-caught fish for dinner that night. The restaurant on the island had fish from many other countries, but none from their own waters. And when I went diving the next day, I saw why — there were no fish in the waters around the island! I realized then the urgency.”

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