A major player in luxury and eco-responsible, an utopia?

KERING is a global French group operating in the luxury sector. Created in 1962, it owns many renowned brands such as Gucci, Yves St Laurent, Balenciage, Alexander Mc Queen, Bottega Veneta, Boucheron among others.

Its business sectors are footwear, ready-to-wear, leather goods, watches and jewelry.

Kering in figures, it is a little more than 15 billion euros of turnover in 2019 generated by a dual distribution channel: 56% of own stores and 44% sales to third-party distributors and other revenues. It is also 30,956 employees worldwide.

Regarding sustainable development, Francois-Henri Pinault, current CEO of Kering, declares that it is a deeply rooted conviction and that it has always occupied a central place in the Group's strategy. “Much more than an ethical imperative, it is a source of innovation and value creation for the Group, for its Houses and for its stakeholders. From the Board of Directors to the Sustainable Development Committee, via the network of managers of our Houses, the Sustainability Leads, sustainable development is represented at every level of our governance. In total, more than fifty employees are involved in the implementation of our roadmap. "

To be convinced of this, you have to go back the years and realize that a number of commitments have been made in the history of the group. Let us retain a few major examples illustrating this point ( Source: Kering - Sustainable development - A historic commitment)

• 1996: already at this time, the Group, then named PPR, decided to adopt a first Ethics Charter and thus manifested its desire to place social and environmental responsibility at the heart of its operations and organization.
• 2003: Kering sets up a team dedicated to Sustainable Development with a digital environmental reporting platform.
• 2005: The Group publishes its first Code of Ethics, reflecting Kering's ethical principles, deep convictions and commitments in terms of business conduct. Translated into 12 languages, it is sent to all employees. To ensure its proper application and process feedback from the field, Kering sets up a Group ethics committee.
• 2007: Creation of the Sustainable Development Department, represented on the Executive Committee and reporting directly to the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
• 2009: The Group and several of its brands actively support the film Home, produced by Yann Arthus-Bertrand to raise public awareness of the consequences of global warming. Released in theaters in more than one hundred countries on June 5, 2009, World Environment Day, the documentary marks the spirits by its aerial images which encourage awareness of our responsibility towards the planet and its inhabitants. . It will be seen by nearly 150 million people.
• 2010: The achievement of sustainable development objectives is included among the criteria for calculating the performance and bonuses of Group executives.
• 2011: The Group publishes a pilot version of the Environmental Profit and Loss Account (EP&L), a pioneering tool for measuring the impacts of its activity on the environment and translating them into monetary value.
• 2012: Kering publishes its objectives in terms of sustainable development for 2016. A structuring and ambitious program which concerns all of its brands. The Group is also setting up a Sustainable Development Committee within its Board of Directors.
• 2013: After a first change in 2009, the Kering Code of Ethics is updated and distributed to all employees. At the same time, the Group is strengthening its organization by creating two regional ethics committees (APAC and Americas) as well as an “ethics hotline” in all the countries where the Group operates.
• 2013 A library of samples of sustainable fabrics and textiles available to all brands: with the creation of the Materials Innovation Lab (MIL), Kering enables creative teams to identify sustainable and responsible alternatives for their collections. Located in Italy and continuously supplied, the MIL now brings together more than 3,000 samples and functions as a real platform for materials and processes at Group level.
• 2014: Kering launches an ethics training campaign for all Group employees. This reiterates Kering's commitments on major ethical issues: fight against corruption, fraud, conflict of interest, respect for individuals, human rights, environmental protection, business confidentiality, etc. It also presents scenarios that echo the dilemmas that Group employees may be confronted with. The training has since been renewed every year.
• 2014: Associated with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the International Trade Center, Kering launches the “Partnership for the preservation of pythons”, which aims to improve practices in the sector.
• 2015: The publication by Kering of the first Environmental Income Statement at group level opens the way to new perspectives and encourages companies to develop innovative solutions to measure their impact on the environment.
• 2016; Intuitive, designed for students and the fashion industry, the My EP&L application allows you to immediately visualize and compare the environmental impacts of a creation, from sourcing to in-store sales.
• 2017: Kering presents its sustainable development strategy for 2025, structured around three pillars: Care, Collaborate, Create. New objectives and a renewed ambition: Shaping the luxury of tomorrow.
• 2018: Kering formalizes and publishes its “Kering Standards”, a series of industry-leading environmental and social requirements for its brands and suppliers.
• 2019: Corporate Knights' 2019 Global 100 ranking ranks Kering as the second most sustainable company in the world, across all sectors. As in 2018, the Group ranks first in the “Textiles, clothing and luxury goods” sector.

For the future, Kering intends to stay the course and remain among the leading companies in terms of environmental protection. To do this, Kering has committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2015.

According to a recently published press release which augurs well for the group's unwavering ethical commitment: "100%" responsible "gold sourcing for its watches and jewelry which was to be purchased by 2025 have already been achieved, likewise for organic cotton in the collections which stands at 30%. "

Kering also indicated that "it now" fully "compensates for the greenhouse emissions generated by all of its activities, including its supply chain, notably through forest protection programs. "