Luxury Italian giants to become more sustainable

The Apparel Impact Institute’s new initiative is promising to reduce the environmental impact caused by the Italian luxury sector. It is establishing a network for manufacturers to coordinate and carry out projects with measurable environmental impact. It is recently working with Burberry, Stella McCartney and Kering, to spearhead the initiative.

Their main focus is energy, water and chemistry. Their propaganda is to unite brands, manufacturers, philanthropy and nonprofits for identifying the top environmental issues; creating an action plan for mitigation, expanding awareness and funding initiatives, and sharing best practices for environmental improvement. AII president Lewis Perkins says to bring AII’s technology and intelligence into Italy’s luxury apparel and footwear producers. As the vaccine distribution is progressing; some leniency has been brought to the restrictions, suiting to be an appropriate time for Italy’s fashion sector to make improvements for a better future.

The program was launched at the end of 2020 with a prioritized group of Italian manufacturers by AII and will be involving more partners in the next phase.The program was launched at the end of 2020 with a prioritized group of Italian manufacturers by AII and will be involving more partners in the next phase. AII’s first European partner, Stella McCartney was the first one to execute the ‘Clean by Design’ program by NRDC in 2013. Kering is also its goal of a 40 percent reduction in Environmental Profit & Loss (EP&L) by 2025 by joining AII.

Burberry wants to share its mindset of empowering suppliers by joining AII. It understands that it takes a collective effort to pursue targeted actions to make a meaningful system, says Pam Batty, Burberry’s vice president. They appreciate the AII’s efforts to collectively take fashion chains towards sustainability.

In 2019, it set out to scale a mill improvement program that garnered participation from partners such as Arvind Ltd., Gap Inc., Target and PVH Corp., and most recently partnered with JCPenney for supply chain enhancements.