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Yesterday we attended Stella McCartney's AW 2022/23 fashion show in Paris. This season, 67% of the ready-to-wear collection was made from conscious materials. As always, the collection was free from animal leather, feathers and fur, and features forest-friendly viscose, organic cotton, recycled nylon, recycled polyester, regenerative NATIVA wool and RWS wool from traceable sources. Stella McCartney is the brand that leads our ranking of the best luxury fashion brands in the market. We explain here why.
Since 2001, Stella McCartney promotes a cruelty-free and ethical philosophy and stand against the use of leather, fur, skins and feathers in all collections. The company also support technological labs working on new materials. Since 2012, Stella McCartney is measuring its business impact, from raw materials, the making process and selling in the stores. The tool measures greenhouse gas emissions, water use, water pollution, land use, air pollution and waste across the entire global supply chain and then translated into a monetary value, mapping the hidden costs and benefits from each operation. These insights drive the company's innovation and help make better, more sustainable decisions.
Since 2013, the brand is using alter-nappa (vegetarian leather). Instead of virgin cashmere, the brand uses Re.VersoTM, recycled cashmere made from post-factory cashmere waste. All of the viscose comes from sustainably managed and certified forests fully traceable and transparent. Also last year, Stella McCartney launched the first ever garments made out of mushroom “leather”.Each year the brand uses between 10-15% metals out of all the materials used. Today 61% of the cotton used is certified organic. The brand is working on gaining farm-level traceability for the cotton since 94% of the cotton the brand use is traced back to the country of origin. Also, Stella McCartney was the first in fashion to achieve, Gold-Level Cradle to Cradle Certification for one of their most-used wool yarns. On the other hand, the brand's goal is to stop using virgin nylon by switching to Econyl® regenerated nylon.
Stella McCartney is member of the Ethical Trading Initiative since 2012, annually reporting them on all activities and progress in the code of labor of the company. They took control of its supply chain in 2016, mapping its manufacturers and product suppliers worldwide. The brand holds regular and unannounced audits to identify potential risks. If some obstacles occur the suppliers are invited to participate in improvement projects. The improvement projects include understanding and addressing the causes of particular challenges and developing a mechanism that prevents such issues from occurring again. Some of these projects are done in collaboration with other brands and local stakeholders to maximize the impact. All of these actions highlight the importance Stella McCartney puts also in the human capital that are part of her brand's story.
Since 2016 Stella McCartney reports annually a modern slavery statement according to a British law passed in 2015. In 2018, the brand co-sponsored an exciting prize with PETA- the Biodesign Challenge- the first-ever Animal-Free Wool, encouraging participants worldwide to develop biofabricated vegan wool. Last 2021, Stella McCartney launched the future of fashion attending COP 26.
(*) All the data used for this ranking has been extracted from an exhaustive study of all the corporate information shared by the brand.
+ Words:
Belvis Soler
Luxiders Magazine