ISLE OF WIGHT, England — September 25, 2023 — Italian luxury fashion brand, Gucci, has won the Ellen MacArthur Foundation Award for Circular Economy at this year’s Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana Sustainable Fashion Awards.
Gucci won the accolade for its efforts to create quality garments fit for a circular economy and continued commitment to using materials grown in a way which supports the natural environment.
The brand’s ‘Denim project’ set a high bar for incorporating regeneratively-grown cotton in its denim collections in partnership with Regenagri®-certified Algosur farm in Spain, combined with post-consumer recycled fibers collected and re-spun in Italy.
Available in 2024, the items in the project will also include a digital product passport tracing the journey from raw materials to manufacturing and production, as well as providing information about product care and repair services.
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation Award for Circular Economy recognizes leaders in the fashion industry embracing circular economy principles in their work and taking steps to tackle climate change, biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution.
Finalists for the Award — Chloé and ACS Clothing — were also recognized for making
significant progress towards a circular economy for fashion.
Andrew Morlet, CEO of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, said: “In the world of fashion, our vision of a circular economy is one where products are used more, are made to be made again, and are produced from safe and recycled or renewable inputs.
“We’re delighted to see top players in the global fashion industry — winner Gucci and finalists Chloé and ACS Clothing — embrace these circular economy principles in their products and through redesigning entire business models.
“Transforming the fashion system won’t happen overnight. But collaboration across the industry from the design of future products to the processes, services, supply chains and business models that will deliver them and keep them in use, gives us hope that a circular economy for fashion can become the norm.”
The annual CNMI Sustainable Fashion Awards took place in Milan, Italy, on September 24, awarding brands and organizations for their commitment to sustainable fashion.
Gucci has implemented a series of processes allowing its garments to be used more, remade, and recycled, eliminating waste and pollution by design.
This builds on its long-term commitment to invest in regenerative agriculture and nature-based solutions, having last year won the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana (CNMI) Climate Action Award for a collaboration with a regenerative sheep farm in Uruguay to source wool for its collections.
“We are proud to receive the Ellen MacArthur Foundation Award for Circular Economy in recognition of Gucci’s efforts to embed circularity across our business model at this year’s CNMI Sustainable Fashion Awards,” said Jean-François Palus, Gucci’s CEO.
“Building scalable collaborations is a vital part of Gucci’s strategy and the ‘Denim project’ is an example of combining the many strengths of the House’s supply chain partners and leveraging innovative tech to enhance circular economy principles.”
Finalist Chloé, a participant of The Jeans Redesign project run by the Foundation, demonstrated how it was possible to implement changes on a major scale, making 90% of its jeans portfolio circular in design, using durable, traceable, safe and recycled materials in the garments.
ACS Clothing, which is helping to drive an industry-wide shift by making it easier for brands and retailers to embrace circular business models, was shortlisted for its efforts to keep clothing in use. It offers a range of services to its partners including rental, repair, resale and fulfillment to make garments last longer.
Posted September 26, 2023
Source: Ellen MacArthur Foundation
