According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the fashion industry is the second most polluting in the world. These data have prompted many fashion brands to focus on combating environmental impact by seeking sustainable materials, creating collections with eco-friendly materials, and launching global awareness campaigns, so that fashion has a long-lasting and responsible future.
Let’s take a look at some of the luxury brands that have already started their sustainable luxury handbag proposals:
HERMÈS
The French luxury brand has announced an exclusive collaboration with the American start-up MycoWorks, which specializes in producing biomaterials from mycelium.
The result of this partnership has been the creation of a redesigned version of the ‘Victoria’ handbag crafted using Fine Mycelium – making it the first object created with this technology patented by MycoWorks – and the development of a new material: Sylvania. With these elements, a new generation of materials is emerging, stemming from the fusion of nature and biotechnology.
“We couldn’t imagine a better partner than Hermès to introduce our first object made of fine mycelium. Hermès and MycoWorks share common values of craftsmanship, quality, innovation, and patience.” – Matt Scullin, CEO of MycoWorks
Victoria handbag by Hermès created with ‘Fine Mycelium’ from MycoWorks
With this project, the French brand demonstrates its ethical and social commitment to Planet Earth and contributes its grain of sand to the global awareness campaign on this issue. Hermès aims to nurture the future of materials to maximize their longevity and ensure the search for new sustainable materials and open up new design possibilities that are less harmful to the environment.
LOEWE
‘The Surplus Project’. This is the name of the series launched by Loewe featuring handwoven baskets made from surplus leather, crafted with recycled material from past collections.
Presentation handbag from the new ‘The Surplus project’ collection by Loewe
We recently learned about their Eye/LOEWE/Nature collection, created with organic and recycled fabrics. This new step in sustainable luxury handbags highlights the luxury brand’s commitment to sustainability.
While continuing to create high-quality products, the new project uses the two most representative types of leathers of the house (classic smooth calf and soft-grained calf), redesigning them into woven baskets and a crab-shaped charm.
The production process involves cutting narrow strips of surplus leather in different shades and then weaving them together with colors and textures resembling those of the rainbow.
The woven basket design is a classic of the brand. The first design was presented in the Spring-Summer 2015 collection, becoming an icon of the house since then. This collection includes the Super Woven Basket bag, paying homage to the classic piece and adding a human and ethical touch.
Sustainable woven bags from Loewe’s new collection
‘The Surplus Project’ also includes a two-tone crab-shaped charm, crafted with carefully folded surplus leather. The tones of these charms match the chromatic range of the woven baskets.
This new Loewe project becomes a new contribution to sustainability and an example of an innovative initiative aimed at reducing the impact on our planet.
COACH
The North American luxury house has launched a new collection called Coach Forever, under the slogan ‘Call it thinking about the future’. This celebrates the optimism of enduring things. The repertoire consists of 19 sustainable luxury handbags, made with tanned hides and dyed with natural and vegetable products.
The new sustainable collection ‘Coach Forever’
Additionally, they feature new woven leather made from remnants of their previous collections and bags produced with 25 recycled bottles.
Coach Forever includes 9 different handbag models:
The Ergo shoulder bag, the Swinger 20 model, and the Rogue 17. These are made with original natural leather specially treated with responsibly sourced dyes and organic wax for a soft touch.
Bags with responsible dyeing. From left to right: Ergo Shoulder Bag, Swinger 20, and Rogue 17 models
The Woven Ergo Shoulder Bag, the Tote Field 30 Woven model, and the Tote Field 22 Woven, which contains reused leather and are made with a weave of strips of leather remnants from previous Coach collections, finished with soft tanned leather.
From left to right: Tote Field 22 Woven Bag, Tote Field 30 Woven Bag
Another model is the Tote 30, made with a retro-style “Recycling Makes Me Feel Good” print and crafted with recycled leather and canvas made from plastic bottles.
They also have the Tote 42, created with a “Save Our Earth” print, made with canvas from plastic bottles and recycled leather. And finally, the Rogue 25 model, is made with granulated leather with natural dye and soft tanned leather.
Tote 30 model from the Coach Forever collection
“At Coach, we believe that better-made things create a better future for everyone. Why? Because keeping and using what you buy longer (even just a few months longer) reduces the impact of these items on the planet.”
Coach has all its recyclable shopping bags made with 55 percent recycled content in its retail stores and 60 percent in its outlets. Additionally, the boxes are also recyclable. They are made with 60 percent recycled content in both retail and outlet stores. They aim to achieve a minimum of 75 percent recycled content in their packaging by 2025.
The luxury brand and its Tapestry family were nominated by Barron in 2020 as one of the Most Sustainable Companies in the United States.
STELLA McCARTNEY
The British designer has become one of the leaders in sustainability within the fashion world. The English brand is deeply committed to environmental causes and dedicates a whole section on its website to explain the mission the brand has regarding sustainability.
“Every decision we make is a symbol of our commitment to defining what the future of fashion will be”.
The fashion brand is committed to creating luxury pieces that reduce environmental impact by seeking new innovative tools and eco-friendly materials of high quality. In short, creating luxury products without causing unnecessary harm to the planet.
We have recently seen their commitment to the collection they launched in collaboration with Adidas for this Spring-Summer 21, in which eco-friendly materials such as ‘Prime Green’ and ‘Prime Blue’ have been integrated to reduce polyester.
In 2019, they launched a collection of sustainable garments for the Mytheresa website and the following year, they launched a capsule collection, called ‘We Are The Weather,’ as a call to action against climate change. They also included a line of biodegradable jeans.
Regarding materials, they have focused on conservation projects, ceasing to use virgin material to create pieces with redesigned material, such as cashmere. According to the English house, they have reduced their environmental impact related to this material by 92%.
Since 2012, all their sustainable luxury handbags have been lined with fabric made from recycled water bottles, and they use recycled polyester instead of virgin polyester in all their collections, whenever possible.
Stella McCartney’s goal for 2020 was to stop using virgin nylon and switch to regenerated nylon ECONYL®. They have also taken responsibility for other materials such as cotton, transitioning to organic cotton, or Fur-Free-Fur, announced in their first launch in 2001, to avoid animal cruelty.
Additionally, they use fibers from forests they know are protected and enriched to protect the species living there. On the other hand, they continue to work on reducing the impact of their metals since they explain that every year between 10-15% of their raw materials are metals. For this, they have developed an alternative of stainless steel and aluminum.
Moreover, they are researching new ways to create silk, using vegan leather, and their wool comes from animal welfare farms.
Their environmental responsibility does not end here; the British designer has also participated in global awareness campaigns on social media, starting with viral challenges. An example is the 2019 challenge called ‘Thereshegrows‘. With this, they managed to raise a considerable amount of money to help deforestation and the destruction of the Leuser ecosystem in Indonesia.
There is increasing social awareness about caring for our planet, thanks to the various campaigns that have been carried out worldwide. Some luxury brands are increasingly joining the commitment to research and produce new sustainable materials. These 4 brands are an example of some luxury brands that have already committed to the cause.
Images provided by the mentioned brands.
