Upcycling, recycling and regeneration

Our circular approach: finding collaborative solutions

Upcycling consists of transforming used materials into higher quality products. Kering’s Houses adopt a circular approach in a constant endeavor to find new collection and recycling solutions. The Group’s brands have joined forces with NGOs and cooperatives in an effort to optimize leather and textile scrap management in their operations. 

Since 2018, Kering has partnered with La Réserve des Arts, an NGO that collects scrap materials and offcuts from businesses and cultural institutions in the Paris region, and since 2020 in Marseille, for reuse by creative professionals.

In addition, Kering has been supporting Tissons la Solidarité since 2019, which is developing upcycling training for seamstresses as part of a professional reintegration program.
The Group has demonstrated its ambitions through other initiatives including a strategic partnership with ECONYL® to produce and supply nylon made from plastic waste. As such, Kering is successfully regenerating its waste through nylon within a fully traceable supply chain. 

In June 2020, Gucci for example launched Gucci Off The Grid, the first collection from Gucci Circular Lines, an initiative created with the House’s circular design innovation to champion the regeneration of materials and textiles, wasting less and minimizing the use of new resources. Gucci Off The Grid uses recycled, organic, bio-based and sustainably sourced materials, including ECONYL®. To support a continued cycle, the ECONYL® offcuts are recovered from Gucci Off The Grid’s manufacturing and then recycled to create new ECONYL® materials as part of the “GUCCI-ECONYL® Pre-consumer Fabric Take Back” Program. Leather scraps from the collection are also recovered and upcycled as part of the Gucci-Up program.

Moreover, the Group is working with the startup Worn Again, which has developed a solution to separate polyester polymers from the cellulose of the non-reusable textile and transform them into new fabric. The process can also be applied to bottles and plastic packaging. As one of the first investors in the solution — dating back to 2015 — Kering benefits from premium access to Worn Again’s circular PET and cellulose products. 
 

Our purpose: designing more circular packaging

In 2020, Kering helped launch The Circular Polybag pilot, a multi-brand initiative led by Fashion for Good, partnered by the Group since 2017. It signals the first-ever attempt by the fashion and luxury world to find a circular solution to polybags, aimed at facilitating the creation of new and entirely recycled bags. The solution brings Kering closer to creating a closed loop system. 

As part of the Fashion Pact, Kering pledged to step up its efforts through a number of targets:
•    eliminate single-use plastic in B2C and B2B packaging by 2025 and 2030; 
•    minimize product packaging in the Group’s supply chain, using certified and recyclable materials.
 

Our first priority: reusing materials

Kering continually seeks the most impactful solutions to lessening and optimizing scraps of fabrics and other raw materials such as nylon, leather and cashmere. For instance, scraps are recycled to create new materials that may be used to produce Houses’ collections and in the design of the Group’s stores and offices.

Kering actively participates in multiple programs that effectively reuse, upcycle and recycle its materials, products and packaging. In parallel, the Group works alongside public and private players to strengthen its related businesses. Kering joined Fashion for Good’s Full Circle Textiles Project - Scaling Innovations in Cellulosic Recycling initiative in a bid to support and accelerate the development of industrial recycling infrastructure. The chemical recycling pilot brings together fashion industry players and aims to convert textile waste—of cotton and cotton-blend materials—to produce new man-made cellulosic fibers using state-of-the-art technology.

Kering and its Houses have now formed several partnerships to collect waste and offcuts from production processes and fashion shows, for recycling and reuse. Since 2015, the ready-to-wear division in Novara (Italy) has worked closely with local fashion schools and academies. In 2019, 5,100 meters of fabric were shared among nine different European schools.