Sharing a sustainable point

Francois-Henri Pinault, chairman and CEO of Kering, believes business success and being sustainable go hand in hand: it’s simply smart business. And he wants to share his group’s knowledge, even with competitors.Speaking at Parsons The New School for Design in New York during a Kering Talk last week, he declared: “We will share EP&L [environmental profit & loss account] methodology with anyone interested in the industry. If we keep it as a competitive advantage, we completely miss the point!

FASHION AND SUSTAINABILITY WILL BE ONE AND THE SAME.”

 

He was taking part in the discussion Why sustainable fashion is smart business with representative experts in the environment and education: Natural Resources Defense Council health and environment director Linda Greer; Parsons Associate in Applied Science (AAS) programme director Timo Rissanen and Parsons board of governors’ member Simon Collins. The conference was attended by an invited audience of 400, who included opinion leaders, the press and 250 students.

 

This was the third edition of Kering Talks, a series of conversations organised in conjunction with Fast Company magazine, featuring luminaries and creative minds whose goals are to ignite innovation and inspire social change. Topics include: creativity, women’s empowerment, sustainability and young talent. Fast Company is a cutting-edge publication that reports on how ‘fast companies’, start-ups and entrepreneurs, are developing The Next Big Thing, exploring new design or leading with a new vision.