British designer brand, Burberry, has announced it will stop the practise of destroying unsaleable products, with immediate effect.
The commitment comes after the brand received public criticism for destroying unsold clothes, accessories and perfume worth £28.6m in 2017 to “protect its brand”.
The commitment builds on goals set as part of the brand’s five-year responsibility agenda and is supported by its new strategy, which is helping tackle the causes of waste, the brand says.
“Modern luxury means being socially and environmentally responsible. This belief is core to us at Burberry and key to our long-term success. We are committed to applying the same creativity to all parts of Burberry as we do to our products.”
“We already reuse, repair, donate or recycle unsaleable products and we will continue to expand these efforts,” it says.
Launched in 2017, Burberry’s Responsibility agenda to 2022, focuses on three goals:
- Drive positive change through 100% of Burberry’s products
- Become carbon neutral, revalue waste
- Positively impact one million people.
However, it says to respect “regulatory constraints”, in “exceptional circumstances”, it may dispose of damaged, defective or expired beauty products where recycling is not an option.
“We will continue to explore methods of recycling or reusing such products within the regulatory constraints,” it says.
Marco Gobbetti, Chief Executive Officer, commented: “Modern luxury means being socially and environmentally responsible. This belief is core to us at Burberry and key to our long-term success. We are committed to applying the same creativity to all parts of Burberry as we do to our products.”
Burberry also confirms it will no longer use real fur and will phase out existing real fur products.
May 2018, Burberry became a core partner of the Make Fashion Circular Initiative convened by the Ellen McArthur Foundation. In the past year, it has created a partnership with sustainable luxury company Elvis & Kresse to transform 120 tonnes of leather offcuts into new products over the next five years.
It has also supported the Burberry Foundation in establishing the Burberry Material Futures Research Group with the Royal College of Art to invent new sustainable materials.
