In 2018/2019 financial year, Burberry group bought 49% of hides and skins from tanneries provided with environmental, social and traceability certification. Therefore, they have been increasing by 1%, compared to the previous year. In their Annual Report, published on June 5, the British luxury group pointed out they achieved such accomplishment thanks to a profitable and close cooperation with Italian tanneries: they liaised with them on traceability projects. Burberry’s aim is to reach 100% of supply from certified tanneries within 2022: at present, cotton, cashmere and leather account for 30% of the group’s greenhouse gas emissions.
One year at work
The British group, led by Marco Gobbetti, have not been focusing their efforts on certification only. In fact, they keep spotlighting one more issue as well: the optimization of chemical consumption in the industry production cycle. With regard to that, Burberry may also rely on the accomplishments they carried out thanks to a valuable partnership with ZDHC, a project in which UNIC – Italian Tanneries are involved as well. The project culminated in an event, which took place at the Polytechnic of Milan and engaged over 250 fashion system operators.
The value of leather
Burberry focus their strategies on leather and sustainability. It is no coincidence that one of the British group’s main manufacturing commitments has been the creation, in Italy, of Burberry Manifatture (Burberry Manufactures), a 21-million-pound overall investment. In the meantime, they carried on with a number of projects with regard to recycling and reutilization: since 2017, Burberry’s partnership with Elvis & Kresse enabled the group to recycle and reuse 3.7 tons of swatches. Over the last year “we handled – as one can read in the report – about 20,000 repairs and requests for spare parts with regard to several products: from our beloved leather items to vintage accessories”.
Pictures taken from social networks
