Longchamp stand up against greenwashing: they highly regard sustainability, which is a distinctive practice of luxury manufacturing, yet they are unwilling to accept slogans. By the way, Longchamp made things clear: “Vegan leather is false”. The French fashion brand makes use of synthetic materials: for the records, they have recently presented a collection of leather goods made of nylon. Let us call things by their proper name though. While speaking to Le Figaro – Madame, Jean Cassegrain, chief executive officer of Longchamp and grandson of its founder, pointed out: “People prefer simple messages, but things are complicated”.
Longchamp stand up against greenwashing
Sustainability is fashionable, even too much. That is why Longchamp are against greenwashing. “We are not willing to accept it! Our standpoint relies on the family culture of manufacturers and artisans – remarks Cassegrain –. We were up to sustainable development long time before they coined the phrase”. After all, some peculiarities are typical of high-end manufacturing. “Longchamp artisans care about their materials, dislike wastefulness and take the best of leather – carries on the chief executive officer –. We have not invented anything: such process has been traditionally going on in the history of leather goods”.
Vegan leather does not exist
While talking about greenwashing, Cassegrain also criticizes the booming supply of “vegan leather”, which is the marketing name often given to some alternative and substitute materials. What do you think about that, asks the interviewer? “This is not leather, therefore such name is not appropriate – shouts Longchamp CEO –. They seize that name inappropriately: vegan leather sounds good, but it is just a lie. Basically, we are talking about something like vinyl or artificial leather”.
The leather industry nobleness
Cassegrain bans phrasal and lexical shortcuts, which usually go hand in hand with fake news. “We happen to read so many stupid things about the subject – he remarks –. Leather is a renewable raw material. Nobody breeds a cow for its skin. Unlike petrol, we are not going to exhaust nature capacity”. Leather has a positive value then, as much as the leather manufacturing industry: “Tanneries have been recycling for five thousand years – he wraps up –, since they take something noble out of a waste product. It comes across as a polluting activity, though, conversely, it is a serious industry”.
Picture taken from Longchamp’s Facebook account
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