Contemporary Issues in Luxury: Stella McCartney Sustainability Report

This report provides a detailed analysis of Stella McCartney's approach to sustainability within the luxury fashion industry. It begins with an introduction to the concept of sustainability in luxury, highlighting the historical context and contemporary issues. The report then presents the Stella McCartne...Read More

COURSE WORK 2 GROUP SUBMISSION CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN
LUXURY
GROUP MEMBERS: AKAANCHA, AISHWARYA, FARHEEN, MANISHA.
BRAND CHOOSED : STELLA MCARTNEY
TOPIC SELECTED: SUSTAINABILITY
THE WHOLE REPORT SHOULD CONSIST OF 3000 WORDS ( WE CAN DO A
PRESENTATION TOO BUT REPORT SUGGESTION WILL BE MUCH EASIER SO I
THOUGHT THIS WILL MAKE SENSE RATHER THAN DOING A LONG PRESENTATION.
THE REPORT SHOULD CONSIST OF 3000 WORDS IN TOTAL SO 750 WORDS EACH ONE
OF US HAS TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE REPORT.
THE REPORTS WILL CONSIST OF THE FOLLOWING THINGS

1. BACKGROUND/ INTRODUCTION OF THE SUSTAINABILITY GOING ON IN
LUXURY AND A BIT ABOUT THE CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN LUXURY.
(AAKANCHA)
1.Social history of the luxury and sustainable consumption indicate a conceptual opposition.
2.On analysing the concept of luxury notes in 1l994 Berry stated, “its inherent values of heroism,
expense, rarity, affluence, and inessentiality mean that it has, particularly in Europe, been
historically perceived as a social and moral transgression”.
3.Hobbes back in 1651 argued that natural insatiability for luxury of man lead to violence and
anarchy.
4.in contrast to luxury that inherited hedonism, aestheticism, rarity, affluence, superfluity and
immoral socio-historic narrative was sustainability that inherited ethically grounded values of
altruism, restraint and moderation.
5.manifestation of social norm is also reflected by the possession of luxury. Possession of luxury
indicates status wealth class and above all power. and braking the rule aids in ascendance of
power in other’s eyes. altogether the study suggests that to enhance one’s power and status they
consume luxury. this results in violating social norms related to responsible and sustainable
consumption rather than adopting them.
6.According to the research paper Can Sustainability be Luxurious? the result was a mix of
negative and positive comments in which Kapferer stated that sustainable characteristics are
possessed by luxury, calling it, “the business of lasting worth and durability”. While other saw
luxury as less desirable and non-sustainable product. It was also seen that when buying luxury
brand’s environmental commitment was the least significant selection criteria in luxury

purchasing decision. If we see there were more evidence that showed luxury possessed
sustainability in its DNA.
7.Sustainability and luxury are all about time. If a product is manufactured carefully,
handcrafted, tweaked and reshaped, that product would last longer and produce less waste. It’s
all a part of luxury DNA and in luxury sector with new thinkers sustainability is seen a driver of
innovation rather than a brake on it.
8.in August 2019 32 fashion companies including Chanel, Ralph Lauren and Prada along with
the fast fashion brands announced the signing of the Fashion Pact. its a non legal agreement that
binds the brands to combat greenhouse gasses and emphasise sustainability in the industry.
9.this pact is organised by Francois-Henri Pinault, CEO Kering group. it states that “we have
acknowledged the 21st century’s environmental issue and we are taking our responsibility
through collective action and common objective”.
10.Signing of this new industry pact can finally mean sustainability is more than just a trend, its
a responsibility.
11.the pact is vague yet lofty in its goals, it can have a real impact on the environment. Similarly
many luxury brands are moving towards sustainability and one of the example is Stella
McCartney.
12.luxury brand Stella McCartney is know for the use of vegetarian and animal free alternatives,
the founder Stella McCartney is a firm supporter of animal rights.
13.being a lifelong vegetarian Stella doesn’t use nay leather in her designs. she was described as
“consent and vocal” animal right supporter by The Guardian.
14.her designs reflects her support for animals. in her collection for addidas on one of the
jacket’s sleeve said, “suitable for sporty vegetarians”. there is also a pair od ultra suede and vinyl

boots that are marked vegan-friendly. Although her oil based synthetics are still causing negative
impact on environment.
15.The mission statement of the brand is “ We are committed to operating a modern and
responsible business". They claim that they are agents of change, they are pushing boundaries to
make the luxurious products fit the present as well as the future world. Their aim is to make the
product and experience beautiful and sustainable without compromise. They are using cutting
edge technologies and pioneering new alternative materials for leather or fur they want to define
the future of fashion. By taking such steps they are trying to protect the endangered species.
2. INTRODUCTION AND PRESENTATION OF THE BRAND ( REASON OF CHOICE,
HOW THE BRAND IS PERCEIVED, HOW THE BRAND IS POSITIONED ON
SUSTAINABILITY. (FARHEEN)
Sustainability Efforts by Stella McCartney Brand
Introduction/Presentation of the Brand
Stella McCartney is a fashion brand established in 2001 with headquarters in London
(Paton & Friedman, 2019). The Company belongs to Stella McCartney, who owns the majority
shares and doubles up as the founder. She currently partners with LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis
Vuitton after ending her partnership with the Gucci Group (now called Kerring) (Conlon, 2019).
The brand is known for the eponymous label and the signature style where pieces are made to
have sharp tailoring as well as slinking sense of femininity (Paton & Friedman, 2019).
Reason of Choice
McCartney is a respectable brand with the UK and beyond, and the group saw it fit to
work with a known brand to inform the readers that even the most profitable brands are serious

about issues of sustainability. Another reason is that it is a fashion label. Fashion is a basic
necessity since people must clothe themselves to cover nakedness. This implies that almost
everyone is involved in the fashion business in one way or another. Going by the number of
people in the world, fashion is therefore responsible for a huge utilization of the natural resources
and would deplete a huge chunk of the environment, if permitted. Therefore, it was necessary to
use a fashion label to discuss sustainability so that efforts to make the economic activities
sustainable would be taught from those who would destroy the environment the most.
How the Brand is Perceived
McCartney is perceived as a leading luxurious brand. It is so luxurious that it sells
GUCCI products. It is also visited by celebrities and other public figures in the British Kingdom.
It is accurate to argue that the brand is a leading British fashion house (Conlon, 2019). Therefore,
McCartney has always targeted the high-end market where it can sell to the moneyed population
far and beyond London.
How the Brand is positioned on Sustainability
The term sustainability refers to the creation of economic and social development that
does not destroy the environment (Paton & Friedman, 2019). Whatever a company does must
conserve the existing natural resources such as forests, animals and water bodies. The fashion
world, as is known, can destroy animals because of the desire to use leather products in addition
to depleting other forms of nature. The McCartney brand has done well to position itself as a
company with no appetite for the destruction of the environment and one, which makes efforts to
conserve the environment. For example, Stella McCartney, the founder of the brand, is a
publicly known vegetarian, a term referring to people that feed on vegetables and whole grains.

Vegetarians respect animals to the extent they do not eat them, and therefore, McCartney being a
vegetarian ensures that the few endangered animals are not eliminated from the world, which
promotes sustainability by preventing the unnecessary consumption of animals. She has been
like this since the founding of the Company in 2001, and therefore, it is a real effort that can be
testified (Paton & Friedman, 2019).
Also, the brand does not make products with fur or leather (Paton & Friedman, 2019).
Fur and leather come from animals’ skin. For one to get far or leather, the animal to produce
must be harmed or killed. When one animal is killed the number of animals on the Earth’s
surface is reduced. Animals are part of the ecosystem, and their killings lead to the imbalance of
this ecosystem. Therefore, a business that uses animal products is contributing to the destruction
of the environment. The decision was about respecting animal rights. By choosing to ban the use
of fur or leather in her Company, Stella McCartney spoke loudly about her intention to make the
world a sustainable place by conserving the number of animals. The survival and success of the
Company have shown that businesses can still thrive even if they chose not to destroy the
environment. The Company made nearly three hundred million euros in 2017 alone, making it
one of the most profitable companies worldwide (Paton & Friedman, 2019). The profit is a
statement that doing business while making efforts to sustain the environment can still pay.
Additionally, the McCartney brand has a sustainability department meant to create awareness on
the topic (Paton & Friedman, 2019). Often, the destruction of the environment is deemed as
unethical behaviour. For example, one who kills animals so that he can leather does not appear to
mind the fact that animals are also living things that should not be killed to clothe other living
things because human beings can use other ways to make clothes. However, for one to have
such level of reasoning, he must have been taught about ethics and ways of doing sustainable

businesses. Therefore, by having the sustainability department, the Company creates awareness
among the staff, suppliers and customers regarding business ethics and the way knowledge of
ethics contributes to sustainability.
Conclusion
Stella McCartney efforts can be a lesson to upcoming companies that regardless of how
luxurious and successful they become, they can still embrace sustainability development to
maintain the current ecosystems.
2. ACTIONS THE BRAND HAS TAKE ( PRODUCTS IT CHOOSED,
COMMUNICATION, FACILITIES MANAGEMENT ETC.) ( MANISHA KORIPALLI)
As identified in previous section, the sustainability has become very relevant aspect for
luxury brands to ensure long run sustainable growth, the actions taken by Stella McCartney to
address the same are as follows;
With respect to the luxury products offered by Stella McCartney, the luxury brand has
offered its most sustainable product range which are developed after considering the
sustainability aspect. The recently launched summer collection for 2020 is trending on social
media with #StellaSummer20. The majority of summer collection 2020 (75%) is manufactured
using the “Econyl and recycled polyester” which is treated as the zero impact fabric on the
environment as far as the sustainability aspect is concerned. The rest 25% of the collections are
made out of “organic cotton or upcycled denim”. According to the brand, with the launch of new
“Koba faux fur” as a substitute of the non-degradable plastic (considered as non-sustainable
option), the upcoming summer season is going to be most sustainable season for the luxury
fashion brand (EuroNews, 2019). Not only the product but the use of sustainable practices is
reflected in the research and development process adopted by Stella McCartney. In order to

conduct the research about the development of new fabric material which is sustainable in
nature, the luxury fashion brand is using the organic cotton only (which indicates the adoption of
sustainable practices by the brand).
With respect to the facility management, the luxury fashion brand has made significant
efforts to ensure sustainable practices in its overall facility management. The offices, stores and
other facilities of Stella McCartney are powered by the renewal and wind energy as energy
sources. The overall reliance on thermal and other forms of non-renewal sources is limited. The
luxury fashion brand manages its half of the total operations using the green and renewal energy
sources only. The brand also gives due attention of the another important aspect of sustainability
called recycling process. The luxury fashion brand has always tried to reuse and recycle majority
of its wastes so that there is less impact of the waste management on the environment and
sustainable practices of the brand are ensured. The brand has also taken significant initiatives to
collaborate with “Natural Resource Defense Council” and try to improve their overall
manufacturing efficiency in such as way so that the overall waste emission is limited and
managed properly. This has helped the brand to adopt the sustainable practices by the brand. As
the textile production carries large impact on the environment due to usage of extensive water,
chemicals and other harmful materials, the luxury fashion brand has aimed to reduce the same by
almost 50% so that the overall impact on the environment is minimal (Lolli, 2020).
The communication plays a very pivot role to ensure and achieve sustainable goals set by
the brands to cater to the contemporary challenges faced. As far as the communication is
concerned, the Stella McCartney brand has taken various initiatives to convey its practices to its
various stakeholders using both traditional and modern media advertisements and creatives. The
brand has made numerous videos available on various social media platforms to educate its

stakeholders about the sustainable initiatives the brand has undertook over past few years. One
good practices which the brand is following and communicated to the stakeholders is the
adoption of “Environmental Profit And Loss”. As per this practice, the monetary value of the
positive or negative impact on the overall environment should be computed and the output of
same will be helpful for the brands to decide about various activities across the value chain.
Stella McCartney brand has adopted this practices for past few years and accordingly adjusted its
various processes such as product research and development, design, decisions related to
outsources and manufacturing so that overall impact on the environment is minimal and the
practices are more sustainable in nature (Sustainable Brand, 2017). As result of these initiatives,
the luxury fashion brand is the recipient of “BoF Global VOICES Award”. The brand always
tries to communicate the adoption of ethical consumption by the consumers and adoption of
sustainable practices for various processes such as product research and development, design,
decisions related to outsources and manufacturing (BoF, 2018).
3. RESULTS OF THE STEPS TAKEN ( CONSEQUENCES THE BRAND IS FACING )
(AISHWARYA )
Stella McCartney: Results of the steps taken
Use of eco-friendly materials:
Use of eco-friendly materials like the organic cotton ensures biodiversity and biological cycles as
well as prevents depletion of the raw materials. As aforementioned, fashion is one of the businesses with
a high capacity to destroy the environment. For example, if a label uses fur and leather, the animals are
likely to be extinct. Therefore, to counter what would be a consequence of its action, Stella McCartney
uses recycled polyester and regenerated cashmere (Wolfe, 2018). The use of regenerated cashmere means
that the Company does not use virgin cashmere when making knitwear collections and instead employs

cashmere produced from post-factory waste (Wolfe, 2018). This kind of cashmere mostly comes from
Italy. The ecofriendly materials ensure that the raw materials are not only in plenty but do not run out of
stock as well. The materials are renewable unlike when virgin ones are used. One of the ways the
Company uses to enhance biodiversity and biological cycles is by use of organic cotton. Stella
McCartney is known for organic beauty implying that she uses organic cotton for her clothing line. This
is cotton that is produced from non-genetically modified plantation or without utilising any synthetic
agricultural chemicals for example fertilizers and pesticides other than those permitted by the labelling
certified for growing organic crops (Wolfe, 2018). Since dangerous chemicals are not used in its growth,
the organic cotton grows without necessarily putting any danger to the development of other living
organisms especially those under the soil such as earthworms.
Therefore, the McCartney brand, which would have been destructive to the environment because
of the need for raw materials, has taken steps that resolve the challenge of raw materials without having to
destroy the environment. Any step that conserves the environment contributes to sustainability, and
therefore, in this way, the Company is arguably contributing to sustainability efforts.
Waste Reduction:
The Company’s efforts to reduce waste have led to a clean environment. Since the industrial
revolution, companies resorted to mechanizing commercial productions where chemicals are used to run
factories and produce synthetic raw materials. For example, the Company uses clean energy such as solar
panels to reduce the effect of petroleum. The biggest problem facing large companies such as Stella
McCartney, is carbon gas emissions. Carbon gas emissions contribute to global warming menace that is
now affecting the world. The Company does not only have effective policies intended to eliminate carbon
gas emissions but also reports on the direct and indirect emissions that occur as a result of its actions. The
steps are paying off. First, the Company believes that it can eliminate the use of poisonous chemicals in
its production line by the end of the year 2020 (Wolfe, 2018). There is also the real possibility for the first

time that it can reduce the water wastage and have proper treatment of solid waste. All these efforts
prevent the environment from getting polluted leading to a clean and sustained ecosystem.
Animal Welfare:
The good treatment of animals by McCartney has led to increased respect for animal rights (Paton
& Friedman, 2019). For example, Stella McCartney, is a lifelong vegetarian, a term referring to people
that feed on vegetables and whole grains. The Company, judging from the way the founder respects
animals to the extent she does not eat them, ensures that the few endangered animals are not eliminated
from the world by using them as the source of raw materials. This promotes sustainability by preventing
the unnecessary consumption of animals. From her action, Stella has been used as a standard rod to
inform other business owners that even those who deal in fashion can respect animal rights. McCartney
enjoys a good rating because of this and it is hoped that the trend will be heeded in future and that many
other people company owners will respect animal rights the way McCartney does.
Conclusions and Recommendations
The results of the steps taken are positive and capable of ensuring sustainability in this luxurious
fashion business. However, certain areas still require improvements. One of the areas requiring attention
is the treatment of employees. Scholars such as Joy et al. (2012) argue that sustainable development
requires the efforts of all stakeholders, and the staff is part of the stakeholders. McCartney is known to be
the best employer when it comes to the treatment of employees in terms of pay and empowerment.
Therefore, it must give workers good salaries that will motivate the workers to do more including caring
for the environment. The workers should also be trained to make them aware of these matters. It is
understandable that the Company already has a sustainability department to create awareness, but the
department needs a well-equipped workforce to be effective.
More consumer enlightenment needs to be done to shift the demand from fashion that uses non-
eco friendly raw materials to the ones requiring only eco-friendly materials. For example, people can be

taught the hazard of loving woollen knitwear. Additionally, more reporting is required on the efforts the
Company is making towards achieving sustainability. For example, the Company can adopt the Integrated
reporting system that includes both the financial accountability and accountability towards environmental
conservation.
4. FUTURE RECOMMENDATIONS (TOGETHER )
The above discussion brings into the light that McCartney is a British premium line of
apparel, fragrances and accessories. It has also come to the forefront that the premium apparel,
fragrance and accessories manufacturer abstains from using materials like fur and leather to
make its goods in order to minimize damage to the environment. The following are the
recommendations which can be presented before the management of the firm in order to
strengthen their sustainbility achievement levels:
Diversifying their product line:
The premium apparel and accessories manufacturing firm should diversify its product
line to manufacture goods like soap and other beauty products from natural ingredients. Its very
own line of fragrances show that the company is capable of manufacturing premium products
from natural ingredients. This means that manufacturing of new beauty products like soap from
natural raw materials like natural oils would strengthen the sustainability level in the products of
the firm.
Local sourcing:
The premium fashion firm should resort to local sourcing of raw materials to manufacture
products for particular markets. For example, in order to cater to the market of China, the firm
should acquire supply chains in the country which would provide it with high quality raw
materials which are available in the country. This would enable the firm to minimize its

procurement costs . This would enable the company generate higher amount of net profit, thus,
boosting its financial sustainability.
Training its employees:
The premium fashion brand should train its employees to operate in sustainable ways. It
can adopt methods like six sigma while manufacturing products. This would enable it to remove
or minimise unwanted or unprofitable methods from its production process, thus reducing
wastes. The employees should also be trained to operate in sustainable ways like ensuring the
production process does not consume excess energy. This would enable the firm obtain higher
level of sustainability.

References
BoF (2018). Stella Mccartney has a blueprint for the future of sustainable fashion. Available at
https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/people/stella-mccartney-has-a-blueprint-for-the-
future-of-sustainable-fashion
Conlon, S. (2019, July 15). Stella McCartney signs deal with French luxury group LVMH.
Retrieved January 8, 2020, from thegurdian:
https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2019/jul/15/stella-mccartney-signs-deal-with-french-
luxury-group-lvmh
EuroNews (2019). Stella Mccartney Launches Most Sustainable Collection to Date At PFW.
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sustainable-collection-to-date-at-pfw.
Joy, A., Sherry Jr, J.F., Venkatesh, A., Wang, J. and Chan, R., 2012. Fast fashion, sustainability,
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Sustainable Brand (2017). Stella McCartney Fall Campaign Targets Overconsumption, Waste.
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Retrieved from: https://goodonyou.eco/how-ethical-is-stella-mccartney