For the first time, Comité Colbert has taken its sustainability-centric journal stateside.
As revealed at the French bookstore and artist residency Villa Albertine in New York City on Feb. 13, the French luxury goods association will be circulating the report—comprised of the environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives of its 90-plus luxury maisons—through a one-time distribution partnership with the New York Times.
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“I’m quite proud of this edition because when I took my position four years ago, the brands did a lot, but they didn’t speak about it,” Bénédicte Épinay, CEO of Comité Colbert, told Sourcing Journal. “I said you can’t stay like this, you have to talk about it because you are doing [sustainability] things so you can say, with humility, that you are not perfect.”
To celebrate the launch, Épinay moderated a panel discussion with spokespersons from the U.S. teams of LVMH, Kering, Richemont, champagne house Ruinart, cognac producer Hennessy and silverware company Christofle.
“We decided to do it in English because America is our first market, and we know that here, sustainability [has] growing interest from consumers, so for us, it was really important to demonstrate that we are doing things,” Épinay said. “We are not perfect, but we are on the way.”
Titled “French luxury is reinventing the life cycle of products,” the magazine includes a new collective view of the sector’s ESG practices based on a questionnaire sent to the maisons, including Louis Vuitton, Balenciaga and Chanel. Key findings include that 96 percent of member companies have carried out a carbon footprint up to Scope 3, 89 percent are taking action regarding biodiversity and 100 percent have implemented a waste reduction and recovery policy.
The magazine also highlights tangible results achieved by its members. For example, Hermès completed more than 200,000 repairs in its workshop in 2022, and Celine recycled 100 percent of unsold items. At Chloé, items with a reduced environmental impact reached 60 percent of its ready-to-wear lines, and Kering has set the goal of reducing absolute carbon emissions by 40 percent by 2035.
“Like a French savior-faire team, together we have accumulated 18,000 years of expertise, passion and shared values,” Laurent Boillot, chairman of both Comité Colbert and Hennessy, said. “A canonical age that enables us to assert today that we are a powerful collective with rights, those of sharing our dreams but also duties.”
Created in 1954 by Jean-Jacques Guerlain, Comité Colbert comprises more than 90 French luxury maisons, 18 cultural institutions and six European luxury houses. Its mission is conveyed through its raison d’être: “to passionately promote, to sustainably develop and to patiently transmit French savoir-faire and creation to infuse a new sense of wonder.” The non-profit collective seeks to promote French art de vivre by preserving the country’s savoir-faire and share it with the next generation.
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