Ranked in second place overall in the benchmark index’s ‘Textiles, Apparel & Luxury Goods’ sector (just behind Moncler), the company “secured leading positions within the Product Stewardship and Social Reporting categories”.Burberry has been focusing on sustainability since earlier this century and despite a blip a few years ago (when it emerged tens of million of pounds worth of its unsold products were being burned), the company has impressive credentials in this area.
The newspaper headlines generated around those burned products also saw it doubling down on sustainability efforts.The company said its latest five-year Responsibility Agenda “is truly holistic covering all its products, global operations and the communities that sustain the luxury industry”.And it added that two-thirds of its products “make an environmental or social contribution, with a goal for all products to do so by 2022”. These can relate to a broad range of social and environmental programmes including, the amount of organic content or recycled natural fibres used in materials, delivery against carbon emissions standards at production facilities or social initiatives such as workers being paid the living wage or supported through wellbeing programmes.It also has strong sustainability targets around the cotton and leather it uses, as well as ambitious carbon neutral targets to be achieved by 2022.