Ethics are now coming into fashion

The Sunday Times
March 29, 2009
François-Henri Pinault wants to save the planet - one handbag at a time
John Arlidge in Delhi

François-Henri Pinault has more than a few reasons to be cheerful in spite of the economic slump. He owns the Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Stella McCartney and Alexander McQueen fashion labels, which still bring in a few billion pounds a year. When he opens a bottle of Château Latour he is opening his own wine. He can sell his modern art collection through his auction house - Christie’s in London. And he has just got the girl. He married actress Salma Hayek on Valentine’s Day.
So why was he sitting glumly in a hotel in Delhi last week, warning anyone who would listen about the end of the world? “Nobody today would deny the existence of global warming, the threat to biodiversity,” he said. Dressed in a sober navy suit, dark blue shirt and sensible black lace-ups, he lectured guests at a conference on the future of luxury: “This is not a time for reflection. We must act now to change the future.”
Most fashion folk either ignore global warming - as temperatures rise, Versace is installing air-conditioning under a beach to cool the sand at its new hotel in Dubai - or embrace it as a chance to boost sales of their spring/summer collections. Not Pinault.
The 46-year-old French billionaire is styling himself as an upmarket Al Gore. He believes ethics are the new elegance. He even has his own version of Gore’s movie, An Inconvenient Truth. He has financed Home, co-produced with film-maker Luc Besson, which chronicles environmental degradation, using aerial shots of the planet, and will be released in June.
Pinault, whose firm PPR is the second-largest luxury-goods conglomerate in the world with annual revenues of £17 billion, is making a £1 billion bet that green will be the new black. He believes a moral correction will follow the financial correction and, as the economy picks up, consumers will turn away from fast-moving, celebrity-driven flashy fashion towards sustainable luxury.
“Today, people want a return to genuine values, such as sincerity and exemplary standards. We need to be proactive, to get ahead of trend,” he told The Sunday Times.
British designers, notably Stella McCartney, are likely to benefit. He singled her out last week as the new face of responsible luxury. She refuses to use leather or fur and has launched Care, an organic skincare range. “Stella has set the bar,” said Pinault. PPR also owns the London-based Alexander McQueen label, although his extravagant creations and cat-walk shows could scarcely be described as green.
There’s no doubt that Pinault believes in environmental responsibility. He has swapped his beloved Aston Martin for a hybrid Lexus and takes the train rather than flying in Europe. He has championed recycling, green stores, efficient air-conditioning, solar power, fair-trade suppliers, smaller packaging, sea transport over air freight, and has ordered stores to turn off their neon signs after 11pm.
He and Gucci designer Frida Giannini are working on recyclable leather and suede. “We work in an industry where, at the end of a season, some products are destroyed,” he said. “We have to think about this. It’s not normal. Couldn’t we undo the product and make new small products and do it in a socially responsible manner?”
He is after greenbacks too, though. He believes going green will not only lure more customers, but will help PPR to attract the best designers and sales staff. “Young people want more than just financial remuneration. To them, a company is a human venture,” he said.
Pinault wants PPR to enjoy first-mover advantage in responsible luxury and become the face of green fashion in much the same way that Toyota has become the de facto green carmaker, thanks to its early move into hybrid technology with the Prius. “Sustainable development gives us a chance to differentiate ourselves from the others,” he said. “I see sustainable development as a business opportunity.”
It needs to be. Pinault concedes “business is tough” as demand for luxury goods slumps. Sales are flat and there are rumours in London and Paris that he is planning to sell off Christie’s and Château Latour. Pinault said no sales were planned but added: “We don’t have any secure forecast to make about any recovery.”
Going to India, home of fashion sweatshops, in the middle of a global recession to promote a posh green revolution sounds, at best, naive and, at worst, downright insulting – not least from a man who has a collection of some 60 watches and who flew to Delhi on a private jet. Gandhi would probably have gone on hunger strike at the idea.
Pinault acknowledges it’s a tough pitch at a tough time. “Luxury is associated with pleasure, individualism, unreasonable enjoyment . . . thought-lessness and waste, while sustainable development is synonymous with ethics, collectivity and restraint,” he said.
He believes there are shared values, however. “Luxury is based on fine materials, respect for the material, and for the craft itself that results in a rare and beautiful object. Just like luxury, sustainable development is founded in essence on respect for natural resources.” He defended the use of the private jet as “absolutely necessary” in the fast-moving modern business world and said he offsets all flights, private and commercial, with carbon credits. Many environmentalists dismiss carbon offsetting as worthless “green washing”. His love of watches was, he said, irrelevant.
Pinault’s concern for humanity does not stretch to reducing the price of the goods that he sells. “We will not touch the price because if we do it means that we were not delivering the real value for the money we were asking. Big discounts kill brands.”
However, he is prepared to sell fewer, more long-lasting, more sustainable items - a move that could affect the bottom line. “One of the consequences of the downturn is that it forces us to go back to basics, to the essence of luxury. We went too far, all of us, in the luxury world in the past five years. Now, let’s go back to product and do it right.”
Sell fewer but better products? It remains to be seen whether it’s a strategy that will make rivals green with envy - or PPR shareholders green at the gills.