Sustainability in fashion is a pressing topic fuelled by growing environmental concerns and widespread attention to the industry’s environmental impact.

With the global rise of climate change disasters, eco-conscious consumers – who drive an increasing market share – have called for changes to benefit the environment and have seemingly determined that change must come from within, and specifically, from within one’s closet. 

While thrifting presents a sustainable solution to lower- and middle-market shopping, what can be said for luxury fashion? Can the world of high-end, exclusive and often resource-intensive fashion be reconciled with the growing demand for ethical and environmentally conscious practices, or is luxury fashion necessarily left out of the sustainability discussion? 

Are luxury and sustainability at odds?

By definition, luxury fashion and sustainability seem to be at odds. The luxury sector thrives on exclusivity, excess and high-quality materials for items that are not a necessity, but a desire. A desire that partially stems from the lack of attainability for most consumers. Some of the most coveted luxury items on the market require significant resources, from rare animal skins and fine silks to the hundreds of hours of skilled craftsmanship for a single garment or handbag. Each element often translates to higher environmental costs.

Additionally, part of the appeal of luxury goods is the focus on uniqueness; luxury designers often release a limited number of items in a seasonal collection that are not to be repeated. This recognition of an item’s season is a status symbol in and of itself. To keep up with the Joneses, you can’t just have last winter’s handbag – you need to have the current cruise collection bag fresh off the runway. 

Luxury fashion’s constant product innovation, recognisable designs tied to specific seasons and new collections can perpetuate overconsumption. The allure of owning something rare and limited, which is often a significant justification for spending luxury prices, can inadvertently promote a culture of excess, which contradicts sustainability. A 2022 Deloitte survey found that 57% of luxury consumers evaluate a brand’s sustainability when considering the purchase of a new designer item.

Sustainability solutions for the luxury market

In response to consumer demand to shift towards more sustainable practices to continue earning their business, luxury brands can capitalise on their existing cultures of innovation to start exploring more environmentally friendly ways to design and produce their goods. By utilising more sustainable materials in garment and accessory production, brands can reduce their environmental impact without sacrificing exclusivity or craftsmanship. 

Sustainable materials are by no means new to the fashion industry. For years, brands of all price points have used organic cotton, bamboo, hemp and other plant-based textiles in production. In recent years, there have also been exciting developments in the intersection of fashion and technology, such as 3D printing and AI-driven design, which have helped designers across all price points to create new fashion with minimal waste and more efficient production techniques. 

The push to explore new materials becomes more interesting for luxury brands that rely on certain ‘heritage’ designs, such as Chanel’s flap bag, Hermès Birkin or Gucci’s Horsebit 1955 bag. Immediately recognisable by those who know these brands, these iconic silhouette bags represent the luxury brands themselves. These examples are marked by precise craftsmanship and unique quality and design indicators – essential elements in differentiating authentic bags from the ever-growing supply of ‘dupes’ or counterfeit bags. 

But deviating from the current materials used to create these bags could dilute these luxury brands’ specific and recognisable designs. This adds additional pressure to luxury brands to pursue only the highest quality sustainable materials, which can be incorporated into existing heritage designs with the most precise craftsmanship. 

Given this inherent risk of modifying heritage designs, not many luxury brands have moved to substantially, let alone entirely, reproduce these products sustainably. 

Luxury’s alternative explorations

However, there have been more limited explorations into vegan leather and alternatives to animal products, including lab-grown leather and eco-friendly textiles, and even leather made entirely from mushrooms called ‘Mylo’, in the case of Stella McCartney. 

In 2022, Stella McCartney announced that it would be commercially selling the first-ever handbag made from Mylo in a limited-edition run, following the brand’s longstanding partnership with Bolt Threads, the developer of Mylo as a renewable design textile, derived from mycelium, the root-like structures of fungi. Stella McCartney used Mylo in a limited run of approximately 100 ‘Frayme’ handbags, touted as the world’s first luxury bag created from mushrooms. The hardware on the Frayme bags is made from aluminum and zamak (an alloy that includes zinc, aluminum, magnesium and copper), and is described by the brand as “infinitely recyclable”. Each bag is priced at $3,500. 

However, following Mylo’s commercial debut, as well as smaller-scale usage by other brands such as Lululemon and Adidas, it was announced in 2023 that Bolt Threads was ceasing production of the material, due to the inability to scale on a larger commercial level, thanks to rising inflation and a lack of funding opportunities. In 2023, Gucci collaborated with Gen-Z pop artist and proud vegan Billie Eilish to issue a fresh new take on Gucci’s iconic Horsebit 1955 handbag – this time made from biomaterials rather than leather. Specifically, Gucci’s team developed a new material called ‘Demetra’, which is composed of 75% plant-derived raw materials, including bio-based polyurethane made from non-GMO wheat and corn, plant-based viscose and wood pulp. 

Following its launch, the Demetra Horsebit 1955 sold out. However, the bag is no longer available on Gucci’s website. Instead, a search for the Horsebit 1955 reveals only those made in leather, which is emblematic of luxury’s sustainability problem: how much does a single launch or single product made sustainably offset the overall brand’s production?

At the end of the day, luxury brands are businesses, and their goal is to be profitable. Developing new and sustainable materials is risky in terms of consumer performance and requires a large up-front investment of time and resources. This balance of costs is perhaps why the commercial launches of these products so far have been limited to short-term productions. 

Impact comes from long-term commitment

To make an impact, luxury brands must partner short-term sustainability accomplishments with authentic, long-term commitments to ethical and sustainable practices. They can do so by leaning into the call for transparency and proactively publishing their sustainability standards and practices. Over the past few years, more luxury brands have started to disclose the environmental and social impact of their production processes, offering consumers insight into how their products are made. These reports often include goals relating to measurable improvements, such as reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040, or only working with suppliers certified by third-party sustainability programmes across the supply chain.

A long-standing example of this commitment to sustainability is the Material Innovation Lab created by the Kering Group, which houses luxury brands including Gucci, Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga and Yves Saint Laurent, and was notably one of only four fashion companies to invest in Bolt Threads’ development of Mylo in 2013. While the lab was founded over a decade ago, Kering continues to publicise the lab’s efforts through routine updates on its website, reinforcing the lab’s accountability and visibility with consumers. 

Located in Milan, the lab is a library of sustainable fabrics, helping Kering brand teams better understand sustainable materials and is a driver of change within the brands’ complex supply chain. The lab maintains a database for suppliers and their fabrics. Kering’s brands have access to more than 8,000 samples of certified organic fabrics and fibres, including alternative leather and sustainable fabrics as well as natural, cellulosic and synthetic fibres. The fabrics are subject to an in-depth review and assessment, considering both external standards and certification before inclusion in the lab’s database. 

Sustainable luxury includes fair labour practices

It is worth noting that sustainable luxury goes beyond just the materials used; it also requires fair labour practices and respect for workers’ rights. While it is largely on the brands themselves to determine which materials are used, there is increasing global interest in regulating labour practices. In 2024, Canada and the UK released two major reports about forced labour and child labour compliance in supply chains in connection with Canada’s Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act and a reexamination of the UK Modern Slavery Act. 

While the Canadian Act requires responsive reporting for all companies within the scope of the act, such as those based in Canada or those outside of Canada above a certain threshold in exports and revenue, the review of the UK act calls for stricter sanctions for non-compliance with existing supply chain requirements and updated legislation requiring companies to mitigate modern slavery risks. In the US, fashion retailers are subject to historical federal legislation such as the Tariff Act of 1930 and the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, which both prevent the importation of goods made with forced labour, as well as specific state legislation, such as the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act, which requires companies with annual revenue exceeding $100m to publicly report on supplier audits and efforts to verify their supply chains are without forced labour. 

As a result of the increased interest in sustainability and ethical practices, many luxury fashion houses are now focused on ensuring that workers are paid fairly, work in safe conditions and are treated ethically. They are touting these commitments on their public websites. As sustainability becomes more integrated into the culture of luxury fashion, these values must be extended throughout the supply chain.

Luxury’s seat at the table

While sustainability and luxury fashion may seem opposed, luxury fashion as an industry has made strides to earn a seat at the table for the larger sustainability in fashion discussion. When it comes to sustainability, the players in the luxury fashion space have different challenges than fashion retailers in the lower and middle markets due to the very essence of luxury as an excessive and exclusive industry, and because of the risks associated with deviating from the heritage designs these luxury houses are best known for. 

Luxury fashion is also not the best candidate for the circular fashion argument often suggested as fashion’s solution to the sustainability question. Resale vendors, even those who claim to tout strict authentication processes, are often more risk than reward for consumers looking to purchase pre-loved luxury goods. To date, the luxury fashion houses have been opponents rather than proponents of these third-party companies. 

For that reason, luxury brands need to stick to what they know best: innovation, craftsmanship and creating demand when it comes to their approach to sustainability. As the consumer becomes more interested in what these brands are doing to embrace sustainability and ethical labour practices, luxury brands must evolve in their own way to utilise sustainable materials and ethical production practices. 

Though the path forward is complex and requires significant investment and innovation, luxury fashion has the unique opportunity to redefine what it means to be chic and responsible. This budding combination of craftsmanship, exclusivity and sustainability is poised to grow into something truly exciting in the luxury fashion industry. And as so often happens, once luxury houses innovate, the rest of the fashion industry is sure to follow.

Grace Fucci is a corporate lawyer who advises clients ranging from multinational corporations to start-ups on a broad range of business matters. She is an associate in Foley & Lardner’s transactions practice and a member of the innovative technology sector and the fashion, apparel and beauty industry team. She can be reached at [email protected].