Care, Collaborate, Create: How new found methods of sustainability are shaping our fashion industry
Introduction
I’m sure you’ve recently seen the famous work of Bottega founders Michele Taddei and Renzo Zengiaro either floating on your TikTok ‘for you’ page or living on your Instagram explore page. From modern mules to stylish shoulder bags, the admired Italian label Bottega Veneta has a massive range of unique products ready for styling right at your fingertips. The likes of Rihanna and many of the Kardashian-Jenners have been pictured sporting multiple pieces from the brand, generating plenty of noise and contributing to their success of becoming one of the fastest growing Italian brands to date, with an estimated revenue of €1.168 billion in 2019 alone.
Is Bottega yet another Luxury Brand with an ethos driven by consumer culture, or are they a brand genuinely aspiring to become the forefront of fashion sustainability?
Bottega Veneta Boutique Now Open In KLCC!
Kering - a global luxury group which manages the development of world-renowned brands of not only Bottega Veneta, but others such as YSL and Balenciaga - pride themselves in the production of sustainable fashion. Consecutively for the past four years, they have made an appearance in the Corporate Knights’ Global 100 for being one of the top ten corporations for sustainability. ‘Care, Collaborate, Create’, is the mantra in which Kering lives and breathes. We’re not wrong to immediately question Kering’s level of investment in this motto, as it might seem like yet another illusory catchy slogan in an attempt to satisfy consumers.
‘Care, Collaborate, Create’.
Is this something Kering actually follows, or is it just a myth in order to drive profit?
Care
On the Mantra of ‘Care’, the company have implemented the objective of Metal-free tanning in their leather production to not only reduce their usage of water, but also decrease the likelihood of water contamination happening in local supplies. However, this is only being carried out for just 24% of its collections, so there is still a vast amount progression to make if they want to reach their 2025 sustainability targets. This move however is certainly a step in the right direction towards their sworn by mantra, putting their best foot forward to create carefully - an example for other brands to follow suit.
Reducing water contamination isn’t just the only sustainability issue that the Kering group has attempted to tackle, as they have also begun to combat the issue of biodegradability. It’s pleasing to see that in 2020, Bottega Veneta debuted its first 100% biodegradable boot - the material product of sugarcane and coffee. These fresh out of production hybrid welly-clogs hit the catwalk for the very first time at Milan Fashion Week. Many expected these to be a hit with the ever-changing current market due to its heavy focus on sustainability: the brand claimed that this new invention will degrade within a year when placed under the right conditions. This is because the use of synthetic chemicals in this product have been substituted for natural materials.
Bottega Veneta presents a 100% biodegradable boot
But why do scientists contest this invention? Scientists say brands should focus on compostability instead of making biodegradability or recyclability claims that are hard to verify. Representatives of the brand have spoken about the claims vaguely with very little detail, making it difficult for not only those with professional education, but also for the consumer to believe that the product that they are buying truly benefits the environment. Consumers may become confused with Kering’s approach, as other brands such as Stella McCartney are producing such high-quality sustainable fashion completely free from fur and leather. From this standpoint, why can’t other brands do the same thing and become 100% sustainable rather than just partly?
Create
But with Bottega Veneta priding themselves in creating the finest handcrafted leather goods, they simply can’t irradiate leather from their collection entirely – but instead perhaps try and create it more sustainably. The Conde Nast Luxury Conference in 2018 saw Claus-Dietrich Lahrs (former CEO of Bottega Veneta) state that ‘leather could soon be a commodity that is entirely animal free’, evidencing his plans for fashion development and production whilst looking at how we can still wear the finest leathers and have pristine quality clothing without harming animals. The company also claims to have been ‘fur free’ for almost two decades and whilst the company has stuck to this promise, unfortunately the same cannot be said for all of their leather goods. The production of some of Bottega Veneta’s most popular bags still involve the use of materials such as lambskin and calfskin - both of which are not vegan.
Bottega Veneta at Landmark Atrium
Collaborate
In January of 2021, we saw Bottega Veneta completely wipe their social media accounts. Maybe they were devising a new marketing strategy? Or trying to remove their focus from consumer culture? It had come to light shortly after this stunt that they reformed their branding presence through editions of online journals. These journals are a compilation of different interactive adverts, and their release date would coincide with the correlating seasonal collections. These Issues would feature the likes of many artistic collaborators such as graphic designer Okuyama Taiki, composer Midori Takada, DJ Honey Dijon, rapper Missy Elliot, artist Walter Pfeiffer and photographer Tyler Mitchell. The brand hoped that this move would set them apart from other companies and offer a ‘more thoughtful’ virtual offering in the form of a zine, rather than social media’s 'homogenised’ culture. This pioneering collaboration marked a huge change in marketing and advertising, but it is still a fairly recent development for the company, so only time will tell how this strategy will impact the ways in which Bottega Veneta sells its products.
Conclusion
The demand for highly valued clothing is currently higher than ever, with thousands upon thousands of orders daily. Unless we turn to more sustainable options, we will always be trying to defend ourselves from nature’s ways. This Article is no prod at Kering or Bottega, but more of an insightful eye opener into exploring both the potential flaws and successes of fashion brands striving for sustainable infrastructures.
Here’s to pushing the boundaries of the fashion industry and continuing to establish, learn and adopt renewable methods which are both sustainable and fashionable.
Illustrations
Bag Addicts Anonymous (2017) ‘Bottega Veneta Boutique Now Open In KLCC!’ Available at: https://www.bagaddictsanonymous.com/fashion/fashion-news/bottega-veneta-boutique-now-open-in
NSS Magazine (2020) ‘Bottega Veneta presents a 100% biodegradable boot’ Available at: https://www.nssmag.com/en/fashion/21047/bottega-veneta-presenta-uno-stivale-100-biodegradabile
Landmark (2022) ‘Bottega Veneta at Landmark’ Available at: https://www.landmark.hk/en/shop/bottega-veneta
Ukiomogbe, J. (2021) ‘Bottega Veneta, Issue 1’ Available at: https://www.interviewmagazine.com/fashion/bottega-veneta-launches-a-new-zine-featuring-a-few-of-your-favorite-artists
Ukiomogbe, J. (2021) ‘By Bindi Steel’ Available at: https://www.interviewmagazine.com/fashion/bottega-veneta-launches-a-new-zine-featuring-a-few-of-your-favorite-artists
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