Dolce&Gabbana’s green challenge

«To write a new chapter for Dolce&Gabbana, with the goal of publishing the first sustainability report in 2024 for the 2023 fiscal year». Words of Alfonso Dolce, ceo of the maison, who is working on a future with solid roots. «We grew up in craftmanship. The respect for our workers and passion for Italian craftmanship and beauty have always been in our dna. It is about being active players of a bigger change».

A sustainable commitment that includes not only the environment, but also social impact, respect for and protection of productive, cultural, and territorial districts, and the training of the 5,000 employees of the maison. This is a structured commitment for a very important company, with the last turnover of 1.26 billion and an adjusted Ebitda of 181 million (14.4%) and exports of 78%. Just over a month ago, another green signal came with the entry into the Re.crea consortium under the coordination of Cnmi-National chamber of Italian fashion, along with Max Mara, Moncler, Otb, Prada, and Ermenegildo Zegna. A further step forward for the group founded by designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana 37 years ago in Legnano, and led by ceo Alfonso Dolce, Domenico’s brother who holds the strings of this new project.

Moreover, it comes at a time when Dolce&Gabbana is joining Altagamma (the formalization will come this morning, ed.), with the manager in the role of advisor. The sustainability plan will push the company toward goals such as reducing virgin plastic on single-use packaging by 50%, using more than 25% of key raw materials with less impact on the environment, and completing 100% employee training on sustainability. «This is a journey that started internally about 18 months ago and now takes on a structure with partners who will accompany us, such as Accenture, which has been tasked with mapping the group’s activities by tracking commitments to themselves and employees. It is important that everyone believes in the work to be done and that there is involvement of the entire corporate population».

You have given yourselves a sustainability plan with firm commitments until 2025. Can you summarize the key milestones?

The stages are tight. It will start next year with supplier engagement on sustainability issues. At the same time, the desire is to reach 100% of electricity powered by renewable sources in the Eu in order to cover the group’s activities globally in 2025. Finally, to involve and train 100% of management on the sustainability project. A key step in the journey will take place in March 2024 with the publication of our first integrate report, combining sustainability and financial data (the group approves accounts in March each year, ed.).

What are the most ambitious steps in the plan?

These are all goals for which we are already well on track. From lowering our carbon footprint to transitioning to 100% renewable electricity, from the waste recovery program to tangible land preservation, to what I like to call a network spirit with the fashion industry ecosystem. Dolce&Gabbana’s path toward a measurable and concrete idea of sustainability passes through the group’s guiding principles of beauty, creativity, Made in Italy, humanity, and passion. The idea is to strengthen what is already in us. It will involve homogenizing models and processes, buying low-impact and therefore more expensive materials. A burden we would not want to tip over to our clients, this is also why we need to support the supply chain.

From what foundation do you start for this challenge? Will Accenture help you draft your first sustainability report?

The result of Accenture's auditing was a pleasant surprise, our level is already very high, we have a good starting point. They will probably also help us draft sustainability reports, starting with the first one. We close the fiscal year on March 31, so we will probably start from 2024 on the 2023 budget.

How important is outreach to your staff, from managers to artisans?

We will create a cultural exchange hub among the Dolce&Gabbana community. We will benefit from meetings between faculty, students, and staff. With Ca' Foscari university we go out of the strictly Italian environment and look at the world because sustainability is a global issue. You cannot act alone. I want to mention that there is a large portion of employees, about 2,200, who work for us abroad. With Humanitas university and the Politecnico di Milano we support some scholarships and research, also with a focus on young people, the hallmark of the group, which since 2012 has seen the Botteghe di mestiere project, where the brand masters teach sewing, embroidery, ironing, and pattern making. About 70 to 75% of those young people between the ages of 20 and 25 have been absorbed into the company.

The plan you are sharing is very detailed, with measurable goals on a three-year basis. Now it is up to 2025.

I would like to call it a commitment, with sustainable business practices from an industrial perspective while respecting the group's values. A project that recognizes the weight of sustainability in its totality, not only in the process of product evolution but also in the collaborative relationship with suppliers, craftsmen, innovators, and other partners in an inclusive approach that wants to touch everything that revolves around us. We are a company that has a turnover of 1.2 billion and, in the Made in Italy fashion and luxury system, has a strong impact on the country's economy.

How will you involve the supply chain?

Our supply chain is made up of more than 200 companies between suppliers and artisans in the fashion sector alone. With the new sustainability plan, we are the ones who must take responsibility for our partners as well, in a communion of purpose. Our plan is not individualistic but hooks into the Italian system. The reference is also to the initiative sealed this year between six luxury companies that have joined forces to address the issue of end-of-life textile and fashion products and to promote research and development of innovative recycling solutions.

Your fashion house is among the founding partners of the Cnmi’s Re.crea consortium...

Dolce&Gabbana's is a short supply chain, with less dispersion and lower environmental impact. In the direction of greater uniformity in objectives also goes the decision taken a year ago to bring the cosmetics business within the Group, that is, to directly manage production and marketing. For this reason, the Group created Dolce&Gabbana Beauty, so that this business is also within the same industrial project.

Carlo Capasa of Cnmi says Italy is the Silicon valley of Europe for fashion. And sustainability is a strategic advantage point.

Italy has several advantage points over other countries. Foreigners, especially the French, have often come to us to produce. We have developed an industry of excellence and today we experience a competitive advantage over others. We can exploit it again by converting our industry to sustainability. What we are doing is almost a great return to manufacturing. (All rights reserved)