Launch of New Sustainability Manifesto

RNS Number : 9564V

Mulberry Group PLC

20 April 2021

 

20 April 2021

Mulberry Group plc

("Mulberry" or the "Company")

Launch of New Sustainability Manifesto - Mulberry Made to Last

Commitment to transform the business to a regenerative and circular model, encompassing the entire supply chain - from field to finished product - by 2030.

Mulberry Group plc is pleased to announce the launch of the The Mulberry Made to Last Manifesto, laying out an ambitious commitment to transform the business to a regenerative and circular model, encompassing the entire supply chain - from field to wardrobe - by 2030. The launch marks the Company's 50^th anniversary year as a British luxury brand.

The Made to Last Manifesto focuses on six key actions for change:

1.  Pioneer a local, transparent 'farm to finished product' supply chain model 

2.  Develop the world's lowest carbon leather sourced from a network of organic and environmentally conscious farms

3.  Achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2035

4.  Continue to extend the life of Mulberry products through repair and restoration

5.  Buy back, resell or repurpose any Mulberry bag

6.  Extend Mulberry's commitment to being a real Living Wage employer by working with its network of suppliers to achieve the same

Acknowledging the environmental issues associated with cattle farming, Mulberry believes the continuation of a long and successful association with leather is dependent on achieving full traceability from farm to finished product, allowing us to put in place a network of organic and environmentally conscious farms to supply the hides to create our leather. This network will provide the foundations for our regenerative and circular supply chain by 2030.

Later this year, Mulberry will release its first locally made 'farm to finished product' bags using the world's lowest carbon leather. This collection will represent the future of the business, establishing a model that can be replicated with a network of trusted partners and underpins the Group's commitment to reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2035.

Mulberry's transformative approach to leather sourcing will be at the heart of the brand's purpose and reflected in the way it innovates new solutions across the business from integrating recycled nylon and regenerative organic cotton into its products to continuously assessing and reducing the environmental impact of its packaging and physical store network.

Since the Group's inception it has remained committed to making more than half of its products in the UK. Today those factories are carbon neutral and every person working in them is paid a real Living Wage.

The Repairs Team at The Rookery, one of Mulberry's Somerset factories, are masters of restoration, and repair and renew over 10,000 bags a year, with leather and hardware archives going back 35 years.

Additionally, through the Mulberry Exchange, Mulberry matches authenticated and beautifully restored classics with a new owner. This platform, originally launched in-store in 2020, is now going digital on mulberry.com, alongside a recently launched partnership with Vestiaire Collective, making resale a core pillar of Mulberry's circularity strategy.

If the day comes that one of Mulberry's bags really has reached the end of the line, Mulberry will buy it back, and use it to power the production of a new bag through an innovative energy reclaim system unique to its strategic partner Muirhead, a member of the Scottish Leather Group, ensuring that the line never ends, it just becomes a circle.

The Made to Last Manifesto promises that the Mulberry business and a Mulberry bag represent a commitment to regeneration, renewal and reimagination. Keeping this promise requires a culture change across the industry, the supply chain and amongst customers, a radical shift in both the way things are made and the way they are used.

THIERRY ANDRETTA, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, COMMENTED:

"At Mulberry we have already taken significant action to embed sustainability across our business, but today we offer our commitment to a programme of transformative change, embedding principles of regeneration and circularity across our entire supply chain. We are committed to creating a local, transparent 'farm to finished product' sourcing model and whilst we are at the beginning of this transition, I am immensely proud of my colleagues and the work done to launch the Made to Last Manifesto. We look forward to the challenges ahead."

To learn more about Mulberry's Made to Last Manifesto attend the Made to Last digital presentation at 0930 GMT today, 20 April 2021, a http://madetolast.mulberry.com/ or by contacting [e-mail]  

Enquiries:

Mulberry Group plc Charles Anderson (Group Finance Director)	Tel: [phone]
Headland (Public Relations)	Tel: [phone]
Lucy Legh / Jane Glover

 

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