Stella McCartney releases environmental profit and loss accounts

British designer brand Stella McCartney has published its first environmental profit and loss accounts, which places a monetary value on the environmental costs and benefits that the company has generated by its direct operations and across its entire supply chain, covering sourcing, manufacturing and selling practices.

The designer label, a vegetarian brand that has never used leather, fur, skins or feathers in its products, has been carrying out an environmental audit for the past three years, however, this marks the first time its has published the global environmental profit and loss account report, which accounts for the full calendar year of 2015.

2015 marked the designer brand’s best financial year since its launch, despite the slowdown in UK growth, and its overall environmental impact of materials used reduced by 35 percent in last three years, the report notes.

Stella McCartney’s 2015 environmental profit and loss impact was a “loss” of 5.5 million euros, representing a 7 percent growth in impact over the past 3 years, whilst, its environmental impact has been reduced by 35 percent per kilogram of material used.

In 2013, the average impact per kilogram of material used was 11.82 euros, in 2014 it was 9.76 euros, and in 2015 it was 7.69 euros, which the brand claims is largely due to changes made in how and where they source its raw materials.

Stella McCartney said: “Fashion is an industry that makes a significant impact on the planet. It’s not just cool clothes and trends. Every single day, myself and my entire team are challenging ourselves and the industry: what we can do better? Can we be responsible and accountable for what we make and how we make it? Our dream is to improve, but we have to start somewhere in order to progress.

“So here we are, and this is the start of our journey, and as you can see, we are not perfect but something is better than nothing. I’m hoping to share and encourage the industry to join in, and evaluate its environmental footprint for our future.”

Stella McCartney reduces overall environmental impact of materials by 35 percent

The environmental profit and loss report looks at six major categories of environment impact, greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution, water pollution, water consumption, waste disposal, and changes in ecosystem services associated with land use change, across all of its business and supply chain, from the production of raw materials through to its own operations and sale of products to the customer. Everything that comes from producing and selling its fashion collections.

The most highly concentrated area of environmental impact at Stella McCartney was at the supply chain level, accounting for 90 percent, with the highest concentration at the raw material stage, 57 percent. While the brand’s own direct operations represent 10 percent of its environmental impact.

“Over the past three years we have focused heavily on reducing our environmental impact, we are not perfect, but we will continue this effort,” added McCartney. “In addition to researching new ways to reduce impacts, we are also beginning to move towards transitioning away from merely doing less bad, to doing measurable good. We have many exciting projects in the pipeline and are looking forward to sharing them in the future.”

To help reduce its environmental impact the brand has already switched from virgin cashmere to regenerated cashmere, which the brand states has an 87 percent reduction in impact. It is also looking into how to reduce the environmental impact of its synthetic leather alternatives, which it adds does have a lesser impact than those that do use leather on the whole, although it notes that synthetic alternatives are not “without environmental concerns”. It adds that it is looking to reduce the impact further by swapping them with recycled and bio-based materials.

Stella McCartney chief executive officer, Frederick Lukoff, added: “Our current environmental profit and loss would be most accurately described as an account of our ‘losses’—since all businesses have negative impact on the environment.

“We are, however, striving to balance our accounts. We are working towards projects and sources that would account for profits while delivering real benefits for the environment.”

Stella McCartney is the first Kering brand to release its environmental profit and loss numbers.

Image: Stella McCartney