Somerset-based luxury fashion brand Mulberry – best known for its iconic bags – has vowed to become a net zero business by 2035 with a promise to start by using the world’s lowest carbon leather for its next product launch.
Its new sustainability manifesto – which it has called Mulberry Made to Last – comes as the iconic British brand celebrates its 50th birthday. It described the move as a “radical shift in both the way things are made and the way they are used”.
Its Somerset-born founder, designer Roger Saul, cut his first leather belt in 1971, starting a business that has become a major global brand with nearly 50 stores in 25 countries and more than 50 outlets in the UK.
It still manufactures many of its products at its factory in Chilcompton, south of Bath, and also has a second production site in Bridgwater.
While the world of high fashion is not usually associated with sustainability, design-led brands such as Mulberry have become acutely aware over recent years of the reputational damage that can be done if they appear on the wrong side of the argument.
It said its Mulberry Made to Last manifesto laid 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 manifesto focuses on six key actions for change:
- Pioneer a local, transparent ‘farm to finished product’ supply chain model
- Develop the world’s lowest carbon leather sourced from a network of organic and environmentally conscious farms
- Achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2035
- Continue to extend the life of Mulberry products through repair and restoration
- Buy back, resell or repurpose any Mulberry bag
- Extend Mulberry’s commitment to being a real Living Wage employer by working with its network of suppliers to achieve the same.
Mulberry said later this year it 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,” it said.
This transformative approach to leather sourcing would be at the heart of the brand’s ‘purpose’, it added, and would be reflected in innovations 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.
Its UK factories – which produce half of all its products – are already carbon neutral and pay a real Living Wage to all workers.
The repairs team at The Rookery – its base at Chilcompton – are masters of restoration, the firm pointed out – and repair and renew more than 10,000 bags a year, with leather and hardware archives going back 35 years.
Chief executive officer Thierry Andretta said: “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.”
