Kering has partnered with the Centre for Sustainable Fashion to launch “Governance for Tomorrow,” a three-year program that reimagines governance in luxury fashion with a focus on social equity and environmental stewardship.
Kering and the Centre for Sustainable Fashion (CSF) at London College of Fashion, part of the University of the Arts London (UAL), have introduced a new program called “Governance for Tomorrow” to reshape governance models in the luxury fashion industry with a focus on equity and environmental stewardship. This new initiative, commemorating the tenth anniversary of Kering’s collaboration with CSF, seeks to redefine governance in fashion by connecting experts from varied sectors, academia, NGOs, and activists to craft models prioritizing both the planet and social equity.
“We are glad to celebrate our longstanding partnership with Centre for Sustainable Fashion through the launch of the ‘Governance for Tomorrow’ program,” Marie-Claire Daveu, Kering’s chief sustainability and institutional affairs officer, said in a statement. “This innovative program marks a key milestone in our commitment to redefining governance practices in the luxury sector, placing sustainability, equity, and social justice at its heart.”
Key to the “Governance for Tomorrow” is its reliance on speculative design and participatory methods to ideate, test, and implement these alternative governance frameworks. At its foundation is the work of Johan Rockström and colleagues as detailed in the Nature article, “Safe and Just Earth System Boundaries,” which advocates for interspecies, intergenerational, and intragenerational justice, collectively referred to as “3I” justice.
The program’s “3I non-executive experimental board” will champion governance that emphasizes justice and fairness for communities and species alike, as essential for maintaining Earth’s ecological balance. According to the press release, this board will view governance “through the lens of 3I justice, emphasizing the importance of justice, fairness and equity for all communities and species as essential to maintain the balance of Earth’s natural systems.”
The introduction of Governance for Tomorrow comes as the fashion industry faces growing pressure to address critical issues such as sustainable production, decarbonization of supply chains, and living wages for garment workers.
As part of this launch, CSF has issued a call for changemakers from various sectors to join the stewardship boards of Governance for Tomorrow. These boards will act as incubators for transformative ideas, gathering a diverse group of innovators to collaboratively address the fashion industry’s multifaceted challenges. “Through convening imaginative and curious minds, we will prototype frameworks and practices based on the true rules of prosperity, and thus shift from the rules we invented that missed out nature and the commitment to living better, as the basis of a thriving luxury fashion sector,” noted Dilys Williams, director of the Centre for Sustainable Fashion.
In recent years, Kering has expanded its regenerative and biodiversity-focused initiatives. It committed to regenerative agriculture practices on one million hectares and launched the Regenerative Fund for Nature with Conservation International. Additionally, the company has aimed to achieve a 40 percent reduction in its overall environmental footprint by 2025 — a goal it met four years early, in 2021. This includes substantial reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and achieving 100 percent renewable energy across its operations. To support these efforts, Kering also established the Climate Fund for Nature with L’Occitane, committing resources toward nature-based solutions, and launched circularity efforts like eliminating single-use plastics and reducing micro-fiber leakage by 2030.
Daveu has emphasized the significance of embedding sustainability within all operational and strategic decisions. Under her leadership, Kering also banned fur across all its brands, echoing a growing trend in luxury fashion toward more ethical practices. The company has supported groundbreaking initiatives in circular fashion, such as investing in VitroLabs to develop lab-grown leather, thus moving away from traditional leather sources and reinforcing the trend of luxury brands increasingly adopting sustainable material innovations.
The announcement comes as Kering partnered with Saudi Arabia’s Fashion Commission to launch the Kering Generation Award in the Kingdom, aiming to foster innovation and sustainable practices in the region’s fashion industry. The partnership marks the award’s first expansion into the Middle East. Since its inception in 2017 under Kering’s sustainability vision, “Crafting Tomorrow’s Luxury,” the award has been a vehicle for recognizing start-ups that push the boundaries of sustainable practices in fashion. Initially rolled out in China and later in Japan, the program targets innovations in fashion, leather goods, jewelry, eyewear, and beauty
This latest edition in Saudi Arabia will spotlight start-ups focusing on customer engagement, circular economy, and water conservation, emphasizing Kering’s commitment to ecological responsibility in fashion. Through these criteria, Kering and the Fashion Commission aim to drive meaningful change within the Saudi fashion industry by recognizing and supporting start-ups that integrate environmental and social consciousness into their business models.
“We firmly believe that the future of luxury is built on sustainable innovation and engaging the next generation,” Daveu said. “This partnership with the Fashion Commission of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, through the expansion of our Kering Generation Award, reflects our commitment to driving meaningful change in the Saudi fashion industry.”
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