Gucci launches new deadstock and resale programmes as part of bigger circularity efforts

Two new Gucci initiatives, Gucci Continuum and Gucci Preloved with Vestiaire Collective, are putting new weight behind deadstock-made products and resale as part of its bigger circularity strategy.

The dual launch of Continuum and Preloved follows the announcement of Gucci’s Circular Hub last month. Together, they’re part of Gucci’s plans to tie together all of its circularity initiatives under one coordinated strategy, because the more work Gucci has put into circularity, the more it has recognised the importance of a centralised effort, says Antonella Centra, Gucci’s EVP of general counsel, corporate affairs and sustainability. That’s true for the production and supply chain side of the brand’s operations as well as its retail presence and relationships with consumers — which is one of the obstacles to circularity that Continuum and Preloved could help to fill, says Robert Triefus, Gucci’s senior EVP of corporate and brand strategy and the CEO of Gucci Vault and Metaverse Ventures.

“One thing that is quite important is that the idea and the philosophy of circularity is understood as best as possible among our customers,” he says. The programmes, which are being launched on an experimental basis — with the hope they will lead to “a sustained customer facing programme”, according to Triefus — offer “further evidence of us building circularity into our business model”.

To transform an industry as linear as fashion into a circular model is a monumental task at every level, from the agricultural practices used to produce raw materials and new infrastructure needed for collecting and managing secondhand goods to expanded textile recycling capacity and shifts in consumer behaviour. 

Gucci is pushing full steam ahead on all fronts, says Centra: its regenerative agriculture and cultural heritage programmes are expanding, with the expectation that half of its wool will be sourced from a regenerative agriculture programme in Uruguay within the next two years and that it will source cotton and silk, albeit on a much smaller scale, from projects in Italy aimed at revitalising once-thriving agricultural sectors in the country that have been largely lost over time. It has expanded the testing processes carried out at the Gucci Artlab to ensure product durability, and its industry research collaborations and infrastructure partnerships are aimed at accelerating the development of new material innovations and recycling technologies for leather and other materials.

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Source: www.voguebusiness.com