Chloé becomes the first luxury house to achieve B-Corp Certification

On Monday, Richemont-owned luxury maison Chloé announced that after 18 months of rigorous restructuring they have been certified as a Benefit Corporation.

Leading the way by promoting women’s equality within the company with “Women Forward. For a fairer future.”, Chloé has developed a sustainability board including external experts Amanda Nguyen and Elisabeth Laville.

Creative Director of the house Gabriela Hearst announced the move to a purpose-driven strategy in June 2020 that was followed by a concerted effort to adopt materials with a lower environmental impact (which made up 58% of their SS22 collection), partnering with more FairTrade suppliers, ensuring all their employees are committed to the new vision, and encouraging them to spend one day a year volunteering with local NGOs.

In a release, CEO Riccardo Bellini commented “B-Corp offers us a powerful framework to accelerate and guide this transformation… By becoming a B-Corp today, we reinstate our commitment to continuously challenge ourselves to use our brand and business as a force for good.”

But what does being a B-Corp really entail? Not for profit B Lab is the organisation behind the B-Corp certification and has been around since 2006. Their aim is to get all businesses to positively impact people and environment, helping them balance purpose with profit. A business must answer 300 questions that take into account governance, workers, communities and impact to achieve a minimum score of 80 points and be certified as a Benefit Corporation. From over 4,000 B-Corp companies across all industries, just 200 are from the apparel, accessories, jewellery and footwear space, with Chloé tagged as the first luxury house to join the cohort.

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