Over the past months we have been serialising a selection of the features and interviews in Country & Townhouse's Great British Brands ZERO publication, produced in collaboration with Walpole.
From hard-hitting features about the changes the luxury industry can make to save the world to activist Clover Hogan writing about eco-phobia could be limiting your company's potential, plus a series of interviews with brands both big and small about their sustainability journeys, see all of our serialised extracts collated below.
How Britain's disruptor fashion brands are driving sustainable change
Is eco-phobia interrupting your story?
How luxury can change to save the planet
An interview with jewellery designer Anabela Chan
An interview with Adrian Hallmark, Bentley
An interview with Michael Wainwright, Boodles
An interview with Giles English, Bremont
An interview with Julie Brown, Burberry
An interview with womenswear designer Joanna Dai
An interview with Thierry Andretta, Mulberry
An interview with Adam Brown, Orlebar Brown
An interview with Michael Ward, Harrods
An interview with Frieda Gormley, House of Hackney
An interview with Sacha Newall, My Wardrobe HQ
An interview with Joanne Milner, Garrard
An interview with José Neves, Farfetch
An interview with accessories designer Anya Hindmarch
The CEOs of brands including Bentley, Burberry, Harrods, Mulberry and Selfridges, all at different stages of the sustainability journey, talk about the challenges they have overcome and continue to face. By gathering their stories in one edition, GBB ZERO hopes to inspire other brands in the luxury sector and beyond, to commit to net zero.
Edited by Charlotte Metcalf and forwarded by hard-hitting essays by futurist Mark Stevenson; climate activist Clover Hogan; environmental journalist Lucy Siegle and A Plastic Planet founder, Sian Sutherland, GBB ZERO doesn’t shy away from the luxury industry’s role in contributing to harmful carbon emissions. Instead, it sets out to show how the luxury industry can – and must – change to play its part in a positive net carbon future, through a circular and sharing economy, regeneration, transparency in tracing the whole product life cycle, and biodegradable and compostable packaging.
"The luxury industry has long been seen as part of the problem rather than the solution. So, for the first time, we’ve gathered luxury industry leaders to talk about the important proactive contributions they are starting to make to a carbon neutral future. This edition is not a collection of big success stories but an attempt to broaden the conversation by including brands, big and small, at varying stages of their journey towards zero emissions. We hope the openness and frankness with which CEOs relate their stories, encourage other brands to take the important first step towards net zero, because the future of our planet and people will only be assured if brands collaborate and strive to solve this problem together," says Charlotte Metcalf, Editor-in-Chief of GBB ZERO.
Two thousand hard copies of GBB ZERO will be printed to ensure zero wastage on distribution. Digital copies are being distributed via the following networks: to delegates at the Global Investment Summit on October 19; to embassies worldwide via the UK’s international brand marketing campaign, GREAT; to all Walpole members, the official sector body for UK luxury; to all British Fashion Council members; Country & Town House channels, plus featured brand networks.
Hard copies are printed by CarbonNeutral® company Pureprint, which is ISO 14001 Environmental Management and FSC® Certified, and a member of Member of Sedex, the ethical supplier register. All copies are printed on 100 per cent recycled paper and the entire magazine (including covers) is 100 per cent recyclable.
All costs for the digital edition of Great British Brands ZERO have been covered by private sponsorship. Any profit from advertising revenue from the print edition has been donated to not for profit environmental charity ClientEarth. Country & Town House itself has committed to Race to Zero.
Led by the High-Level Climate Champions for Climate Action – Nigel Topping and Gonzalo Muñoz, Race to Zero is a global campaign that mobilises a coalition of leading net zero initiatives, representing 733 cities, 31 regions, 3,067 businesses, 173 of the biggest investors, and 622 Higher Education Institutions. These ‘real economy’ actors join 120 countries in the largest ever alliance committed to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050 at the latest.
