WHERE’S NEXT FOR LUXURY?
In-person and digital tickets
for Walpole members and
non-members available now
Monday 29th April
at The Londoner
Buy tickets here
Sustainable Stories

Mulberry Made to Last Manifesto

To mark its 50th anniversary, and timed to coincide with Earth Day, Walpole member Mulberry announces the launch of the Made to Last Manifesto, laying 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.
21st Apr 2021
Sustainable Stories Mulberry Made to Last Manifesto

Can a bag save the world?

To achieve Mulberry's ambitious commitment, the Made to Last Manifesto focuses on six key actions for change:

1. Pioneer a hyper-local, hyper-transparent ‘farm to finished product’ supply chain model

2. Develop the world’s lowest carbon leather sourced from a network of environmentally conscious farms

3. Achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2035

4. Continue to extend the life of Mulberry products through repair and restoration

5. Buy back, resell or repurpose any Mulberry bag

6. Extend its commitment to being a real Living Wage employer by working with its network of suppliers to achieve the same

Click here to read Mulberry's Made To Last Manifesto Open Letter

Over the last 50 years, Mulberry has been at the forefront of designing and manufacturing leather goods in the UK, but, in 2021, it is taking this moment to ask the question ‘Can leather ever be sustainable?’. To answer this, the brand is looking at every part of its supply chain to embed principles of regeneration and circularity at every stage.

Acknowledging the environmental issues associated with cattle farming, Mulberry believes the continuation of a long and successful association with leather is dependent on achieving full traceability from farm to finished product, allowing us to put in place a network of organic and environmentally conscious farms to supply the hides that create its leather. This network will provide the foundations of its commitment to a regenerative and circular supply chain by 2030.

Mulberry has always been a brand built on community and locality, and since its inception it has remained committed to making more than half of its products in its Somerset factories. Today those factories are carbon neutral and every person working in them is paid a real Living Wage, but proud as Mulberry is of these achievements, it knows it has to go much further to make transformational change, and that’s why it is asking the question, ‘Can you make a blue bag green?’.

Later this year Mulberry 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 its commitment to reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2035. Its transformative approach to leather sourcing will be reflected in the way it innovates new solutions across its business, from integrating recycled nylon and regenerative organic cotton into its products to continuously assessing and reducing the environmental impact of its packaging and its physical store network.

In asking, ‘Can you teach an old bag new tricks?’, Mulberry highlights its commitment to extending the life of every Mulberry product through repair, renewal, and repurposing. This commitment is at the heart of its circular proposition, influencing the way it designs and manufactures, and the services it offers customers. The Repairs Team at The Rookery, one of its Somerset factories, are masters of restoration, breathing new life into more than 10,000 bags every year, with leather and hardware archives going back over 35 years.

Through the Mulberry Exchange it matches authenticated and beautifully restored classics with a new owner, and every one of its bags - be they 50 years or five months old - can find a second, third or even fourth home with another member of the Mulberry community. This platform was launched in-store in 2020 and is going digital on mulberry.com in April 2021, alongside a recently launched partnership with Vestiaire Collective, making resale a core pillar of Mulberry’s circularity strategy.

If the day comes that a Mulberry bag really has reached the end of the line, the brand will still buy it back and using an innovative energy reclaim system, unique to its strategic partner Muirhead, a member of the Scottish Leather Group, power the production of a new bag, ensuring that the line never ends, it just becomes a circle.

The Made to Last Manifesto promises that the Mulberry business and a Mulberry bag represent a commitment to regeneration, renewal and reimagination. Keeping this promise requires a culture change across the industry, the supply chain and amongst customers, a radical shift in both the way things are made and the way they are used, and it ultimately leads to the question: ‘Can a bag save the world?’. Mulberry knows real change is born from a willingness to ask the hard questions and to keep seeking meaningful answers.

Can a Mulberry bag come with a promise of regeneration, renewal and reimagination? If it can, and we believe it can, then yes, a bag can truly be part of making things better.

“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 hyper-local, hyper-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.”

— Thierry Andretta, CEO, Mulberry

 

Related Articles

Lauren Dickinson Clarke curates our latest Walpole Weekend Wind-Down playlist
Walpole Weekender
28th Mar 2024
Lauren Dickinson Clarke curates our latest Walpole Weekend Wind-Down playlist
Every month, we ask a different Walpole member or partner organisation to put together a playlist to help you transition into weekend mode after yet another high-stress week at work. For April, scented candle and home accessories brand Lauren Dickinson Clarke has shared a playlist tranquility and enlightenment to the end of your week
David Kendall on being part of the LGBTQ+ community in the luxury sector
Inclusive Luxury
28th Mar 2024
David Kendall on being part of the LGBTQ+ community in the luxury sector
Inclusive Luxury is our content series dedicated to celebrating the work of Walpole member executives in the LGBTQ+ community. In our latest interview, we speak to David Kendall, Marketing and Communications Director at storied interior architecture firm, David Collins Studio
Walpole's Anna Maude shares her Out of Office essentials
Out of Office
22nd Mar 2024
Walpole's Anna Maude shares her Out of Office essentials
In our Out of Office interview series, we speak to Walpole member and partner executives at the top of their game about how they live their lives away from their desks – the habits that help them decompress, the activities that re-centre their minds, and the little luxuries that they can't live without. This week, we talk dog walks, dirty martinis and phone drawers with Walpole's Executive Assistant & Head of Programme, Anna Maude