Sustainable Luxury, Beauty & Sport

Kinross Gold Corporation is pleased to announce the launch of their 2009 Corporate Responsibility Report http://www.reportalert.info/ra/profiles/Kinross/2010/?ID=32555.

The report chronicles Kinross’ progress over the past two years in delivering on the strong commitment to corporate responsibility that is expressed in the company’s core values and Ten Guiding Principles for Corporate Responsibility.

This is Kinross’ first web-based report and details the Company’s 2008 and 2009 performance in health and safety, environment, community and social development, engaging with local stakeholders, working with indigenous people, and more. The report also includes an overview of the Company’s new corporate responsibility strategy, and features a number of case studies. A PDF copy of the full report, detailed 2009 data tables, and other relevant documents are available for download from the homepage.

Explore the site at http://www.reportalert.info/ra/profiles/Kinross/2010/?ID=32555.

Kinross is a Canadian-based gold mining company with mines and projects in the United States, Canada, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador and Russia, and employs approximately 5,500 people worldwide. The company’s strategic focus is to maximize net asset value and cash flow per share through a four-point plan built on: delivering mine and financial performance; attracting and retaining the best people in the industry; achieving operating excellence through the “Kinross Way”; and delivering future value through profitable growth opportunities. Kinross maintains listings on the Toronto Stock Exchange (symbol:K) and the New York Stock Exchange (symbol:KGC).

Lausanne, Switzerland

The debate surrounding sustainable luxury is not new, but very prevailing as luxury consumers’ expectations and behaviors evolve rapidly. The traditional definition of luxury as ‘anything unneeded’ is neither helpful nor relevant in today’s markets. Luxury has become both a commendable and widely obtainable need and necessity.  

When it comes to corporate responsibility, luxury companies don’t become model citizens overnight. But merely complying with public demands for responsible practices won’t protect them very long or even contribute to solve social or environmental problems.

But, how to be good and do well ?                           

What do the terms such as ethical consumerism or discerning luxury consumption really tell us about future luxury spending habits? How to go beyond mere compliance to gain a competitive advantage? How best in class luxury companies succeed in their endeavor of changing their stakeholders’ behaviors? How to make a real difference to society in reinventing a new business model? How to future-proof its company and ensure sustained value for all stakeholders ?

The Atelier of Sustainable Excellence™ aims to provide a learning & sharing platform for engaged CSR/Sustainability professionals from the luxury/prestige sectors, academia and non-governemental/not for profit organisations to :

• Anticipate the trends shaping the luxury industry
• Share business initiatives addressing social and environmental challenges.
• Experiment sustainable excellence during a highly interactive “GameShop”.

Provisional program and confirmed speakers.

• Mr Burak Cakmak, GUCCI, CSR Director, Keynote speaker
• Prof. Sandor Czellar, PhD, Marketing Professor, HEC Lausanne University
• Mrs Iris Maria Alexis Van der Veken, Rosy Blue Diamonds, Manager Corporate Affairs. Chair, United Nation Global Compact Network Belgium
• Mrs Corinne Paget-Blanc, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Communication Director
• Mr Christopher H. Cordey, Wholebeauty, Chief Catalyst Officer
• Mrs Veerle Vrolijk-van Wauwe – Transparence SA, CEO
• Powered by LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®, participants will build a common vision of the luxury goods industry in 2030. They will test how their  informed understandings of this industry and its interactions with key stakeholders –be they investors, consumers, retailers, environmental activists, or members of supply chains –  shape their future business models. The expected output will be a glimpse into the core values that the luxury goods industry will need to promote, as a whole, to future-proof itself and ensure sustained value for all its stakeholders. This session will be facilitated by Mrs Joyce Miller, PhD and Mr Eli de Friend, Caprese

Program may subject to change. Number of participants will be limited. Registration and inquiries

Gucci’s newly designed packaging is FSC-certified and recyclable. Image courtesy of Gucci.

« If we wait for customers to make sustainable development a condition for purchasing, then nothing will happen. It’s as if green products were somehow not normal. They are normal, it is the other products that are not normal. It’s up to us to work out how to make green products the new normal. » –

as said by PPR (which owns Gucci Group) chairman and chief executive officer François-Henri Pinault weighed in on customers unpreparedness to pay extra for sustainable development, in an interview with WWD. 

The newly designed luxury packaging has undergone a major transformation. According to the press release, the bags, boxes, and tissue paper no longer have plastic laminate surfaces (not uncommon in luxury packaging); ribbon and garment bags have been switched from polyester to cotton; and the bags provide transparency and read: « This shopping bag is FSC certified and made of 100% recyclable material ».

The luxury brand is also cutting down on excess packaging altogether. Shoes will be packed in one flannel instead of two. Gift boxes will only be given out when requested. Gucci is going to replace all of its mannequins with a new eco-friendly version, designed by Frida Giannini, made with shockproof polystyrene–a long-lasting and 100% recyclable raw material–fully made in Italy and finished with water-based paints.

Surely these efforts are applaudable, but replacing all the mannequins? We’re not sure what they’re planning to do with the old ones but it would make a lot more sense to hold on to them before creating and replacing more long-lasting mannequins. Apart from packaging Gucci is pursuing energy-saving initiatives in their retail stores and also aims to reach the following targets by the end of this year: a reduction of 35 tons of plastic waste; a reduction of 1,400 tons of paper consumption; a reduction of about 10,000 tons of Co2 emissions; and a reduction of about 4 million litres of gas oil consumption.  Source PPR press release.

In crisis time, it is important for any community to face difficulties and address solutions. In France, a recent SOFRES poll indicated that 58% of employees do not trust their employer. Many workers of the luxury industry, especially within watch factories and companies, struggle to keep their job and are evolving in a harassing stressed environment.

Former employees of KPMG in the UK decided to set up a specific tool for companies that want to improve their performance and establish responsible and ethical practices. GoodCorporation was born. It is a responsible business auditing company founded in 2000 by a group of former partners and directors of KPMG Consulting who wanted to create a straight-forward and transparent system which would enable companies to assess their ethical business practices in a credible way. Its aim is to drive up standards in business life by assessing companies against the GoodCorporation Standard. Developed in association with the Institute of Business Ethics, the GoodCorporation Standard assesses all areas of business management and is independently verified by the Accreditation Council. Many worldwide companies have already been assessed, such as Total, DHL and GDF-Suez, and new tools for Small and Medium Enterprises have also been developed.

The company now offers its services in Switzerland. It is a real added value for any organization (international or smaller ones, but also profit and non-profit ones) as it helps managers to point out the malfunctions and implement adapted solutions. www.goodcorporation.com