How we design and make products today shapes the world we will inhabit tomorrow.
American fashion company Ralph Lauren has recently launched a new circularity strategy. As part of this effort, they will certify five of their iconic products under the Cradle to Cradle Certified Products Program. Cradle to Cradle Certified is the global standard for products that are safe, circular and responsibly made.
Ralph Lauren Deepens Commitment to Timelessness in 2022 Global Citizenship & Sustainability Report.
Ralph Lauren Corporation published its 2022 Global Citizenship & Sustainability Report, outlining the high end brand’s progress across its environmental, social and governance (ESG) commitments. The new Report further details Ralph Lauren’s evolved Timeless by Design approach to ensure its philosophy of timelessness is embedded from inspiration through to products’ every use and reuse across generations.
“Ralph’s embrace of timelessness has kept our designs and, ultimately, our business resilient and relevant for more than 50 years,” said Patrice Louvet, President & Chief Executive Officer, Ralph Lauren Corporation. “Embedding this philosophy across our entire value chain is a natural and critical extension of Ralph’s vision as we work to address our impacts beyond the beautiful products and experiences we create.”
As part of Timeless by Design, the American luxury brand strengthened its commitment to advancing a circular economy through its new Live On promise to enable its past and future products to live on responsibly by 2030. The new commitment includes targeted goals such as investing to scale regenerative practices and innovative technologies by 2025 and extending the life of its products by piloting ways for its consumers to rent, repair and recirculate Ralph Lauren products by 2025 in select top cities.
Ralhp Lauren’s iconic cashmere sweater will be the first-of-its-kind luxury Cradle to Cradle (C2C) Certified product, available to consumers later this year.
Cradle to Cradle Certified assesses the safety, circularity and responsibility of materials and products across five categories of sustainability performance:
- Material Health: ensuring materials are safe for humans and the environment;
- Product Circularity: enabling a circular economy through regenerative products and process design;
- Clean Air & Climate Protection: protecting clean air, promoting renewable energy, and reducing harmful emissions;
- Water & Soil Stewardship: safeguarding clean water and healthy soils;
- Social Fairness: respecting human rights and contributing to a fair and equitable society.
-
@Ralph Lauren
Additional progress shared across Ralph Lauren Timeless by Design’s three pillars, Create with Intent, Protect the Environment and Champion Better Lives, include:
Announcing the formalization of a Design with Intent department responsible for culturally sustainable design, product development and brand storytelling;
Launching its Artists in Residence program, part of the Company’s journey to further engage Native American and Indigenous communities;
Donating more than $2.5 million in scholarship funds from the Ralph Lauren Corporate Foundation to institutions focused on providing equitable access to higher education;
Strengthening its efforts to elevate factory workers and worker life skills training, from providing evolved personal health and digital learning programs to supervisory and leadership training;
Widening the aperture of its design inspiration and brand storytelling to deliver on the high-end brand’s commitment to expand its portrayal of the American dream through the Polo Ralph Lauren Exclusively for Morehouse and Spelman Colleges Collection;
Launching a comprehensive disability equity strategy focused on six key pillars, including integrating accessible design practices into its product offerings, building on the Company’s Valuable 500 pledge to add disability awareness to its Board’s DE&I agenda;
Increasing transparency and reporting across human rights due diligence throughout its supply chain; and
Committing an inaugural grant through the Ralph Lauren Corporate Foundation to establish the U.S. Regenerative Cotton Fund, supporting long-term, sustainable cotton production in the United States with the goal of eliminating 1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent from the atmosphere by 2026.
