Do you like Gucci?
The answer to that question would have changed a lot around 2016. Gucci's annual sales last year was also amazing. I have included the 2018 annual earnings report disclosed by Gucci's parent company, Kering group, below. According to articles, Gucci recorded a 36.9% growth achieving EUR 8billion Euros (around KRW 10.1863trillion Korean won) in sales for the first time in history last year (2018). Some articles are speculating that it may be more than Chanel's last year sales.

 Double-digit growth for 3 consecutive years!

 Of course, behind how Gucci became a brand so loved by the young generation that they greet each other saying "What's Gucci?" on Instagram, there is Alessandro Michele and Marco Bizzarri's bold decision to hire him. This column, however, focuses on the design aspect in realizing sustainability, big or small, that is at the foundation of Gucci's success.

 Let's start with examples we can easily encounter. I don't know if there are some of you who have taken a closer look at the shopping bags of luxury brands like Gucci and Louis Vuitton in the recent few years. Even I myself, who works at Design Team, have overlooked them simply thinking they are pretty. But you would find a few tendencies if you take a closer look.

 First, Gucci uses paper that has been FSC® certified or with another environmental certification mark. The FSC® symbol is the most well-known environmental symbol globally. Simply put, it is a symbol printed on paper produced from well-preserved forests. In 2011, Gucci showcased a new package designed with FSC® certified material. And since 2017, all paper and cardboards created by Gucci are 100% FSC® certified. There are many eco-friendly certification marks in the world. Reasons for using these certifications used to be to show that they are complying with regulations or to use as grounds for increased costs. This is no longer true. Sensitivity towards the value of sustainability expected from brands that produce consumer goods appeals to the main consumer group, leading to a trend of more active use of these certifications.

 Second, the design is becoming simpler. Rather than using big patterns, there are more designs with less print colors and simply using just the logo. This design choice lessens the impact on shopping bag manufacturing process and the environment. It is also a good design for when the shopping bag is recycled.

 Third, there is the occasional message that recommends consumers to reuse. If you read my last column, you would know that while it is important to design eco-friendly products, it is equally important for the value of sustainability in not using materials for unnecessary things. In other words, if you recommend consumers to reuse the shopping bag, you can avoid having to produce unnecessary additional shopping bags. Of course, for this to carry real significance, you might also consider the option of asking consumers to return used shopping bags or asking them if it would be okay to use a reused shopping bag to wrap their purchase item.

 Why are these luxury brands actively engaging this change? Are there reasons other than the fact that their main target customers related to sustainability activities?

 To discuss Gucci's value of sustainability, we cannot leave out CEO of Kering, François-Henri Pinault. In an interview with The New York Times in 2013, Pinault said, "Sustainable development is a fundamental break that's going to reshuffle the entire deck," and added, "There are companies today that are going to dominate in the future simply because they understand that." And about 6 years later today, his words became true.

 The World Economic Forum was held in Davos January this year. I would like to share with you two impressive indicators that can be interpreted as evidence for what François-Henri Pinault said, and the Gucci Equilibrium.

 First is the Global Risks Report published by the World Economic Forum. Global risks are risks that are considered to have massive impact on world economy as well as the world at large. Note that out of the 5 categories, 3 (more than half) – the top 3 nonetheless – are environmental; extreme weather, failed climate change mitigation, and natural disasters. As you can see in the above image, these three only changed in its ranking and has been at the top 5 risks almost every year in the recent 4 years.

 The fact that elements related to nature are considered to be the biggest issues threatening the world is also evidence to how indicators recognizing and encouraging companies that are committed to managing these threats and solving these issues are becoming important. There are also indicators that praise companies that make an effort to resolve these issues.

 One example is the Corporate Knights Global 100 published by Corporate Knights. And in 2019, Kering was selected as the second most sustainable company in the world. The reason why this index is impressive is because it ranks companies by assessing their sustainability aspect using the same standard regardless of the industry. It is quite unprecedented that a luxury fashion group ranked second most sustainable company, considering that the number one company is a food company and the third a petroleum refinery.

 Corporate Knights explains its assessment criteria in the report it publishes. The starting point is the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – a global goal adopted by heads of UN member states. Each of the goals are then made into a scoring system by assessing them as measurable KPIs using disclosed information from companies. Amorepacific also carried out an amazing campaign on our core sustainability goals led by Sustainability Management Team last year. It especially focuses on goal number 5 Gender Equality and number 12 Responsible Consumption and Production out of the 17 goals.

 The fashion industry is known as the industry that emits the most pollutions next to the petroleum industry. It also is an industry that consumes a wide range of raw materials from animals, plants, plastic, jewelry, and metal. Therefore, it is inevitable for a luxury brand to have in place a sustainable system to also ensure a stable supply of many different resources.

 Some say that the luxury industry, which is based on consumption, emphasizing sustainability is "greenwashing" marketing. But looking at François-Henri Pinault's activities, it seems that Kering's detailed, long-term sustainable business plans are impossible if not for his clear philosophy. In his interview with The New York Times in 2017, Pinault said, "As a human being, you breathe, you eat, you dream. You cannot not dream. And luxury sparks that. Real luxury is based on authenticity and sincerity — product is almost secondary to the experience. But if your products are not in sync with a higher set of values, then you aren't going to survive in this business." In this quote, one can clearly understand that there is a dream of a sustainable planet in the dreams presented by Kering's luxury items.

 There are so many different tasks mentioned in Corporate Knights' report but rather than introducing each and every one of them to you, I'd like to share Gucci's website, which is much easier and more fun to see, instead. Gucci, the main brand of the second most sustainable company in the world, demonstrates through its Equilibrium website how such a hip and hot brand has a good corporate culture and values that contribute to the environment through sophisticated pictures and simple writings. However, its contents are all fact and number-based with reasonable grounds, which is something to consider in content design.

 The purpose of the existence of Gucci Equilibrium is "connecting people, planet and purpose". And to achieve its purpose, Gucci categorizes its activities into three pillars – Environment, People and New Models.

 I took the time to read each of the pillars, but I would like to share with you in a way different than the three pillars on the website. After all, we want to focus on the design aspect.

Gucci EP&L: the role of design in measuring and quantifying environmental impact

 Gucci makes its products by introducing the Environment Profit and Loss (EP&L) system developed by Kering. It is a system that tracks "ecological footprint", an evolved version of the "carbon footprint" we are more familiar with, to understand the ecological profit and loss in the production process. The biggest advantage is that the system allows for decision making that is "cost saving to the planet" by openly disclosing information that were difficult to measure in the past.

 You can easily imagine how much difficult mathematic formulas and data collection process went into Gucci's effort in coming up with a formula for this system. I don't think it would have been easy to think to use such intuitive infographics in explaining the awesome results of the formula.

 Selecting numerically meaningful information and using less text, simple circles and familiar icons to help people understand the message is favorable for a global company in delivering its company-wide common goals to its customers.

 And a new standard for decision-making like this system leads to opportunities to change the design process of the production process. For example, the Scrap-Less Leather initiative on Gucci Equilibrium's Waste Management item is a methodology that cuts the hide to size before tanning, which enables Gucci to reduce the amount of chemicals and water required to treat the material. Gucci also transports cut leather allowing them to reduce the volume and weight of the delivery. And because Gucci mass produces, this simple solution led to the below results.

* Results based on one-year data from October 2017 to June 2018, source: Gucci Equilibrium
– Reduction in energy consumption by 423.714 kW
– Reduction in water consumption by 5,227.633L
– Reduction in chemical consumption by 72 tons (including 14 tons of chrome)
– Reduction in leather waste by 36 tons

 Simply establishing a platform that allows you to use the right amount of materials required in the design brings a lot of change in the numbers. One more amazing point is that to not transfer the cost incurred in this process to customers, this system was elaborately planned to include measures such as asking collaboration from the auto industry that also uses leather.

Gucci-Up: a method of giving technical know-hows of design back to society

 Gucci-Up is an initiative that focuses on upcycling leather and textile waste. Gucci collaborates with various external partners for this initiative. One of Gucci-Up's important business is a partnership with 'I was a Sari', an enterprise based in Mumbai.

 I was a Sari is a social enterprise established with the purpose of nurturing women artisans in Mumbai and creating a new world of Indian design using sari which used to be loved by many Indian women in the past, focusing on the fact that the use of saris decreased. The key to its collaboration with Gucci is teaching women from Mumbai embroidery design, an important element in Gucci's design, and embroidery methods.

  Do you see the similarity?

CHIME FOR CHANGE: a way to declare socioeconomic message through graphic design

 In 2013, Gucci began a global campaign called Chime for Change, designed to raise a united voice for gender equality. This year, the brand created "To Gather, Together" as its slogan for Chime for Change. Alessandro Michele, Gucci's creative director, renewed the campaign identity together with Italian visual artist MP5. This graphic is different from the past graphics language used by a luxury brand with longstanding tradition in its campaign that delivers a social message. The first image is the Chime for Change identity in 2013 and the second image is this year's Chime for Change identity. Do you see the difference?

 The symbol became more symbolic and the Chime for Change expression is not too marked. However, the graphic itself is a design that considered scalability more.

 As you can see in the image, the message is that you cannot – and what's more, meaningless – to tell the gender of people with 100% confidence when the sign of equality (the two yellow bars) is crossed over.

 You can also see that Gucci carefully decided how to show this identity to the world. It collaborated with Artolution, which seeks to contribute to society using public arts, and created large art walls in London, Milan, New York, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. Gucci's graphics are bold, defiant and delivers its commitment to carry out detailed actions. Take a look at a few of the campaign's Instagram images.

 The graphic design tells us that the campaign movement started from recognizing a social issue, not simply activities carried out with just "good intentions" or "in good will". The use of bold and strong text and the black and fluorescent yellow complementary colors that are usually used in warning or danger signs clearly show the campaign's idea and thought. But because Gucci does not wish to be seen as being rigid or self-righteous, it also uses illustrations with softer lines and beautiful pictures with close-up portraits, bringing more life into the stories of Chime for Change.

 As the first example to share with you, I wanted to find one that would be interesting in itself and has beautiful designs among the many brands that value sustainability in many ways. It is how I came to choose Gucci. I am also interested in memory improvement these days and they say iterative learning is important. So, I used the triple bottom line and how the three layers collide as themes in this column to remind myself. I am not sure if you noticed.

 Writing this edition was also a chance for me to take a further look into the activities of Gucci. There were many other activities that I did not include in this edition, because the examples I chose were activities seen through design. Gucci engages with many nonprofit organizations with good purposes and develops education and training programs that help build corporate culture. It has arranged and recorded its activities well. So, if you are interested, I recommend you take a look at the activities of Gucci other than the ones I shared with you. Well, see you in the next edition.