Model Kiki Willems is styled by Brian Molloy in ‘Zephyr’ [a soft gentle breeze], spring women’s fashion from Le Monde d'Hermes, lensed by Alain Laboile [IG].

Hermès Growth in Artisanal Approach

The French luxury house saw a first quarter rise in sales of 27.1 percent, beating all analysts expectations, with ready-to-wear being in high gear. Hermès also is receiving high praise far and wide for its new watches. Revenue in the Americas rose 44.2 percent in first quarter.

“The strong growth in sales at the beginning of this year reflects the desirability of our collections and the confidence of our customers in our artisanal and responsible approach,” said Hermès executive chairman Axel Dumas, in a statement.

As part of its “acceleration of strategic investments, recruitments and training” across all divisions, Hermès has continued to reinforce its leather goods production capabilities, with one new workshop opening planned this year in Louviers, France, and an additional four in the next five years. It is forecasting a 6 to 7 percent increase in production capacity in 2022 at the company’s 52 sites in France.

Responsible and Ethical Are Not Identical in Brand Ratings

The development of an artisanal approach is different from what is being labeled ‘ethical’ by websites like Good On You.

Leather is a perfect example. Hermès will never be called ethical because they are using leather. Even though they agree to the highest possible worker standards and environment-friendly policies in tanning and how the animals are treated, it’s leather.

Note, though, that even Stella McCartney can’t get a top rating on Good on You, which suggests a bleak future if even she can’t cut it with the uber-progressives. Stella does get a ‘good’ — or a B on a 5-point scale. Note Stella McCartney’s rating is 2018.

I think Good on You should hire up and not live on ratings that are four years old at a time when sustainability is a top priority in fashion and they have positioned themselves at the top ‘rating agency’.

Good on You makes affiliate commissions from the brands they recommend, so they should be doing well financially. They are Google page 1 whenever AOC searches for sustainability facts about a brand. I don’t think LVMH will ever take a group seriously who ranks brands every 4-5 years.

Hermès and Mycelium Leather

Nor does Hermes get any bonus points for being ready to scale out their mycelium [mushroom] leather bag made with Sylvania [the Hermes brand name]. This is a very big deal — working with mycelium — but it gets them nowhere with the progressive raters, who want their certifiers involved in every aspect of a company’s business from sustainability to workers rights, including in sub-factories.

They are demanding a total open book operation.

Hermès Opens 18th Artisan Workshop in France | MycoWorks Mushroom Leather Update AOC Sustainability 4/2021

That is not going to happen any time soon. But you have brands like Hermès being very involved in training French workers — including recent immigrants and at a high school level — and building new facilities in France. Good on You may give them a D issued after our article, but reality is that they will never get a top rating.

You will also see in our 2021 article that Hermes is rehabilitating old, abandoned work sites in Europe. Sorry, they still get a D.

Bottom line, I see many brands making major progress in sustainability and ethical practices, but they are “not good enough”. And if you don’t open up your entire operation to the reviewers, you will never be good enough, no matter how many organizations you belong to.

I’m thrilled with Hermès being ready to roll into major production with their new mycelium Mycoworks-produced Sylvania mushroom leather.

Hermès tested the production last fall with a limited run on the bag. Now MycoWorks is ready to roll.

Wow! AOC always writes up to the minute in posts like this one. Literally an hour ago, BlackRock and Temasek’s new joint investment fund devoted to sustainability and carbon reduction made MycoWorks their first investment. Only one source has the info — and the subscription is $599 a year, so no link. But this is big news. ~ Anne