Ahead of its upcoming SS20 show in Milan, Gucci has announced it is making moves to ensure the whole event is carbon neutral.  

Marco Bizzarri, the brand’s chief executive, explains that all elements of the show will be carbon neutral via a number of different methods. Recycled wood and Forest Stewardship Council-certified paper will be used for the set construction and paper invites respectively. Alongside this, the travel emissions of 1,000 guests and 900 workers, including models, production staff, and Gucci employees will be neutralised through offsetting – a practice which allows companies to balance out their carbon footprint through investing in environmentally conscious projects elsewhere. 

As well as this, Bizzarri revealed his plan to make the luxury label’s entire supply chain carbon neutral before the end of September, as this is where more than 90 per cent of all the brand’s emissions stems from. 

Carbon neutrality was a central focus point in the Fashion Pact, signed by 32 brands earlier this year, including Gucci's owners, Kering. While women’s ready-to-wear designer Gabriela Hearst made headlines for being the first brand to host a totally carbon neutral fashion show, other brands, such as Ganni, have been monitoring and off-setting their carbon footprint for years. 

Gucci’s announcement comes at a time when fashion brands are finally employing measures which will see them become more sustainable. The SS20 NYFW season saw Collina Strada’s models carry reusable water bottles to represent the work the designer has done to make the fashion industry more sustainable, while earlier this year the Swedish Fashion Council cancelled Stockholm Fashion Week to focus on launching a more environmentally conscious alternative. In London, climate emergency activist group Extinction Rebellion has also been putting pressure on the British Fashion Council, calling on them to rethink their approach to the biannual event. 

Although there is still a long way to go, Bizzari believes Gucci is heading in the right direction. “The only way we can have zero emissions is to shut our business,” he told the New York Times. “At the end of the day our company makes things, and we employ thousands of people with families and communities to do that. We need to think up the best ways of supporting our employees to do their jobs in the most sustainable way possible.”

Revisit Gucci’s AW19 collection in the gallery below.