Luxury fashion lovers rejoice because Gucci has just dropped a collection featuring vegan sneakers made entirely from eco-friendly materials.
“Sustainability” is the new-buzzword in the fashion industry. Until recently, it was only the {often criticized} fast-fashion houses that launched had their own dedicated sustainable fashion lines. However, now the trend has caught up in the luxury fashion world. After Burberry, guess who just dropped an entire sustainable collection?
Italian luxury fashion house Gucci launched its first ever sustainable fashion collection Off The Grid, designed by creative director Alessandro Michele. A few years ago, who would have thought that sustainability would become the mantra for the luxury fashion house Gucci? Fast forward 2020, not only is Gucci showing that sustainability is indeed the future of fashion and has launched an entirely sustainable collection, but has even nixed all animal products from some of the pieces in it.
“Designed for those mindful of their environmental impact, Gucci Off The Grid uses recycled, organic, bio-based and sustainably sourced materials.”
Oh yes, now you can own your very own pair of Gucci vegan sneakers made from recycled and other eco-friendly materials! Its like a dream come true.
Part of the Gucci Tennis 1977 collection, the vegan sneaker range in Off The Grid Pre-Fall 2020 collection includes styles for men and women in multiple colors. For men, there are classic black and punchy orange low-top and high-top sneakers, and for women the available styles include the low-top sneakers in versatile black and statement bright yellow.
Vegan Sneakers: This product has not been made using materials of animal origin
Each of these sneakers are ethically crafted as part of the Gucci Circular Lines using recycled, organic, bio-based and sustainably sourced materials. The GG pattern on the shoe is cut from ECONYL® (a regenerated nylon fabric made from abandoned fishing nets and gear salvaged from the oceans), the classic Gucci green and red web stripe is made from recycled polyester, the black contrast details are made from cellulose sourced from sustainably managed forests and the eyelets are made from recycled steel with recycled polyester laces. Even the lining is paid attention too and is made from organic cotton and viscose made from sustainably sourced wood pulp. The whole shoe is sewn using recycled polyester thread.
Beyond the shoes, the clothing in the debut collection is also vegan-friendly. However, neither is the entire Off The Grid collection vegan (since leather is widely used in its accessories like bags and hats), nor has Gucci indicated any plans of ditching leather anytime soon.
Yet, this is a positive step taken by the luxury fashion house, considering its bread and butter comes from leather goods. In fact, in the product description section of these sneakers, Gucci has mentioned that they have not used any materials of animal origin.
Image credit: Gucci
Talking of ethics, I know many people might cringe for the simple reason that I am promoting a leather goods brand. Let me tell you one thing. I understand Gucci’s motive isn’t ethics, its a predatory move and its simply business.
Sustainability has become the norm, it’s demanded by the consumers and is fashionable. And as a smart business house, Gucci is exploiting this millennial trend to pump up its revenues and position itself as a company that “cares”. Which is okay. As long as the change is happening, for good, there is a hope for a better and more ethical fashion industry. Whether the people running the show believe in these ethics (or not) is not important but their actions of incorporating ethics into fashion makes the whole difference.
If Gucci is promoting the concept of circular fashion, is going carbon neutral and launches a sustainable collection to make a statement, then I don’t see any problem there. It doesn’t matter where the moral compass of the executives is pointing at. And mind you, once they are in the realm of sustainability, there’s no going back. Watchdogs will tear them apart and consumers will discredit and boycott them if they do.
The fashion industry is left with no choice but to change. It’s only a matter of who does it sooner than later. Even if they don’t do it one hundred percent, they still need to make monumental changes….. It’s far from perfect and a long journey ahead, but the journey has begun!
In UAE, the shoes will be available in-store from 30th June 2020 and are priced at $690 a pair for low-tops and $730 for high-tops. Check out the full collection on Gucci’s website here.
