Here’s a wee sneak peek into my actual wardrobe and more specifically my luxury brand purchases. I have been extremely fortunate to get to a point in life where money is no longer an enemy.
It wasn’t always easy, though: I put a lot of work into digging myself out from the prison of debt that plagued my entire 20’s. All of that struggle gave me a completely different perspective on shopping. I no longer shop for the sake of shopping, I shop only when I need to and only for actual value.
And in some part, that has meant including actual luxury brands to the mix. Yes, I hear ya, this blog is centred largely around promoting sustainable fashion, so what the hell am I on about?!
Well, to keep things “on brand” I will also be looking into each of these brands from the sustainability point of view.
Are the biggest luxury brands sustainable or not, I’ll spill the beans! But first, let’s look at luxury fashion versus sustainability as a whole.
Can luxury fashion be sustainable?
A simplified answer to this question is NO. Fashion in general can’t be sustainable considering how we consume it. But there is also actual scientific data to back this up:
In its Fossil-Free Fashion Scorecard for 2023, the grassroots organization STAND.earth evaluated nine luxury fashion brands, revealing that most of them received scores below a C.
The assessment covered brands like
- Giorgio Armani
- Chanel
- Prada
- Ferragamo
- and large groups such as KERING and LVMH.
Combined, these brands were responsible for emitting 13.5 million metric tons of CO2 in 2021. This is equivalent to the annual emissions of Lithuania.
In addition, STAND.earth uncovered connections between JBS, a major deforestation driver in the Amazon, and brands including Armani, Louis Vuitton, Fendi, Chloé, Michael Kors, and Prada.
Knowing this, I will be conducting brief reviews of my recent luxury brand purchases, paying particular attention to their sustainability practices or lack thereof.
Read also: My Chanel Bag Was FAKE! – How to Deal With Disappointments
My Recent Luxury Brand Purchases
I honestly never thought that the day would come when I could showcase a collection of luxury brand purchases. But that’s the nature of Life, you never know what’s waiting behind the corner.
Basically we can say that by now I have achieved everything luxury brands-wise that I always wanted. So, for now I don’t need any more luxury bags or shoes, I’m very well covered. And this is what it took to get to that stage:
La Medusa Handbag – Versace
I was about 6 years old when I saw a Versace fashion show on TV, and since that day I was hooked!
Owning something, anything from Versace became a life goal for me that day. I would’ve settled for just owning a button with the Medusa logo on it, but the Universe had other plans for me. After becoming an entrepreneur completely accidentally I suddenly found myself with enough funds to afford a whole Versace bag!
So, that’s exactly what I did: for my 1 year anniversary since scoring my first major freelancing client I gifted myself the La Medusa Handbag by Versace. Oh, the joy! There truly is something so much more special about being able to gift yourself something versus getting gifts from others.
After La Medusa, I had a couple more luxury brand purchases to get through until I was completely satisfied with the material side of life.
Sustainability & Versace
In terms of sustainability and Versace, I know that my La Medusa bag was made in Italy, and the leather came from Florence specifically. But that bag is probably the most sustainable piece that I have from Versace.
Because I also have some clothes from them: a crop top and a pleated skirt. Both are made of synthetic fabrics, which is very unsustainable. The clothes were also likely made somewhere in East Asia, where Versace has factories, but they haven’t disclosed where.
According to GoodOnYou – which is a rating site for fashion brands – Versace uses some animal-derived materials in its production. It does have a Responsible Wool Standard, which certifies some of the wool it sources. But only some… So no, we can’t count Versace as a sustainable brand by any means.
Medium Devotion Bag – Dolce & Gabbana
After I had fulfilled my lifelong dream of owning at least something from Versace, I had another obsession to fulfil. So, here is the next candidate on my luxury brand purchases sneak peek:
In 2018 Dolce & Gabbana launched a new handbag: Medium Devotion Bag. It covered my Instagram feed (which back then still worked as it should!) and I was immediately hooked.
I had never in my life witnessed anything so beautiful! The craftsmanship, the details, the quality of the leather and the incredible stitching. I could’ve stared at a picture of this beauty for hours on end. And I did!
So, when another year as a successful entrepreneur drew to a close, I decided it was time for another gift. Once again, nothing compares to the amount of joy and excitement when something like this arrives at your door!
The fact that you had all that money to spare, the work that had gone into it… These bags mean a thousand times more to me than any average shopper! They are my daily reminders of my own success ♥
Sustainability & D&G
According to my research, Dolce & Gabbana has factories in Spain, where they make most of the brand’s bags. Final production happens in Italy, but as it turns out, their materials are not sustainable.
For example, the brand uses quite a lot of exotic animal fur, hair and skins. In a world where humans have already ensured the end of thousands of species, I think this is unacceptable.
Also, due to poor service that I received at their store in Florence I doubt I will be shopping anything more from this brand. I got what I wanted, that’s enough.
Sandals – Chanel
To be honest, I would’ve been quite happy with just my Versace bag. But even then there is that one brand that kind of has to be included in any luxury brand purchases list. That brand is of course Chanel.
While I had settled for the fact that I’d need to make a bit more money to be able to spare that much, Life once again stepped in to surprise me. While I’m obsessed with brand bags, there’s another lifelong obsession of mine: shoes! Specifically high heels.
And while spending a winter in Italy, I obviously came across a Chanel store once upon an afternoon walk. And they had these Sandals on display in their window. I stopped on my tracks. And then went in!
I did sleep on this one, though. But after due deliberation I concluded that I hadn’t packed along any summer shoes, but the weather was already there in March. Also, statement platfrom heels are NEVER out of fashion! Plus, these ones were so comfy that you’ll see me wearing them still when I’m 80.
And so, they came with me! Nowadays they are already a very well traveled pair of shoes ♥
Sustainability & Chanel
GoodOnYou has rated Chanel 2/5, which equates to ‘not good enough’. In terms of transparency the Fashion Transparency Index ranked Chanel into the 11% – 20% category, which is one category higher than 99% of other luxury fashion brands.
Still, Chanel has a long way to go if it wants to be recognized as a brand that actually puts effort into operating in a way that allows us all to preserve this precious Planet of ours.
Final Thoughts
Luxury is something that, at the end of the day, means different things to different people. For some luxury is an entire day spent at home relaxing without any responsibilities. And for others it’s an eye-wateringly expensive holiday somewhere far away.
For me luxury brand purchases have so far been the sort of extra that I’ve wanted to include in my life. But I now have everything I’ve wanted. And that means it’s time to think of something else I could work towards. Because it’s always good to have goals, right? ♥
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