Prada joins King Charles III’s initiative

The Sustainable Market Initiative was created by King Charles of England in 2020 at the World Economic Forum in Davos and aims to bring together global leaders to develop and establish new approaches to make the economy more sustainable. Through various working groups, including one dedicated to fashion, this initiative aims to encourage companies to adopt eco-responsible practices.

After the Spanish group Puig and the brands Brunello Cucinelli, Armani, Burberry, Stella McCartney, and Chloé, it is now Prada's turn to join the ranks of the Sustainable Markets Initiative's Fashion Task Force. The Italian group will bring its expertise in responsibility and traceability. One of Prada's first actions could be to oversee the creation of digital identities accessible to consumers, allowing them to track the entire production process and assess environmental consequences. Lorenzo Bertelli, son of Patrizio Bertelli and Miuccia Prada, now responsible for marketing and CSR strategy at the group, commented on the agreement with the Fashion Task Force: "We are honored to be part of this coalition (…) Leveraging each other's valuable expertise and striving to achieve common sustainability goals is a productive way to address today's complexity and continuously improve." In 2021, Prada secured a sustainable loan of 90 million euros from the Italian banking group Unicredit to boost its green transition.

This is not the first time Prada has teamed up with other luxury industry players for sustainable projects. The group is part of The Aura Blockchain Consortium, the platform that brings together several luxury companies, including jeweler Cartier and giant LVMH, using blockchain technology to ensure supply chain transparency. This allows tracking the entire production process, from raw materials to various stages of transformation and, ultimately, the sale of finished products.

The Fashion Task Force, under the direction of Federico Marchetti, technological entrepreneur and pioneer of sustainable fashion and founder of Yoox, highlights the Italian fashion industry's commitment to the Sustainable Markets initiative. Last June, on World Environment Day, it was the Armani group that confirmed its commitment to the Fashion Task Force by launching the Apulia Regenerative Cotton initiative, a pilot project that involves the development of an experimental agroforestry regenerative cotton site in Italy.