The virtuous cycle
Were you surprised to discover this summer that Burberry had been burning millions of pounds’ worth of unsold goods rather than suffer the ignominy of having to discount them?
It’s common practice, and not just with fashion houses. Luxury “heritage” watch and jewellery brands have carried on this dirty little secret for years.
It teaches us a lot – mostly that there’s almost no such thing as intrinsic value, even in items we’ve been conditioned to consider solid investments. “Diamonds are forever” may be scientifically true but it won’t safeguard their resale price: until the marketing men got to work in the Thirties, diamonds, which had been allowed to flood the market, were considered secondary to emeralds. This may go down as the year fashion finally began to acknowledge the challenges confronting it – sustainability and oversupply among them. Burberry announced this week that it will no longer burn products. It’s also banning fur, falling in line with Gucci, Versace… there will be others.
Virtue-signalling is becoming a potent advertising tool. I can live with that, if the virtue is genuine, but it’s worth remembering that one woman has been running a successful, ethically sourced, cruelty-free company for years – long before it became millennial bait. Step forward Stella Mccartney and her collaboration with Stan Smith on their first vegan sneakers. They launch on Monday. May they be as influential as all her other initiatives.