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Bvlgari hosted its first “INNOVATING THE PRESENT FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE” webinar. Conference speakers were Bvlgari President and CEO Jean-Christophe Babin; Sarah Gilbert, Professor of Vaccinology at the University of Oxford; Claudia D’Arpizio, Partner Bain & Company Global head of the fashion & luxury vertical and Eleonora Rizzuto, CSR Director Bvlgari Group and LVMH Italian Brands. They discussed sustainable development and corporate social responsibility.
The webinar moderator, WWD Milan Bureau Chief Luisa Zargani, taled about the main steps of Bvlgari as part of the sustainable development strategy. For example, the brand’s collaboration with Save the Children, which raised almost $100 million to benefit over 2 million disadvantaged children across the world.
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Jean-Christophe Babin, in turn, spoke about the measures taken by Bvlgari to support the fight against coronavirus, and announced the establishment of the Bvlgari Virus Free Foundation. This financial program will support leading research centers to attenuate and treat various viruses. In particular, the Bvlgari Virus Free Foundation will support two major centers: the Oxfordʼs Jenner Institute, a group of researchers involved in the development and creation of a variety of vaccines, and the Roman National Institute of Infectious Diseases Lazzaro Spallanzani. Together with Bvlgari Virus Free, Jean-Christophe Baben organized two scholarships for graduate medical students.
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Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) commitment deeply reflects the evolution of luxury consumer behavior, as evidenced by the Bain & Company study presented by Claudia D’Arpizio. “Sustainable development in all its manifestations will be one of the most important trends for consumers in the next decade,” Claudia said. In her report, she also identified 30 value elements that define the modern concept of luxury. They are divided into four groups: the perfection of the product and the desire to possess it; functional experience; emotional experience and inspiration, as well as identity and effect.
The general trend is that among all modern business projects, sustainable development programs have proven to be the most difficult to implement. So far, only 4% of them have been fully completed, while 47% have failed, primarily due to competing priorities, unclear ways to achieve commercial value and a lack of international leadership.
Eleonora Rizzuto said that Bvlgari has developed a strategy to significantly reduce the harmful effects on the environment. The company announced that by the end of 2020, Bvlgari hotels and resorts will no longer use plastic to promote an eco-friendly lifestyle. In addition, Bvlgari grew by 22% in terms of indicators of the Environmental Performance Index (eco-design index applicable to packaging materials developed internally by LVMH). This index takes into account criteria such as: sorting materials, volume, weight, and use of more environmentally friendly materials.
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Emphasizing the importance of transparency in tracking supply chains, Luisa Zargani introduced the Aura blockchain network, which Bvlgari developed in collaboration with a number of international premium brands. Thanks to this technology, brands allow consumers to track the history and authenticity of luxury goods. In addition, Aura can perform many other functions, including raising funds for the new concept of Charity 4.0. So, in the coming months, those wishing to purchase jewelry from the Save The Children collection or make an assignment to the Virus Free fund will be able to use digital technologies to track the entire path of their donations and see the specific result of their actions.