Burberry announced on Thursday that the company will stop burning millions of dollars’ worth of excess stock. The company’s annual report stated it destroyed £28.6 million ($37.1 million) of goods for the year ended March 31, 2018. That is an increase compared to the £26.9 million in its 2017 financial year.
The British fashion house now intends to cease the practice and will most likely begin donating garments to charities. According to CNBC, they may donate to places such as Smart Works, a U.K. organization that provides interview clothes to unemployed women to help them get jobs.
Burberry will continue to work with companies as well, such as Elvis & Kresse, a business that uses leather offcuts from Burberry products to create bags, belts and other accessories. The company is part of the Make Fashion Circular too, which aims to make new clothes from renewable materials and recycled old clothing. The company is also taking a major step saying it will no longer use fur in its products, though it currently sells products with fur trims.
Burberry CEO Marco Gobbetti said in a statement emailed to CNBC: “Modern luxury means being socially and environmentally responsible. This belief is core to us at Burberry and key to our long-term success. We are committed to applying the same creativity to all parts of Burberry as we do to our products.”
Gobbetti has been in charge since July of 2017, while the announcement comes at a time of change for the company. He is pushing for the firm to become a “higher luxury” fashion house and announced a 2 percent rise in full-year adjusted profit to $604 million in May.
While it seems ridiculous to destroy unsold goods, Burberry isn’t the only company to do this. Richemont, a maker of luxury jewelry and watches including the Cartier brand, is reported to do the same thing, but claims to have a reason behind the destroyed items.
Richemont disposed of 481 million euros ($557.2 million) worth of goods in May, claiming the company destroys the items to prevent them being discounted on the secondary, or “grey” market, which reduces their appeal.
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