Chanel classic bag by Alice Klinger Svartman

Source

alicesvartman — 2024-04-29 15:43:42 UTC

Acording to www.reuters.com, Chanel's main source of lambskin leather (the main material used to create the iconic bag) is Bodin-Joyeux. The tannery has been awarded the label “Responsible and Sustainable Company”, meaning that probably most of the leather produced there comes from a as ethical as possible source.

Exotic skin

alicesvartman — 2024-04-29 15:47:04 UTC

In addition, thanks to the pression that PETA (organization in favor to animals life) even though the brand still uses leather, wool and silk, Chanel has cut off every real fur and exotic skin (such as crocodile, lizard and snake skin) from their catalogue. That is a huge step, especially from a luxury brand whose signature is their famous leather and fur pieces.

Sources

alicesvartman — 2024-04-29 15:49:02 UTC

www.euroleather.com

www.reuters.com

Stitch type

alicesvartman — 2024-04-29 15:53:24 UTC

Most of the Chanel bags use hand-stitching combined with machine stitching (only very few of them use only hand stitching or only machine stitching). The iconic bag used both machine stitching and hand stitching.

Wage

alicesvartman — 2024-04-29 15:54:35 UTC

The special stitching used in the luxury brand in general requires a lot of skill and patience, therefore the tailors working in the atelier are paid fairly. On the other hand, there are very few workers that Chanel employs (on average, 40 very well skilled and professional tailors) and the job requires them to live in Paris, a very expensive city.

GHG

alicesvartman — 2024-04-29 15:54:59 UTC

Chanel also makes use of factories that release tons of GHG (green-house gases) into the atmosphere. Because of this, they have set up a goal to reduce the emission of GHG by 90% by 2040, making an impactful change in the way the brand acts toward environmental causes and calling out for change.

Sources

alicesvartman — 2024-04-29 15:57:01 UTC

www.rebecca-jane.com

goodonyou.eco

www.chanel.com

Carbon emissions

alicesvartman — 2024-04-29 16:00:56 UTC

Currently 20% of Chanel’s carbon emissions are focused only on transportation and the high care to transport the fashion items (including the bag), but the brand is working to reduce the minimal emission possible.

How to reduce

alicesvartman — 2024-04-29 16:01:20 UTC

Most of that carbon emissions are caused by the use of air transportation, which the brand is switching to sea transportations. The goal is to, by 2024, have 80% of shipments by sea. In the cases where air transportation is unavoidable, they will choose routes and carriers who produce less CO². By making that change, 10.000 tonnes of CO² will be saved each year.

On land

alicesvartman — 2024-04-29 16:02:14 UTC

In addition, the daily transportations (close to the boutique, or even from boutique to boutique) that are on land, are beginning to use electric vehicles that don’t have carbon emissions compared to the normal vehicles.

Sources

alicesvartman — 2024-04-29 16:10:16 UTC

www.chanel.com

The price

alicesvartman — 2024-04-29 17:51:20 UTC

Chanel’s consumption is absurd. Like many other luxury brands, Chanel offers a huge price for such a small bag, bearing over 10,000 euros for one single bag. Even though the price tag is huge, people still buy that product in a great amount, being considered a symbol of luxury and status. People bought it so much that the brand needs to use special strategies to make people not buy the bag as much, for example, implying a limit of one bag a year.

Consumerism

alicesvartman — 2024-04-29 17:52:09 UTC

Also, one factor that makes people buy bags with such ridiculous prices is the change in fashion. No matter how much clothing, bags, shoes you own, it will never be enough, because you want to buy more each time. According to the “You only use 44% of your closet” text, people’s consumerism in regards to fashion is very big, showing that you only use 56% of your closet. That makes explicit the unused clothing items that a lot of people own, that someday can become the Chanel bag.

Sources

alicesvartman — 2024-04-29 17:53:02 UTC

docs.google.com

People's disposal

alicesvartman — 2024-04-29 17:53:32 UTC

Most luxury brands, especially Chanel, produce a small quantity of their products, which makes the disposal stage smaller, causing less pollution. Also, Chanel bags are made for a long lasting usage, that’s why they are so expensive. Normally, people who buy Chanel bags, when they don't want the bag anymore, usually they put the bag in luxury thrift stores, and depending on how limited they are, you can find them at auction.

In-store disposal

alicesvartman — 2024-04-29 17:55:04 UTC

In store, the industry disposal is different. Many of the fabric that was used or bags that didn’t workout , are thrown in an incinerator, which is a big machine that is used to burn waste. This is very bad because it contributes to environmental pollution by generating greenhouse gas emissions.

Sources

alicesvartman — 2024-04-29 17:55:52 UTC

standart.co.uk

Golden metal

alicesvartman — 2024-04-30 00:55:45 UTC

Also, the symbol of Chanel is made of golden metal. They produce the golden material with zinc and copper (95% copper and 5% zinc). The golden metal also appers in the shoulder strap together with the leather.