Yves Saint Laurent

Jan 12, 2021

Yves Saint Laurent is a French luxury fashion house that designs womenswear, menswear, shoes, handbags, and accessories. The designer company also creates makeup, fragrances, and jewelry.

The French fashion group Kering owns Yves Saint Laurent and several other global luxury brands, including Balenciaga, Gucci, Bottega Veneta, Alexander McQueen, Brioni, Boucheron, Pomellato, Dodo, Qeelin, Ulysse Nardin, Girard-Perregaux, and Kering Eyewear.

Sustainability is part of the group's strategy as an ethical necessity and a driver of innovation.

French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent and his partner, Pierre Bergé, founded the luxury company in Paris, France, in 1961. Today, the fashion brand still runs its operations from its headquarters in Paris.

Yves Saint Laurent is influencing and revolutionizing the fashion industry since the debut of its iconic 'Rive Gauche' collection in 1966. In April 2016, Anthony Vaccarello was appointed as Creative Director.

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Sustainability Rating: 4/10

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Category: Clothing, bags, shoes, accessories, jewelry

For: Women, men

Type: Basics, dresses, denim, knitwear, outerwear, underwear, flats, sandals, boots, sneakers

Style: Chic, haute couture

Quality: High

Price: $$$

Sizes: 2XS-4XL, 0-16 (US), 2-18 (UK), 32-48 (EU), 2-18 (AU)

Fabrics: Cotton, linen, jute, ramie, lyocell, viscose, cupro, acetate, polyester, nylon, spandex, acrylic, polyurethane, rubber, leather, wool, silk, down

100% Organic: No

100% Vegan: No

Ethical & Fair: Yes

Recycling: Yes

Producing country: Cambodia, Costa Rica, France, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, Thailand

Certifications: SA8000

Sustainability Practices

Yves Saint Laurent believes that luxury can have a significant contribution to creating a more sustainable world. It continues to lead through responsibility, accountability, and transparency to catalyze transformational change.

Yves Saint Laurent uses a small proportion of sustainable materials such as organic cotton, jute, linen, ramie, and recycled fabrics.

The brand also uses semi-synthetic regenerated fibers such as lyocell, cupro, viscose, and acetate made from renewable materials.

However, Yves Saint Laurent also uses polluting fabrics to produce many of its clothes, including synthetic petroleum-based fibers such as polyester, polyamide, polyurethane, and acrylic.

Yves Saint Laurent manufactures the majority of its products in Italy, including apparel, shoes, bags, and accessories. It produces its fragrances, cosmetics, and glasses in other European countries and Japan.

However, Yves Saint Laurent doesn't publish a list of its manufacturing and processing facilities on its corporate website.

As part of the Kering Group, Yves Saint Laurent has taken steps to evaluate forced labor risks in its supply chain. The group has certified several of its businesses under Social Accountability International’s (SAI) SA8000 standard.

SA8000 includes an endorsement by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Conventions and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Kering continues its commitment to bring all of its businesses into compliance with SA8000 and obtain certification. It regularly audits its supply chain to ensure compliance with high social and environmental standards.

Yves Saint Laurent doesn't use any exotic animal skin, or hair, fur, angora. But it uses leather, wool, silk, and down feathers to manufacture many of its clothing pieces.

These animal-derived materials are cruel and unethical and harm the environment by producing greenhouse gases and wastes. More sustainable alternatives exist.

Sustainability Goals

As part of the Kering Group, Yves Saint Laurent reduces its environmental impacts and advocates for social welfare through unprecedented innovation and industry collaboration.

Yves Saint Laurent aims to reach a 40% reduction target of its overall environmental impacts by 2025.

Yves Saint Laurent is carbon neutral by using greenhouse gas emission offsets that finance verified Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in developing countries (REDD+) projects that conserve critical forests, biodiversity and support the livelihoods of local communities.

Yves Saint Laurent plans to reach 100% sustainable sourcing and 100% traceability for key raw materials by 2025.

Yves Saint Laurent understands that significant work remains to be done. It wants to demonstrate the transformative power of business for change, making sustainability fashionable for the future.