Why LVMH’s Venture Fund is Betting on Lab-Grown Diamonds

Norway Takes Aim at Greenwashing

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THIS WEEK IN SUSTAINABILITY: FRIDAY, JUNE 17, 2022 Welcome to BoF's new Weekly Sustainability Briefing. As a valued BoF reader, you'll receive this in your inbox for the next 2 Fridays. To keep receiving this newsletter sign up here. Dear BoF Community, For years, the mining giants that control the global diamond trade have waged a marketing war against the rise of lab-grown diamonds, supported by the luxury jewellery sector. Polished campaigns have aimed to frame the traditional diamond industry in a positive light, while executives have dismissed synthetic stones as lower-end baubles. "Lab-grown diamonds don't have any [history]," Cartier chief executive Cyrille Vigneron said in an interview published in The State of Fashion: Watches and Jewellery report published last year. "They've lost their singularity and lost the fact that they were made by the Earth millions of years ago." But natural diamonds come with messy environmental and ethical baggage that is increasingly at odds with the values shaping the shopping habits of young consumers. In contrast, lab-grown diamond purveyors have sought to portray themselves as a modern, tech-backed and sustainable alternative. It's a microcosm of a broader debate playing out across the industry as sustainability becomes a materials battleground and innovations claiming to have a lower environmental impact and more ethical supply chains pose disruptive threats to conventional players. Now luxury's biggest company, LVMH, is taking a bet on cultivated stones. The group's venture arm, LVMH Luxury Ventures, has taken an undisclosed stake in Israeli lab-grown diamond start-up Lusix as part of a $90 million funding round. While luxury jewellers like Tiffany, which LVMH acquired last year, remain aloof from cultivated stones, the move is the latest sign that changing consumer attitudes and values are shifting what can constitutes luxury in the modern era. → READ MORE

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SUSTAINABILITY Norway Warns H&M, Norrøna Over Misleading Sustainability Claims By Sarah Kent

The Norwegian Consumer Authority has ruled outerwear brand Norrøna cannot use data from the Higg Index to back up environmental claims, dealing a blow to the industry rating tool amid a broader crackdown on greenwashing. READ MORE

SUSTAINABILITY Why LVMH's Venture Fund is Betting on Lab-Grown Diamonds By Sarah Kent For years, luxury's biggest jewellers have dismissed synthetic diamonds as inauthentic. But an investment by LVMH's venture fund in lab-grown diamond company Lusix suggests this calculus may be changing alongside consumer interest in ethical and sustainable products. READ MORE

WORKPLACE & TALENT Why Do Fashion's Chief Diversity Officers Keep Quitting? By Sheena Butler-Young Dozens of companies hired diversity leaders in the last two years, but executives who take these roles are often overworked and under-resourced. READ MORE

RETAIL EU Cartel Raids Target Designers Proposing Sales Periods, Discount Changes By Reuters The European Commission, which did not name the companies nor the countries in which it conducted the dawn raids, said the firms may have violated EU cartel rules against restrictive business practices, which include price-fixing. READ MORE

How Do the Biggest Companies in Sportswear Score on Sustainability? READ MORE

WHAT I'M READING Fashion's sustainability metrics are facing scrutiny. [New York Times] Boohoo-funded research finds poor working conditions still an issue in Leicester. [Guardian] New report criticises corporate net zero targets as weak and vague. [Bloomberg] Hard lives grow even harder on climate change's front lines. [New York Times]

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