Kering’s recruitment of the Harry Potter star isn’t celebrity window dressing. It’s about sustainability.
Gucci owner Kering SA has shaken up the relatively staid world of the corporate boardroom by appointing Emma Watson, the British actress, as a non-executive director. But the recruitment of the Harry Potter star isn’t celebrity window dressing: Watson is a champion of sustainable fashion, so her advice to the French luxury behemoth will be valuable.
Her every move is followed by the world’s media, and what she does will be associated with Kering from now on. She is a vocal equality campaigner, as was seen this week with her tweets of support for trans people.
But Watson’s values seem to gel with those of the company, and they certainly reflect those of the younger consumers with whom Kering is eager to connect. The owner of the Yves Saint Laurent and Bottega Veneta brands has long put sustainability at the heart of its corporate strategy. Each year it produces an environmental profit-and-loss account that calculates the cost of the damage to the planet attributable to the company and its supply chain.
