MILAN — OTB Group is making strides in sustainability, quietly however purposefully advancing its eco-credentials.
The style group — which includes the Diesel, Jil Sander, Maison Margiela, Marni and Viktor & Rolf manufacturers and the Employees Worldwide and Courageous Child firms, along with a minority stake in Amiri — launched its 2024 sustainability report on Monday.
The report confirmed progress throughout its three pillars of setting, product sustainability and folks, referred to as “Defending Our Planet,” “The New Trend System” and “Courageous Collectively,” respectively.
“Sustainability has change into a way of thinking,” stated OTB president and founder Renzo Rosso talking on the Diesel headquarters in Milan. “We’ve began this journey earlier than the pandemic and we strived for it to change into a language to be spoken daily inside the firm.
“It’s an unbelievable day by day job to globally handle the corporate’s capabilities, from inside enterprise [practices], workflow planning and externalization to how our suppliers conduct enterprise and the way we convey the merchandise to the shops,” he stated.
“We need to be a sustainable [fashion] group, and so far as I do know new generations don’t assist manufacturers that aren’t sustainable. If one desires to be an organization of the long run, then it must embark on this journey,” Rosso stated.
In 2024 OTB managed to scale back its Scope 1, Scope 2 market-based and Scope 3 GHG emissions by a median 31 p.c in comparison with 2023, with Scope 1 and a pair of emissions now totally adverse and Scope 3 emissions standing at constructive 5 p.c, albeit improved versus 2023.
This marks a major enchancment within the firm’s technique in comparison with the earlier 12 months when it managed to scale back GHG emissions throughout the three Scopes by 2.3 p.c versus 2022.
Sara Betteghella, OTB’s chief sustainability officer, attributed the acceleration to a variety of things, together with an improved evaluation of knowledge, in addition to developments in uncooked materials sourcing and vitality provide.
In 2024, one hundred pc of vitality utilized by the group in Europe and North America got here from renewable sources, in contrast with 99 p.c in Europe solely in 2023. Total, 70 p.c of vitality got here from renewable sources in 2024, in comparison with 56 p.c a 12 months earlier.
Betteghella stated the developments are in sync with the Science Primarily based Goal initiative’s highway map for the group. OTB plans to supply 80 p.c of its vitality from renewable sources globally by 2025, drawing it nearer to carbon neutrality of its inside operations by 2030, forward of the European Union’s targets.
As a signatory of the Trend Pact since 2022, OTB additionally aligns with the coalition’s goal of sourcing one hundred pc of vitality from renewable sources by 2030 and ultimately attaining carbon neutrality for the complete worth chain by 2050.
OTB Group’s headquarters.
Courtesy OTB Group
The group is a founding member of the Digital camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana-backed Re.Crea consortium, geared toward offering options and finest practices to handle postconsumer style waste, with the final word aim of giving them a second life through recycling.
Earlier this 12 months OTB-owned Diesel joined the Sustainable Markets Initiative’s Trend Job Power, a private-sector coalition geared toward accelerating the transition towards a extra sustainable future based by King Charles III and chaired by Federico Marchetti.
Product Sustainability
Dedicated to scaling the eco-credentials of its uncooked supplies and gas a round enterprise mannequin, OTB elevated its sourcing of “most popular supplies” — similar to these with a lowered environmental impression — by 7 p.c final 12 months.
These now account for twenty-four p.c of the overall, together with natural, regenerative and recycled cotton. About 31 p.c of the latter — OTB’s largest materials by provide and use accounting for 62 p.c of the overall — got here from greener sources in 2024.
Final 12 months the group additionally unveiled its OTB Uncooked Materials Requirements, carried out throughout the group’s manufacturers, on most popular and to-avoid supplies.
Diesel Spring 2025 Prepared-To-Put on Assortment at Milan Trend Week.
Giovanni Giannoni/WWD
“If you happen to be part of forces along with your suppliers, embarking on the journey hand in hand, you may obtain tangible outcomes,” stated Andrea Rosso, OTB’s sustainability ambassador.
Each Rossos highlighted the pivotal position performed by creativity, which permeates not solely style collections however each stage all through the availability chain, ranging from new-gen materials improvement.
“My hope for the long run is to have the ability to shorten the gap between the availability chain [players] and the artistic and design groups,” Andrea Rosso stated. “There may be a number of creativity within the provide chain.
“Inner schooling is obligatory, as a result of solely information permits you to infuse sustainability throughout the group’s completely different divisions. We have to hearken to what’s occurring outdoors of the corporate to develop internally,” he added.
Within the 2022 to 2024 interval, OTB listed about 1.8 million merchandise from its luxurious manufacturers on the Aura Blockchain Consortium’s platform to make sure traceability and authenticity. OTB joined the consortium in 2021 alongside Prada Group and Compagnie Financière Richemont, two years after LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton established it in 2019.
Diesel merchandise are usually not on the Aura platform however come outfitted with a QR code for related functions.
Dedicated to preserving the worth chain, particularly in Italy the place 72 p.c of the group’s suppliers are primarily based, OTB continues to assist the nation’s small- and medium-sized enterprises by means of its C.A.S.H. program geared toward facilitating their entry to financial institution loans and credit. The group claimed it has distributed about 600 million euros since 2013 when the initiative was launched.
Social Duty
The Italian group employs 6,791 individuals globally and revealed it has been acknowledged for its gender fairness achievements for the second 12 months in a row. In 2024, ladies in management positions accounted for 54.7 p.c of the workforce.
That is considered one of many social accountability targets a part of the group’s sustainability technique.
Final 12 months OTB educated its workforce for 53,000 hours and continued to coach and prepare the brand new era of Made in Italy professionals by means of its “Scuola dei Mestieri” venture operated by Employees Worldwide. The corporate stated 85 p.c of scholars had been employed inside the group and its manufacturers.
A pillar of its individuals technique, the OTB Basis continued to advertise charity initiatives inside and outdoors the group in 2024 tackling feminine empowerment, assist for underprivileged kids and youth, in addition to first support initiatives and applications fostering integration.
“The OTB Basis is a separate enterprise unit inside the group [governance] which ensures it might have interaction with the group itself and all its manufacturers,” stated Arianna Alessi, Renzo Rosso’s spouse and vp of the muse. “We consider that revenue and nonprofit ought to go hand in hand and we’re dedicated to proceed alongside this path.”
OTB earmarks a share of its earnings earlier than curiosity and taxes, or EBIT, to the muse yearly, Alessi stated, with out disclosing the precise determine. She famous that 65 p.c of the muse’s funds come from OTB.
