Kering and Parsons launch sustainability programme

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Oct 27, 2016

Luxury giant Kering and The New School’s Parsons School of Design are working together to make sustainability a key focus for the school’s students from the start of their design careers. They have announced a new sustainability collaboration as the latest step in their longstanding partnership.

New fashion programme modules, a dedicated app and the promise of exposure for the most sustainability-aware students in a special exhibition are all part of the new initiative.

They have launched a new design curriculum that will leverage the Kering x Parson: EP&L (environmental profit and loss) programme pilot and the My EP&L App to measure and better understand the environmental impacts of students’ creations.

Kering is introducing new modules to Parsons Fashion programme and embedding practical lessons in sustainability into the curriculum. The design school will offer the modules to students in three senior Systems & Society Thesis sections and two Materiality Thesis sections.

Students will be able to study Kering’s environmental profit and loss methodology, which measures and monetises the environmental impacts from the activities of a business across the entire supply chain.

They will also learn how to integrate sustainability from the start of the design process by evaluating and comparing materials and understanding how their choices influence environmental impact from sourcing to manufacturing via the new app.

The app can look at issues such as environmental effects from carbon emissions, water use, water and air pollution, waste production and land use changes. These are then analysed from an underlying 5,000-plus indicators to calculate a product’s final impact. It can also be used as a comparative tool by allowing users to understand and determine better options in order to reach lower impact decisions and ultimately create more sustainable designs.  

Students’ thesis projects will subsequently be evaluated and scored on both design and sustainability criteria, with the 10 top students given exposure for their designs in an exclusive Design Exhibition, following the course and hosted by Kering and Parsons.