Chopard Green Carpet Challenge: Sustainable Luxury

Cannes 17^th May 2013 - Chopard has joined Eco-Age creative director and founder of the Green Carpet Challenge (GCC), Livia Firth, to launch 'The Journey', its journey to sustainable luxury, with the presentation of its first Green Carpet Collection pieces, as part of its High Jewellery collection.

Chopard to turn the Red Carpet Green

Chopard joins Livia Firth's Green Carpet Challenge

Imagery of jewellery: https://hlgroup.sharefile.com/d/s99dec59246e42f0b

Imagery of Cannes launch event: https://hlgroup.sharefile.com/d/sad38ac60df44f368

The exquisite diamond bracelet and earrings were beautifully hand-crafted in Chopard's High Jewellery workshops. For the very first time, the pieces have been set in sustainably sourced Fairmined gold from artisanal community mines in South America, supported by the Alliance for Responsible Mining (ARM) – a Colombia based charity and developer of the Fairmined standard - and use diamonds from mines certified to the high standards of the Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC), sourced from IGC Group.

Chopard, by working alongside Eco-Age GCC and ARM, will help transform the lives of artisanal and small scale gold miners in South America and protect the natural resources and wildlife they depend on.

"The launch of The Journey initiative in Cannes marks the beginning of an incredible journey for Chopard and our partnership with them," Livia Firth said. 

"By putting sustainability at the very heart of the brand, they are showing themselves to be leaders and a company that truly wants to make a difference to the world of luxury jewellery." She added.

Chopard has demonstrated its commitment to responsibility in business for many years - it has been a member of the RJC, a leading environmental, social and ethical standard setting organisation, since 2010, and this year successfully renewed its full certification to the RJC Code of Practices.

The Journey will build on this strong foundation and Chopard will deepen its commitment to sustainable luxury by sourcing from businesses that are demonstrably committed to responsible, ethical, social and environmental practices. 

Caroline Scheufele, Co-President and artistic director of Chopard said: "As a century old, family-run business, we are very aware of our responsibilities in our journey to sustainable luxury. It is not an easy journey, but it is the right one and The Journey is the start of a very exciting new multi-year programme that will ensure we are working towards our goal of sustainable jewellery. One of the first steps is our partnership with ARM, which will support the families and communities of the artisanal miners in South America." 

Lina Villa, executive director of the Alliance for Responsible Mining (ARM), said: "We are delighted to partner with Chopard as it begins its journey and together we can start the work to transform artisanal and small-scale mining in the communities specially chosen for this programme. Chopard is first luxury jeweller to develop a partnership of this kind with us and we are looking forward to truly making a difference in the lives of these mining communities." 

The High Jewellery Green Carpet Collection diamond and gold bracelet and earrings by Chopard are the first pieces of jewellery to be awarded the GCC Brand Mark. For Livia Firth, the launch represents a new milestone for the luxury jewellery industry. 

"We all love to invest in beautiful pieces of jewellery as we love to sparkle, but at the same time we are becoming more and more aware of the provenance of the materials," she said. 

"Together we have produced two fabulous pieces that are set in sustainably mined gold by artisanal communities, with diamonds from certified sources. The GCC Brand Mark is a guarantor of those exacting sustainable standards and we are delighted to be able to put Chopard now alongside Gucci, which was awarded the GCC Brand Mark for its zero deforestation leather handbags collection, launched in association with the National Wildlife Federation, setting new standards in traceability and ecological certification"

Chopard and the Alliance for Responsible Mining: A Unique Partnership

Chopard has joined forces with ARM to support and enable mining communities in Latin America to reach FairMined certification, which will provide a stable route to market and a fair deal for the miners and their communities when selling their gold. We will directly support activities that improve the lives and help protect the natural resources of communities in Latin America that depend on gold mining. By investing alongside ARM in the formalization of mining organisations and their communities Chopard will create hope for these forgotten communities on the margins of society and helping them to make a legitimate and dignified living.

Eco Age            

Eco-Age is a unique brand consultancy working at the cutting edge of sustainability.  It helps clients to achieve growth through the application of ecological intelligence and sustainable practice. The team has developed a deep understanding of global brands, brand image and positioning and the key importance of first mover advantage. 

Through an innovative journey designed to add value, the focus is on creating real returns for a brand or company - that also benefits the world in which we live.

The Green Carpet Challenge

The world renowned GCC is a dynamic project which pairs glamour and ethics to raise the profile of sustainable fashion. The GCC is today regarded as the leading promoter of the beauty of ethical fashion worldwide and since its launch it has involved all the major fashion designers in the world and an array of A List celebrities on the biggest red carpets worldwide.

In March 2013 the GCC created the GCC Brand Mark and launched with Gucci a new frontier of sustainable style: the world's first zero deforestation certified bags from Amazon leather.

Because of her work with the GCC, Livia Firth was awarded a UN Leader of Change award in November 2012.

Alliance for Responsible Mining (ARM)

ARM is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of artisanal and small scale mining communities. ARM's vision is for ASM to become a formalized, organized and profitable activity that uses efficient technologies, that is socially and environmentally responsible, that increasingly develops within a framework of good governance, legality, participation and respect for diversity, and increases its contribution to the generation of decent work, local development, poverty reduction and social peace in our nations, driven by a growing consumer demand for sustainable minerals and ethical jewelry.

ARM is the owner of the Fairmined mark and certification system developed to promote sustainable development of Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining communities. The standard includes four types of requirements to perform responsible mining: social development, economic development, environmental protection and labor conditions. Miners certified under the FAIRMINED standard receive a fair price as well as an additional premium that is democratically invested in the community

Responsible Jewellery Council: Chopard and IGC Group

The RJC is a standards-setting organisation that was established to reinforce consumer confidence in the jewellery industry by promoting responsible, ethical, human rights, social and environmental practices throughout the jewellery supply chain.

The RJC has developed a common platform of standards for the jewellery supply chain and credible mechanisms for verifying responsible business practices through third party auditing.

Chopard has been a proud member and supporter of the RJC since March 2010 and we have recently renewed our certification against the RJC's Code of Practice for the next three years to April 2016.

The diamonds used in the Green Carpet Collection are sourced from IGC Group; IGC Group is one of the world's oldest diamond firms.

Known all over the world for its finest make, IGC Group is a strategic diamond partner for the Swiss watch industry, high-end retailers and jewellery manufacturers worldwide. "We believe the integrity of the diamond and jewellery industry is dependent on the very principles championed by organizations such as the Responsible Jewellery Council. We are committed to do our part. Promoting ethical and socially responsible business practices is a fundamental and core value of this business," says Piet Rijk, Partner at  IGC Group.

Press Release