INTERVIEWS

SAVE THE DUCK — INTERVIEWS

SAVE THE DUCK SAVE THE EARTH

HOW AN OUTERWEAR BRAND CAN HAVE A POSITIVE INFLUENCE ON THE WORLD… AND SAVE A SMALL PIECE OF IT IN THE PROCESS.

INTERVIEW CHERYLL MÜHLEN & PIERRE D’AVETA PHOTOS CRISTIAN MURIANNI

Nicolas Bargi comes across as quite a competitive guy, which may have something to do with the fact that he has a sporting background. And it turns out our instincts are right: 20 years of kickboxing and skiing have certainly pushed him to his limits, but also brought him success. These days the CEO prefers to go surfing – preferably in winter. What does that say about the head of a sustainable outerwear brand? Perhaps that he doesn’t shy away from major challenges and is more than capable of dealing with situations and overcoming any hurdles in his path.

Save the Duck doesn’t have a lot of direct competitors at the moment, Nicolas Bargi tells us. But that will no doubt change in the near future – a development that he is embracing with open arms, because it means that the (fashion) world is moving in the right direction. During our interview at his headquarters in Milan, he explains how sometimes it’s baby steps that can make all the difference.

We can all look back on an exhausting, exciting and challenging year. How has Save the Duck been faring since the pandemic?

Like all companies, we were obliged to accelerate our digitalisation. The company was already undergoing a transformation, but we sped things up a bit. It was planned as a one-and-ahalf-year project, but it ended up being only two months. We had to reorganise in-house procedures and get in touch with all the suppliers and customers, as well as remaining flexible. The two main questions were: what can I give you and what can you give me back? Sort of a trade-off between: how can I survive; how can you survive? People had to work much harder but the results have been excellent – the company has only lost seven percent of the budgeted turnover. We didn’t lose any suppliers or customers. We did a good job.

In 2019, Save the Duck became Italy’s first fashion company to obtain the B Corp certification, which provides you with a loan of three million euros from the Italian Intesa Sanpaolo bank. How will you invest it?

As a B Corp, we have a reassessment every three years. It’s an ongoing procedure of doing better in all aspects of sustainability. So investments will be made throughout the entire

It’s not about being 100 percent sustainable; it’s about the process.

company. We have joined the WEP (Woman Empowerment Programme). The human aspect, especially in terms of diversity, is another important element of sustainability. We try to take our culture outside our company, to our suppliers and to our customers to have a positive influence on all the people we come in contact with. We’re also running a programme with the United Nations Global Compact initiative where we are trying to influence suppliers and customers to focus on circularity.

What I find most interesting about your company is your ‘outside the box’ approach to sustainability: you just recently launched a joint venture collection for dogs with United Pets for World Animal Day. That’s quite a surprising collaboration!

We wanted to influence the systems, such as dogwear, where people still care less for sustainable items. Our message is that you can do things properly at the same price, but in a different way.

Influencing people with the right messages seems very important to you.

Yes, take diversity, for example: you have to treat people as equals regardless of where they come from, what colour or gender they are. That’s so important. It’s the basic ABC. How you treat people, not only in terms of work, but also in terms of manufacturing. All our mills are always under audit and completely transparent. We do both announced and unannounced audits. Not only with our manufacturing in tier one, but also in tier two. The next step will be to go and see tier three, where the primary sources come from.

Our industry thrives on inspiration, which you can find from collaboration partners or competitors. Are there any companies that you think are doing a good job in terms of sustainability?

For me, the true icons are Stella McCartney and Patagonia. They are the two main companies that everyone in the fashion industry can look up to. Patagonia is actually the founder of B Corps. And Stella McCartney is vegan and has brought her culture into her brand. The good thing is that over the last two years all brands have realised that they need to change. Yes, it is very difficult. The bigger the company, the harder it is to change. But it’s time. Certain companies are accelerating in certain fields whilst other companies take longer because you can’t just completely reinvent your main business model. You have to have your systems in place first, work in parallel and then make the change in the right way.

True. But it’s inevitable that we all have to take steps towards a greener future.

I think 99 percent of companies are getting to this point now.

Transparency and communication are key.

I totally agree. We are also far from being perfect ourselves. But we have to show where we are and what we want to do in the next three years. And where we can achieve some results and where we can’t, but at least that those are our targets for the next two years. If you visit our website for example, you’ll find more than 100 pages on the status of what we have done and what we know.

Who do you see as your competitor in the market at the moment?

We are in the premium sector and there aren’t many outerwear competitors out there. One of them, which is very popular in Spain, is Ecoalf. North Sails is also emerging as an ecobrand. Slowly their systems are changing, and we will soon have more competitors. But we are a small company, which means we are very flexible. It’s in our DNA to run very fast. It’s not easy to catch a rabbit in the field!

For some companies, upcycling and recycling are currently dominating their sustainability efforts. Something Save the Duck, among others, has specialised in from the beginning. How much potential is currently unused and where do you see opportunities to reuse resources that are already available?

Save the Duck has four technologies. Virgin PET technology, where all the process is under control in terms of water chemicals, but it’s the less sustainable one. PET only makes sense for long-lasting items such as jackets. But the minute the world stops using fossil energy, we have the second technology ready – recycling technology. Our jackets are made completely from recycled plastic bottles – including the zipper, lining, padding. Everything is made of plastic bottles that have already been used. For the third technology, we are talking smaller quantities because it costs more, and it’s not as flexible in terms of production, so you can only make certain items with this technology: a recycled technology that we use with the Nylon 6. Basically, a circular jacket. It means that once the end of the jacket’s life is reached, you can actually put it together with the plastic bottles and recycle it completely. So the impact of this jacket is zero. It can be reprocessed and reprocessed.

SAVE THE DUCK A total of 50 employees are part of the core team in Milan. In addition, ten employees work as sales assistants in the five shops they have around the world. 12 employees are responsible for quality control in China. In the USA, Save the Duck is currently experiencing the greatest growth at 30 percent, which is why the brand is currently focusing its efforts there.

Does this sacrifice the quality in any way?

It’s limited. For example, we can go up to a maximum of 100 grams of padding because the technology isn’t quite there yet. So it’s only for certain items. And yes, the price is around 50 percent higher than for a normal item so the end customer isn’t very accepting of that yet.

What is the fourth technology?

Biodegradable technology. We have an item that is 100 percent biodegradable. If you bury it in the soil, it disappears after four years. It becomes mechanical gas, which is a natural gas, and it leaves nothing behind. We have actually delivered thousands of these jackets this year and we are continuing to use this technology.

Last time we talked, you said that there’s no such thing as a fully sustainable company. So how sustainable can a company actually be in 2021? And will there ever be 100 percent sustainable companies?

No. I still stand by my comment. It’s not about being 100 percent sustainable; it’s about the process. The important thing is that each year in all the fields of sustainability, and there are many fields, you have to upgrade and you have to invest

It’s mandatory that we act now and improve, no matter how big or how small our efforts.

more. We are being reassessed by the B Corp this year and we want to achieve a higher score. Right now, we are at 95 points. But we want to get over 100.

That’s impressive and I wish you good luck but whether your sustainability score is 50, 80 or 90, transformation is inevitable for fashion companies. True or wishful thinking?

It’s a must. There is no future for companies who don’t move in this direction. The new generation is fully focused on these topics and has changed. Actually, it’s funny how history has always shown that present generations always criticise the generation that precedes them. And for us, it’s like the young people are now saying: “Hey, you’ve ruined my world and now I’m going to save it.” That’s what Save the Duck is all about.

Many people talk about the end consumer making different demands and setting the tone – regardless of whether it’s the older or younger generation. But do animals and the planet really have the time to wait for these developments to slowly evolve?

No, we don’t have any time left. We know that we need to keep global temperatures from increasing more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, and the only way to impact this is to lower our CO2 emissions. So it’s mandatory that we act now and improve, no matter how big or how small our efforts. If you’re lowering emissions, you’re having a positive impact. And that’s what we have to do – and we have to do it as fast as possible.

But reducing emissions is difficult for a lot of people.

Yes, but it’s worth the investment.

To conclude our interview, please complete the following sentence: If you don’t start producing sustainably today...

…you are at the beginning of the end of your company.

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