Butterfly Week 2026 arrives at a pivotal moment for the luxury industry – with trust becoming a defining currency of brand value for luxury. This year’s theme Butterfly Week theme, Brands to Trust, highlights the importance of credible evidence, transparency and accountability in luxury. We sat down with Positive Luxury’s Managing Director, Jamie Moore, to discuss why trust matters now more than ever, the conversations Butterfly Week hopes to spark, and how brands can move from promises to proof.
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This year’s Butterfly Week theme is “Brands to Trust.” Why was trust the right focus for this moment?
At the beginning of the year, we were honoured to speak with a range of luxury leaders for our Luxury at a Crossroads report. The message from them was clear – that luxury is entering an era of accountability, of proof over promise. Last year exposed the uncomfortable truth about a growing ‘value gap’ with luxury consumers questioning price, quality and integrity. And AI is also reshaping how consumers research, discover and compare brands. Plus of course regulators are tightening expectations. All this means that trust really has become the new currency of luxury. And trust is built on credible evidence of high standards or taking action. Fantastic storytelling isn’t enough. So, this year’s Butterfly Week is about celebrating our Real Changemaker brands who have taken action to choose verification over vague claims and transparency over keeping quiet. They really are ‘Brands to Trust’ in luxury!
What conversations do you hope Butterfly Week sparks between brands and consumers?
I’d like it to help shift the conversation towards credible evidence, and away from vagueness. Luxury has always been brilliant at storytelling. But today’s consumers expect more than just a shiny, creative narrative; they want to understand what really sits behind it. Too often sustainability conversations sit at two extremes. Either brands stay quiet because they’re worried about saying the wrong thing, or they make sweeping claims without clear substantiation. Neither helps consumers. Butterfly Week is an opportunity to show what good looks like. It invites brands to open the door on the real work happening behind the scenes and communicate it with clarity and confidence. Think of it as opening the door wide for a moment – letting people see inside and understand what’s really happening. But ideally, the door is never fully closed. It stays slightly ajar, so people can wander in and always be able to discover the progress a brand is making over time. Our community of Real Changemakers is particularly well placed to do this because they’ve already done the hard work – they’ve gathered the evidence, undergone the scrutiny, improved how they operate, and have the tools to communicate. For consumers, it’s about reassurance, awareness and understanding. Many people care deeply about the impact of the brands they buy from. They don’t always ask about it directly, but that doesn’t mean they don’t care deeply. By making credible information visible, Butterfly Mark certified brands can help people choose better and feel more confident about the brands they choose to support. And I should also mention that these conversations go beyond consumers. They help build trust with partners, employees and investors.
If there’s one misconception about sustainability in luxury that Butterfly Week helps to challenge, what is it?
Actually, can I say three? There are a few misconceptions we see quite often!
The first is that sustainability somehow sits outside a luxury brand’s core story – separate from heritage, craftsmanship or quality. In reality, those values are increasingly strengthened by credible sustainability. Second is the idea that sustainability doesn’t sell, so it isn’t always prioritised in brand team communications or KPIs. Of course, a brand’s core category messaging will always come first, but when you add credible sustainability into that story, it builds trust, deepens consumer relationships and reinforces the value behind the product. And the third is the belief that it’s safer not to say anything unless everything is perfect. In fact, the brands that build the most trust are those that are transparent about their progress and back their ambitions with real evidence – which is exactly what the Butterfly Mark is there to represent.
If you could give one piece of advice to luxury leaders navigating sustainability today, what would it be?
Focus on proof, not promises, and you open up a world of communications opportunities. If you understand your impacts, measure them properly, and make sure what you communicate can stand up to scrutiny, you can speak with confidence. You don’t need to be perfect, but you do need to be credible, with evidence. Then you can start to leverage the real value of sustainability. The brands that lead won’t necessarily be the ones shouting the loudest, but the ones with the clearest proof.
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