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CREATING A SUSTAINABILITY PURPOSE TO DRIVE COHESIVE ACTION
March, 2026
PILLARS: ENVIRONMENT & SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
MATERIAL DRIVERS: SUSTAINABILITY PURPOSE AND SDG ALIGNMENT
THE CHALLENGE
Creating a sustainability purpose can be confusing and overwhelming. How does it fit with your company’s mission, values and communications? As one of Italy’s oldest and most prestigious leather-goods brands, Valextra is revered for its exquisite engineering of quiet luxury. It has prioritised preserving and innovating Italian craft, but wanted to have a strong sustainability purpose which galvanised and engaged employees, helping to inspire and drive cohesive action.
CONSIDERATIONS
Having a sustainability purpose statement that is well-recognised across company departments is critical as it ensures sustainability alignment with overarching company values and goals. Covering not only environmental topics but also social, economic and innovation, it creates guidance for decision making and enables stakeholder engagement.
APPROACH & ACTIONS
For a cohesive approach from the outset, Positive Luxury hosted a cross-functional workshop to first explore sustainability risks and opportunities relevant to the business
Having listened to and worked with a cross-section of relevant voices, we created a structured template and process for the Valextra team to build a sustainability purpose statement, embedding environmental, social and economic factors.
To complement the purpose statement and help anchor future strategy, we helped Valextra define its United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
RESULT
Valextra’s employees were upskilled in sustainability knowledge and empowered to create their sustainability purpose statement – giving more buy-in, motivation and understanding across the business. Sustainability purpose now forms the platform for Valextra’s strategy, allowing it to set clear targets for waste, water, carbon, human rights, DEI and further social responsibility to allow management to monitor progress and communicate more effectively across its supply chain. This resulted in an 162% increase in Valextra’s score in Positive Luxury’s ESG assessment.
