The Galeries Lafayette group inaugurates LE (RE)STORE GALERIES LAFAYETTE and reviews progress made in responsible fashion
The Galeries Lafayette group remains committed to responsible retailing and announces the opening of LE (RE)STORE GALERIES LAFAYETTE, a space entirely devoted to second-hand items and circular fashion at its flagship Haussmann store. This permanent, 500 sq. m. space, located on the third floor of the main Cupola building, has been purpose-designed as a one-stop-shop for responsible fashion where clients can buy, sell and recycle their items but also learn how to care for them and make them last longer. LE (RE)STORE GALERIES LAFAYETTE is the first such space of its size inside a Parisian department store. It includes a dozen major second-hand fashion players covering the full spectrum of items already available in this strong growth market, from affordable to luxury, with a selection of young brands that only use recycled or upcycled materials. This initiative allows customers to enjoy fashion, shop more responsibly and give used items a new life.
The inauguration ceremony was attended by Olivia Grégoire, Secretary of State to the Minister of the Economy, Finance and Recovery, responsible for the social, solidarity and responsible economy.
“Thirty percent of French people bought second-hand items in the last twelve months, and this booming market is transforming the fashion sector long-term and becoming part of our customers’ everyday life. As a leading department store that aims to make responsible retailing accessible to all, it was appropriate for us to provide a credible and desirable offering and concept and include a complete ecosystem of products and services, because second-hand fashion has its rightful place in both our physical and online stores.”
“I salute the Galeries Lafayette group’s initiative, which encourages second-hand fashion, garment care and recycling so customers can consume responsibly. This space showcases the circular economy that will develop in the coming years in the world of fashion. It responds to an expectation as well as a pressing need to factor in environmental and social concerns across the industry value chain from now on. Sustainability is at last being valued as a strategic advantage for companies, so changing policy to account for these issues will make the entire industry more competitive in the future.”
LE (RE)STORE GALERIES LAFAYETTE will also be expanded lastingly in the French provinces in the coming months, with two initial pilot projects due to start in Nantes and Lyon Part-Dieu.
An ambitious policy that is being expanded across the Galeries Lafayette brand
As well as this launch, the Galeries Lafayette group continues to develop its Go for Good label strategy across its brands. After rolling out a large-scale initiative promoting French linen in the spring of 2021, BHV Marais is positioning itself as the French capital’s go-to responsible general store, or “Bazar responsable”, with a vintage-themed September event. Second-hand furniture brand Selency, the event’s guest of honour, is displaying its best home and interior decorating items in L’Agora on the store’s ground-floor. Unprecedented recycling and repair services are also on offer, while a sale of iconic re-editions is being organised in collaboration with Emmaüs charity website, Trëmma, which helps finance charitable initiatives.
The BHV Marais store ecosystem now also includes Spain’s pioneering responsible fashion brand, Ecoalf, which is opening its first French boutique on Rue du Temple and notably offering visitors an immersive experience about ocean plastic pollution.
La Redoute is also bolstering its responsible retailing range by offering Go for Good certified products within its own brand fashion and home ranges. More than half the products in the La Redoute Collections latest spring-summer 2021 range were Go for Good certified, while La Redoute Intérieurs and AMPM featured 79% and 59% respectively. These figures increase constantly and will continue to do so in the next collections.
At the end of 2020, La Redoute launched La Reboucle, an innovative and disruptive project developed in less than six months which aims to offer an alternative sales platform for second-hand products, mostly for homes and interiors. Since the launch, it has notched up over one million unique visitors and been well received by La Redoute customers. These encouraging first results confirm that there is room for La Redoute in this promising market and the company is now focusing on how to differentiate itself and improve the customer experience so it progressively meets the high standards set by the sector’s go-to players.
Galeries Lafayette is on track to meet its objectives for 2024
Three years after the launch of its own Go for Good label, the Galeries Lafayette group reviews the progress made in responsible fashion and whether it is on track to meet the concrete, quantifiable goals it set for 2024. The Go for Good label is now spotlighted all year round in retail operations across all Galeries Lafayette and BHV MARAIS’s physical and online stores. The selection is constantly enriched with new responsible products that meet precise, transparent criteria and have less impact on the environment, support local production, or contribute to social development.
These encouraging results are also in line with the concrete commitments made by Galeries Lafayette after a large-scale national consultation, organised by Paris Good Fashion, which brought together 100,000 participants and unveiled its results in February 2021. It concluded that it was imperative that the industry undergoes an in-depth transformation to become more socially and environmentally responsible. The group of public and private players behind the consultation then announced six major commitments in response to the demands of the French people, which ranged from recycling to relocation and included responsible raw materials sourcing and packaging management.
The group’s 2024 objectives in detail
Increase the range of Go for Good certified products to represent at least 25% of the overall offering
The range of Go for Good certified products expanded at an exceptional rate in 2021. It now comprises over 1,000 brands and represents 20% of the total offering at Galeries Lafayette and BHV Marais department stores.
Guarantee the exemplarity of Galeries Lafayette’s private labels by making the entire range Go for Good-compliant
65% of Galeries Lafayette’s private label products are now Go for Good certified, up from 40% in 2020. Organic cotton and recycled materials are some of the key criteria this range needs to meet.
Actively support responsible fashion design by offering 200 engaged young brands the chance to be sold in-store and online under adjusted retail conditions
To date, about a dozen responsible fashion spaces have been rolled out in stores in Paris and the French provinces, and engaged young brands now have their rightful place at Galeries Lafayette. Over the last 12 months, these corners have been bolstered by the fact that about fifty local brands, many of whom manufacture their products in France, are now listed as direct suppliers by the group’s network of stores.
Offer resale and recycling solutions for all items purchased at Galeries Lafayette
All the Galeries Lafayette stores now offer a collection service so customers can recycle clothing, shoes and perfume bottles. The flagship Haussmann store also offers toy and cosmetic packaging recycling services. Every time they drop off items for recycling, customers earn bonus loyalty points. A digital service will also be available by the end of the year on galerieslafayette.com to help customers resell their online purchases on second-hand fashion platforms.
Offer second-hand and rental services to encourage the circular economy
Alongside the new (RE)STORE space at the Paris flagship store, the BHV Marais and many Galeries Lafayette stores across France now sell a range of second-hand items. The stores have also been supporting fashion rental initiatives for several years. Examples include a collaboration with Maje at Galeries Lafayette Haussmann in 2021.
Develop packaging that is lighter, less bulky and 100% recyclable
The citizens’ consultation identified e-retailing packaging as a key concern and significant progress was made in 2021 when Galeries Lafayette implemented several concrete initiatives. It now delivers items in plastic-free, cardboard and paper-only parcels, dispatches three times more kraft paper pouches, has cut back on nonessential packaging elements, and uses recycled plastic to package its own brand products. In addition, the company is going to test several new packaging alternatives, including paper polybags and the reusable delivery pouches created by start-up Hipli, which will be launched this September.