The challenges of Go for Good
Our ambition? To become a global benchmark for French-style ethical and responsible retail. Go for Good is an important aspect of the Galeries Lafayette Group’s strategy which we have built with rigour to combine both sustainability and appeal. We do not however claim that the Go for Good movement is an example to everyone. To ensure it is seen as a credible initiative and drives us to change our ways, we want to be clear and transparent about its limitations. These are as follows:
GO FOR GOOD DOES NOT GUARANTEE BRAND EXCELLENCE
The Go for Good label is product-based and not brand-based. It is important for us to associate this approach with real and verifiable product characteristics and not with global brand or company policies where we cannot provide a detailed assessment at our level. As an example, a brand’s human rights policy cannot be judged solely on the fact that it has a supplier code of conduct and that it performs social audits.
GO FOR GOOD IS FOCUSED ON A SELECTION OF PRODUCTS ONLY
Currently, only a small percentage of the products sold by the Galeries Lafayette Group brands meets the Go for Good selection criteria. We are committed to moving forward and our ambition is to offer our customers a wide sustainable product selection, representing at least 25% of our products by 2024. Even brands with a small selection of Go for Good products can get involved. This is a first step for us. It takes more than a season to revamp an offering. Using more sustainable materials or manufacturing processes takes time. However, it is very important that Go for Good products are clearly identifiable and that their characteristics in terms of sustainability are fully legible and understandable on the products to stop our customers from being misled.
WE OURSELVES ARE NOT PERFECT
The Go for Good label also applies to a selection of products from Galeries Lafayette Group brands. Although we have been committed to a sustainable development approach for a number of years, some of our products are not yet Go for Good certified. Over the past few years, we have been working on developing products that are 100% traceable, from field to store. The work required to ensure this level of traceability is long and painstaking, which is why we are taking a progressive approach and only include a selection of our own-brand products. The rest of the Group’s brands’ Go for Good products use more sustainable materials or transformation processes. More than ever, we want to use our brands as a laboratory to learn, innovate and improve each day.
Go for Good is an evolving and collaborative process. Do not hesitate to send us your comments or suggestions by writing to us at the following address: goforgood@galerieslafayette.com.
A GO FOR GOOD PRODUCT IS NOT SUSTAINABLE IN ITS ENTIRETY AND IN ALL AREAS
A product may fall under the Go for Good approach if it meets at least one criterion of our specifications relating to environmental, social or production location aspects. It is not a requirement to combine criteria in these three pillars to be eligible, although this is the case for some products. For example, a Go for Good product may be made from organic cotton but produced in Asia or made by people who have entered mainstream employment using materials that are harmful to the environment. From an environmental perspective, the impact is spread throughout the production chain and it is no easy task to make positive changes across the board. For example, a product can qualify for the Go for Good label by being made from linen but not manufactured using eco-friendly dyes or certified Oeko-Tex Standard 100 and made from conventional cotton.
Ultimately, the Go for Good label is based on strict selection criteria (i.e. less than 10% of products in store or online have the label) but it does not certify that the products selected are perfect in all areas of sustainable development.
GO FOR GOOD CRITERIA HAVE DIFFERENT LEVELS OF AMBITION AND ARE NOT ALL-INCLUSIVE
We have continued to use many different evaluation criteria but they all have a common denominator: each one must provide added-value in terms of sustainability compared to standard products. However, some Go for Good products are subject to a more rigorous approach than others. As an example, it is more difficult to have your products certified according to the GOTS label or the EU Ecolabel than to occasionally contribute a percentage of a product’s selling price to a charitable cause. We want to encourage as many brands as possible to commit themselves to more sustainable fashion and are not currently looking to prioritise Go for Good products over each other. The selection criteria are always listed but for anyone who is interested, they are free to form their own opinion on how sustainable Go for Good products are.
Although the Go for Good criteria are very comprehensive, they do not currently cover some areas of sustainability, such as the durability (sustainability) of products or the preservation of endangered know-how. This is due to the difficulty of building an objective and impartial evaluation grid for these areas.
