Hermès and Ethics: Sustainability, Animal Testing and Treatment, Corporate Social Responsibility

[QuelleFromage]

Created in response to the animal testing discussion in the makeup thread and to multiple members who would like to continue this discussion.
Because animal ethics involve more than makeup, it seems right to make this an overall discussion of where Hermès is in its practices, and so sustainability and overall corporate social responsibility also seem valid in the same discussion. If the community disagrees we can split up the thread.

Per tPF policy, NO POLITICS PLEASE. Let's have thoughtful discussion and sharing of information, and while we all get very passionate about the issues dear to us - please respect individual beliefs and stances.
If this discussion is not for you, that's great - please move along as you would from any thread.

The very long thread title is intended to help anyone searching for these topics.

Mods - if you can possibly bump over the animal testing posts in the Hermès makeup thread, that's probably a great start

 

[QuelleFromage]

The 2018 Hermès annual report (most recent publicly available) contains a lot of information and is linked here . Section 2 is devoted to corporate social responsibility.

 

[plastic-fish]

The 2018 Hermès annual report (most recent publicly available) contains a lot of information and is linked here . Section 2 is devoted to corporate social responsibility.

Thank you QuelleFromage for starting this thread and posting their report. Section 2 is fascinating, long, but fascinating. I’ve never looked at their annual report but based on what is written, Hermes is thoughtful about resources, both planet and people. I’m afraid I’m not adding to the discussion but highly recommend reading this section.

 

[Hermes Nuttynut]

Created in response to the animal testing discussion in the makeup thread and to multiple members who would like to continue this discussion.
Because animal ethics involve more than makeup, it seems right to make this an overall discussion of where Hermès is in its practices, and so sustainability and overall corporate social responsibility also seem valid in the same discussion. If the community disagrees we can split up the thread.

Per tPF policy, NO POLITICS PLEASE. Let's have thoughtful discussion and sharing of information, and while we all get very passionate about the issues dear to us - please respect individual beliefs and stances.
If this discussion is not for you, that's great - please move along as you would from any thread.

The very long thread title is intended to help anyone searching for these topics.

Mods - if you can possibly bump over the animal testing posts in the Hermès makeup thread, that's probably a great start

Thank you, QuelleFromage!

 

[Yoshi1296]

Thank you for this!

 

[papertiger]

Created in response to the animal testing discussion in the makeup thread and to multiple members who would like to continue this discussion.
Because animal ethics involve more than makeup, it seems right to make this an overall discussion of where Hermès is in its practices, and so sustainability and overall corporate social responsibility also seem valid in the same discussion. If the community disagrees we can split up the thread.

Per tPF policy, NO POLITICS PLEASE. Let's have thoughtful discussion and sharing of information, and while we all get very passionate about the issues dear to us - please respect individual beliefs and stances.
If this discussion is not for you, that's great - please move along as you would from any thread.

The very long thread title is intended to help anyone searching for these topics.

Mods - if you can possibly bump over the animal testing posts in the Hermès makeup thread, that's probably a great start

I'm happy for you to have this thread but we'll leave the makeup thread as it is.

 

[FreddieMac]

Great subject to learn and understand more about, I'm looking forward to hearing more from you all.

From a social perspective, some of the 'Footsteps Around The World' YouTube videos shed some light on what H does for educating young generations, supporting local communities, helping those in the third world and the lesser abled.

 

[TraceySH]

Before I stumbled on this thread, I had just read through the entire report last week. Page here, bottom right re: animal testing. With buying a ton of exotics lately, I was really interested in their ethical practices with sourcing. I was glad to see the global statement about animal testing.

https://assets.hermes.com/is/content/hermesedito/RSE/DDR/DDR2018_CSR_extract_EN_VD.pdf

 

[PJW5813]

QuelleFromage, well done. An important topic we should all face up to.

FreddieMac, 'Footsteps around the world' are fascinating films.

The timeline of Hermes product that found on the first ten pages of the report is interesting reading for everyone.
TraceySH, thank you for the link.

 

[Hermes Nuttynut]

QuelleFromage, well done. An important topic we should all face up to.

FreddieMac, 'Footsteps around the world' are fascinating films.

The timeline of Hermes product that found on the first ten pages of the report is interesting reading for everyone.
TraceySH, thank you for the link.

The product timeline is very interesting. Thanks for posting.

 

[QuelleFromage]

Before I stumbled on this thread, I had just read through the entire report last week. Page here, bottom right re: animal testing. With buying a ton of exotics lately, I was really interested in their ethical practices with sourcing. I was glad to see the global statement about animal testing.

https://assets.hermes.com/is/content/hermesedito/RSE/DDR/DDR2018_CSR_extract_EN_VD.pdf

The question here seems to be the one that was raised in the makeup thread: is Hermès doing animal testing in order to be able to sell in the Chinese market? We know the laws will change this year, and there are already companies avoiding testing and pilots running to enable more:
https://chemicalwatch.com/84505/non-animal-tested-cosmetics-to-go-on-sale-in-china-via-pilot-project

 

[ladysarah]

Great subject to learn and understand more about, I'm looking forward to hearing more from you all.

From a social perspective, some of the 'Footsteps Around The World' YouTube videos shed some light on what H does for educating young generations, supporting local communities, helping those in the third world and the lesser abled.

Thank you for this and good to see so much interest in the subject. Speaking for myself I am satisfied that Hermes does not test cosmetics on animals because that is not something EU law would allow-

will buy:
I will continue to buy their perfumes. I will also continue to buy leather goods from them- They have very high standards.

Will NOT buy
I will not, of course, ever, buy fur or reptiles (euphemistically called exotics) because that is never going to be an environmentally sound practice. I wish Hermès would stop producing the damn things. Although they have priced them so high that is out of reach for most people- it still fuels the demand and perceived ‘status’ they bring.

 

[TraceySH]

Thank you for this and good to see so much interest in the subject. Speaking for myself I am satisfied that Hermes does not test cosmetics on animals because that is not something EU law would allow-

will buy:
I will continue to buy their perfumes. I will also continue to buy leather goods from them- They have very high standards.

Will NOT buy
I will not, of course, ever, buy fur or reptiles (euphemistically called exotics) because that is never going to be an environmentally sound practice. I wish Hermès would stop producing the damn things. Although they have priced them so high that is out of reach for most people- it still fuels the demand and perceived ‘status’ they bring.

Here in the US, the southern states are recruiting the public's help in killing alligators, iguanas and pythons as they are destroying the ecosystem, and their overabundance has caused undue aggression amongst them in competing for now limited resources which, in turn, is a both a danger to the public (disease, attacks)and a nuisance. Pythons and alligators have also caused near extinction of other species (beautiful key deer, for one). It seems useful to at least use the skins of those animals that must be destroyed for something useful as opposed to just tossing them in the garbage. I have a childhood friend who has started a handbag business solely for the purpose of using discarded skins from the species that have invaded us. Perhaps when the ecosystem has rebalanced would be a good time to reevaluate.

 

[QuelleFromage]

When it comes to animal testing, I'm not satisfied with brands that are cruelty-free in one region as required by law, but test on animals in China in order to sell in that market. That may drastically lower the number of brands I'm able to buy, but that's ok by me. I'm going to dig a bit more since many have insisted that H tests on animals for China.

 

[Hermes Nuttynut]

I’m so proud of everybody here for having so much concern for this issue.