Positive Luxury Awards 2022 - Winners Announced inc Sheep Inc, Bamford and Monica Vinader
Positive Luxury announce the six trailblazing winners of the 2022 Positive Luxury Awards- The Positive Luxury Awards honour innovation in every aspect of ESG and drive a global conversation about the future of luxury.
From a shortlist of 24 inspiring brands, retailers and suppliers, the six winners of the 2022 Positive Luxury Awards:
Sheep Inc. – Environmental Innovator of the Year
Original Beans – Social Innovator of the Year
Belvedere Vodka – Material & Manufacturing Innovator of the Year
Bamford – Product Innovation of Year
Tracemark – Breakthrough Business of the Year
Monica Vinader – Responsible Luxury Business of the Year
Download our 2022 Winners report to find out more about these leaders in sustainability innovation https://www.positiveluxury.com/awards-shortlist-2022/
Further notes and judges comments for each winner:
ENVIRONMENTAL INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR - Sheep Inc
The team at Positive Luxury erupted with joy when the judging panel chose Sheep Inc as the
Environmental Innovator of the Year. This is a very clever, uniquely creative business that
dangerously inflames my passion for hoodies and knitwear for ethical and aesthetic reasons.
There is no detail of this company’s value chain that hasn’t been carefully constructed with
ESG front-of-mind and which is not being measured. The commitment of founders Edzard
and James to full transparency, blending the use of craft and technology, sets a new
standard of best practice. Naturally carbon negative, 100% traceable and trackable, 100%
biodegradable, 100% cool.
SOCIAL INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR - Original Beans
The team at Positive Luxury has thorough tested Original Beans products and, trust us, they
are dangerously good. But I am thrilled the judging panel also admired the depth and
breadth of their social commitments, interwoven in their mission to become a fully
regenerative business. Their well-documented 12 solutions are inspiring commitments and
activities, carefully measured and transparently reported, which provide vital support to
indigenous tribes and local farmers in Africa, South America and the Caribbean. The
problems they are working to address can feel huge and beyond our individual control, but
Original Beans’ efforts and impact are convincingly authentic, tangible and refreshingly
personal. This is a highly accountable business, caring for its stakeholders in very
meaningful ways. As their innovate Chocolate Food Print will show you, it is worth each of us
paying a small premium to consume chocolate grown in this different and better way.
PRODUCT INNOVATION OF THE YEAR - Bamford
The team at Positive Luxury has turned into a flock of sheep lovers in 2022. Bamford’s
Home-grown Merino knitwear collection started it all, and I am thrilled the judging panel
share our passion for this very British capsule collection. Pioneering founder Carole Bamford
had a vision for beautifully made clothing with a fully traceable product journey, and this
collection more than delivers on that. By relocating the entire supply chain onto British soil,
which includes the nation’s first and only certified organic flock of merino sheep, the
collection is produced on a transport footprint reduced by 96%, its significantly reduced
carbon footprint has been measured at every stage of product lifecycle, its methods have
reduced water consumption by 12,000 litres (35,000 cups of team) and the partnerships
formed to deliver it support small-scale businesses across England and Scotland. The
products are beautiful in every sense, a tribute to British artisan craftsmanship. We hope this
project heralds the homecoming of the UK knitwear industry and helps preserve farming and
manufacturing techniques that are an important part of the island’s culture heritage.
MATERIAL AND MANUFACTURING INNOVATION OF THE YEAR- Belvedere
It is often said that large organisations, particularly those with strong heritage, struggle to
adapt to changing marketing conditions and remain relevant. Belvedere is clear evidence to
the contrary. The company, part of the luxury powerhouse LVMH, represents 600 years of
Polish vodka-making tradition and their distillery has been making Vodka since 1910. With
several hundred employees and distribution around the globe, transforming their business
operations and supply chain toward a fully sustainable business model is no easy task – yet
they are doing the heavy lifting, making great strides and setting ambitious targets for
ongoing improvement. In 2021, after three years of collaborative teamwork between the
company and the community, and the first European Commission grant to a spirits distillery,
their ambitious on-site biomass capture facility went live. Belvedere also announced their
accelerated schedule to become energy carbon neutral and eight clearly targeted
commitments – all to be delivered by or before 2025. This is what action looks like. I’m
impressed. So were the judges.
BREAKTHROUGH LUXURY BUSINESS OF THE YEAR - Tracemark
Less than a year old and with fewer than 10 employees at the time of application, Tracemark
is a company I want to see succeed – for the good of the jewellery and diamond industry, its
consumers, and Tracemark’s founders who spent over two years developing their
Transparent Tracking System software. Not only does the tool leverage technology to
provide robust traceability and verified standards, it also cleverly connects today’s
consumers to the product, materials and manufacturing through their Traceability Panel,
educating and empowering them to make informed purchasing decisions. The industry has a
deservedly tarnished reputation, particularly with the arena of human rights, but it is an
innovator like Tracemark that will drive tangible positive action and help restore consumer
confidence in the jewellery industry. Traceability tools are currently very much focussed on
the fashion industry, but consumers deserve transparency across all categories of goods
and services. I am thrilled the judging panel acknowledged this and, among a very strong
shortlist, recognised Tracemark.
RESPONSIBLE LUXURY BUSINESS OF THE YEAR - Monica Vinader
Within Positive Luxury, Monica Vinader is held up time and again as a case study in best
practice – across all pillars of ESG+. What sets this business apart, and which the judging
panel rightly acknowledged, is the company’s incredible commitment to ongoing
improvement. For the Monica Vinader team, the job is never complete and 2021 was clear
evidence of this. They embedded sustainability into the structure and operations of the
business, including the introduction of a GM for sustainability, an executive-level steering
committee, a Green Team of operational experts spearheading delivery of sustainable
change and another team dedicated to diversity, equality, and inclusion initiatives. They
made the bold move to using only recycled gold and silver, reduced single-use plastic in
their supply chain by 90% and redesigned all packaging to useless, but more sustainable
materials that are 100% recyclable and reusable. They went completely carbon neutral,
across operations and product, and rightly acknowledge offsets as an absolute last resort.
Their jewellery recycling scheme is a game-changer, as is the dedication shown to upskilling
employees’ sustainability knowledge and involving their community of followers in the
sustainable design process. All this and more are documented, tracked and reported on with
refreshing honesty. Monica Vinader is a sustainability trailblazer, a poster child for innovation
and transparency, and a crown jewel amongst Positive Luxury’s community of Butterfly Mark
certified companies.