Italian luxury fashion house Prada Group has made history as the first luxury brand to obtain a sustainability term loan deal.
The £42.9m (€50m) deal was signed with French cooperative banking group Crédit Agricole and lasts for five years.
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By GlobalDataPRADA will be required to fulfil three sustainability-related conditions as part of the deal. The first centres on the company’s brick-and-mortar retail stores, with a number of them required to hold a Gold or Platinum Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design green-building certification.
The second condition requires the company to increase employee training hours and the third requires the group to use regenerated nylon (Re-Nylon) for product production. Also referred to as Econyl, the material is created from plastic waste such as reclaimed fishing nets and can be recycled, recreated and remoulded. The company said its ultimate goal is to convert all its virgin nylon into Re-Nylon by the end of 2021.
Prada noted that the loan interest rate can be reduced if it fulfils the sustainability targets.
Prada chief financial officer Alessandra Cozzani said: “This transaction demonstrates that sustainability is a key element for the development of the Prada Group, increasingly integrated into our strategy. We are confident that this collaboration with Crédit Agricole, a leader in its sector, will help to extend the benefits of a responsible business to the financial world.”
