Luxury label, Kenzo, is pushing the boundaries of charity collaboration with a new collection focused around saving fish.
The French fashion house has announced a long term partnership with conservation group, Blue Marine Foundation (BMF).
The partnership has Kenzo promoting the protection of fish, whales, and other marine life to its fashionista audience.
Kenzo turned its website and flagship London store blue for the occasion, and its spring summer 2014 collection was themed around the sea.
Proceeds from a capsule charity collection will also go towards helping BMF with its activist causes.
The fashion label has also dedicated a section of its site to advice around eating seafood sustainably.
“I believe our partnership with Kenzo has proven how global fashion brands can communicate and really drive positive change,” says Chris Gorell Barnes, co-founder of BMF.
The charity partnership follows Kenzo’s re-emergence in the market as an edgy luxury fashion brand.
In 2011, Kenzo brought on two new co-creative directors: Humberto Leon and Carol Lim from the cult global fashion chain, Opening Ceremony.
Leon told US magazine, Elle, that the decision to support BMF came about because the duo grew up near the Californian ocean.
“We want to have a message about protecting the ocean, and specifically protecting the fish that live there. Without fish, humans can’t survive,” says Leon.
The collaboration follows a broader trend of retailers responding to consumer demands for more brand activism, as profiled by Clair van Veen in Inside Shopper this week.
“In the post GFC era, with lessened esteem for many traditional values of capitalism and a growing economic divide, consumers are starting to protest with their wallets,” says van Veen.
“First it was fair trade coffee and free range eggs, then came the establishment of sustainable suppliers in developing nations, palm oil awareness, free range pork, and the local movement.”
Kenzo’s BMF collaboration is arguably a luxury version of this movement on a global stage.
