Renzo Rosso, the founder of OTB Group, the international fashion and luxury behind the brands Diesel, Jil Sander, Maison Margiela, Marni, and Viktor & Rolf and which controls the companies Staff International and Brave Kid, has been awarded with the Green Award - Special Prize for Sustainability during the Greentech Festival Gala ceremony in Berlin.
The Green Award, handed by Armando Varricchio, the Italian Ambassador in Germany, is a recognition that honors the ability to combine entrepreneurial success with effective action in the areas of sustainability and social commitment.
“The Green Aawards as part of the Greentech Festival were established in order to celebrate change towards a greener future. In different categories, an expert jury elects the best companies, projects and people from all over the world. This year, together with our partner country Italy, we are beyond proud to hand out the 'Special Prize Italy' to Renzo Rosso, founder of OTB Group and role model for the sustainable transformation of the fashion industry," stated Nico Rosberg, co-founder of the Greentech Festival.
"Approaches to circularity or upcycling and achievements on product durability and traceability are only a few reasons why this price is absolutely well deserved. We are happy that Renzo Rosso joined the ceremony on stage and showed the audience how to successfully transform a company into more and more sustainability step by step,” he added.
This year, Italy is the official partner country of the Greentech Festival, a sign of recognition of Italy's contribution to the challenges related to climate change and to the promotion of sustainable growth models.
Renzo Rosso commented: “I am very honored to receive this prestigious award. Being sustainable is very natural and innate for me, thanks to my origins, personal growth and education. For this reason, I wanted sustainability being in the DNA of my group and my team, in order to define business strategies and take decisions differently. We have ambitious targets, such as being carbon-neutral for our operations by 2030, decreasing the usage of water and chemical products in our industrial processes, tracing our materials and launching collections with circularity and reusability at the center," said Renzo Rosso, OTB Founder and Chairman.
OTB Group has ambitious targets for the future, such as becoming carbon-neutral by 2030 for its operations, and is engaged in several projects: OTB has decreased the usage of water for specific industrial processes, has become part of ZDHC Roadmap to Zero Program aimed at reducing the discharge of harmful chemicals, has launched collections with circularity and reusability at the center, and constantly certifies and traces their materials. The Group has also audited their suppliers and given them its guidelines, which reflect the sustainability mentality, vision and policy of the Group.
In terms of social commitment, in 2008 Rosso also created the OTB Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation with the goal to contribute to the sustainable development of less advantaged areas. Through the OTB Foundation, he has invested in over 300 social projects around the world, from the support to Ukrainian refugees in Italy to the restoration of the Rialto Bridge in Venice to the support of communities affected by natural disasters, to programs helping women, young people, and integration.
READ ALSO:
