Hugo Boss has announced a strategic partnership with the Grameena Vikas Kendram Society for Rural Development (GVK Society), an Indian non-profit organization. Together they aim to create regenerative, circular and socially inclusive agricultural value chains that maximize value for smallholder farmers and indigenous farming communities.
The project aims to transform 5,250 hectares – the equivalent of approximately 3,000 football fields – into regenerative food and cotton landscapes through smallholder empowerment, infrastructure development and capacity building.
A key goal is to train 1,500 farmers, 900 of whom are women, in regenerative agricultural practices. Hugo Boss emphasized that this initiative is not only aimed at building long-term prosperity and resilience, but also at environmental benefits, such as mitigating climate change and increasing biodiversity in the region.
Hugo Boss expects that the project will store approximately 31,000 tons of CO2 over three years while avoiding the use of 1,000 tons of synthetic fertilizers, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and 2,000 kg of pesticides and herbicides.
“We are excited to support GVK Society and their holistic approach to regenerative agriculture,” said Daniel Grieder, CEO of Hugo Boss and Managing Director of the Hugo Boss Foundation. “By working with them, we are supporting one of the most innovative methods of material sourcing, which is crucial for reducing the fashion industry’s environmental footprint and improving the livelihoods of local farmers.”
Grieder further noted that this initiative aligns with Hugo Boss’s commitment to source 100% of natural materials in its collections through regenerative agriculture or closed loop recycling by 2030.
According to Aneel Kumar Ambavaram, principal officer at GVK Society, this support contributes to even healthier and more balanced soils in the long term and strengthens their ability to deepen the impact, reaching more farmers in more villages.
Ambavaram added, “At GVK Society, our goal is to transform agriculture into a powerful nature-based solution, nurturing self-sustaining communities that live in harmony with each other and the environment. Thanks to funding from the Hugo Boss Foundation, we will be able to advance and diversify our regenerative food and fiber landscape model beyond cotton to include crops such as coffee, pepper, millet, turmeric and ginger, with international market connections.”
Launched in 2023, the Hugo Boss Foundation aims to drive climate and environmental protection initiatives worldwide, guided by the principle of ‘Bold for the Planet’.
In August, Hugo Boss assured shareholders that its plans to raise costs will help boost profits in the second half, after second quarter (Q2) sales fell short of expectations.
“Hugo Boss sets aside €500,000 to support India’s regenerative cotton project” was originally created and published by Just Style, a brand owned by GlobalData.
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