The leather trade can cause terrible deforestation in the Amazon, but this new Gucci Jackie bag is made of hide that has been ethically produced
Something important happened at Paris fashion week on Monday. No, not Hedi Slimane's grunge revival or how laundromat checks are becoming a thing or Bono turning up in Stella McCartney's front row. Something, you know, important-important.
Livia Firth, the Observer's Lucy Siegle and Italian Vogue's Franca Sozzani hosted a panel discussion in the Brazilian embassy to mark the extension of Firth's ethical red carpet landgrab, the Green Carpet Challenge, into handbags.
This special edition of Gucci's iconic Jackie bag is pioneering a project to curb the deforestation of Brazilian landforest caused by cattle ranchers. If you missed Lucy's story in the Observer mag at the weekend, read it here. Deforestation and leather production is not exactly a sexy issue, so kudos to Siegle and Firth for persuading Gucci to take it on. As Firth put it, the bag takes "an unfashionable agricultural story, and gives it a beautiful twist".