Lane Crawford Incorporates Sustainability into Its Business

Starting with Biodegradable Packaging in Time for Christmas 

HONG KONG, CHINA - Media OutReach - November 29, 2018 - Lane Crawford, Asia's iconic department store, is proud to be the first luxury retailer in Asia to provide non-toxic, biodegradable paper packaging.

With the issue of environmental waste high on its agenda, Lane Crawford is launching 100% biodegradable paper packaging across all Hong Kong stores in time for the Christmas shopping season, enabling customers to make the "Share the joy of Giving" experience more responsible.

Every year, Lane Crawford gives out around 3 million paper bags and gift boxes. By switching to easily recyclable and biodegradable packaging materials, Lane Crawford is committed to leading the way in sustainable initiatives.

"These eco-friendly shopping bags and gift boxes offer our customers the opportunity to take positive action on the issue of sustainability. Improving paper recycling and reduction throughout our supply chain has been a key focus for us", said Andrew Keith, President of Lane Crawford. "We have been looking at every aspect of our business to see how we can use innovation, technology and creative collaboration to reduce our impact and build a stronger connection with our customers, brand partners and the world in which we all live. Changing our packaging is just the beginning".  

The new shopping bags remain in Lane Crawford's signature bronze colour, but are now made of FSC* certified paper, sourced from responsibly managed forests, helping to ensure our forests are alive for generations to come. The new gift boxes also contain FSC certified lining made with 80% recycled content. Bags and boxes are printed with water-based inks and varnishes in a bid to reduce the use of chemicals, while magnetic closures previously used within boxes have been replaced with 100% cotton weaved ribbon, allowing boxes to be widely recyclable.

The new and improved packaging has been launched at all Lane Crawford stores in Hong Kong and lanecrawford.com on November 7, 2018, and will roll out in all China stores by February 10, 2019.

Lane Crawford acknowledges that the global waste system is imperfect and has made these changes so that wherever its packaging turns up, it leaves as little impact on the planet as possible. Through this overhaul, Lane Crawford is taking a stand on the global waste pandemic, and planning to bring its customers, community and employees along with them on this journey.

Editor's Note

About FSC certified paper

FSC is a global forest certification system that allows customers to identify paper, wood and other forest products from responsibly managed forests, with the FSC 'tick tree' logo. FSC has ten principles for responsible forest management, including maintaining, conserving and restoring ecosystem services, maintaining or enhancing the social and economic wellbeing of workers and upholding Indigenous Peoples' legal and customary rights of ownership. In order to achieve FSC certification, there must be a forest management plan in place to ensure continuous performance improvements are met and all ten FSC principles are upheld.

Further information on Lane Crawford packaging

Lane Crawford has redesigned all paper packaging and gift wrapping with 100% biodegradable materials and aims to reduce the usage of plastic for packing furniture, oversized or fragile items. New gift boxes have the same FSC certified paper with water-based ink and varnish, with FSC certified grey board that has 80% recycled content. The double-sided tape used for internal adhesive and sticker has been replaced with a non-toxic adhesive which is ROHS compliant, meaning the use of hazardous substances is strictly controlled.  Gift boxes will be affixed with 100% cotton grosgrain weaved ribbon which replaced the magnetic closure- ensuring the box is now widely recyclable.

About Lane Crawford

Founded in 1850, Lane Crawford is an iconic luxury department store driving a "connected commerce" strategy focused on creating a seamless shopping experience across its physical stores in Greater China and its global online store.

With more than 600,000 square feet of retail space, Lane Crawford has 10 points of sale across Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu. With a digital flagship store, purpose built for China while also shipping globally, Lane Crawford is China's first luxury omni-channel fashion retailer. Featuring the largest designer portfolio across Womenswear, Menswear, Cosmetics, Home and Lifestyle, and Fine Jewellery in the region, Lane Crawford showcases more than 800 international brands.

Lane Crawford is unique for its wholesale model and direct brand partnerships in a market otherwise dominated by concession models. This enables Lane Crawford to present its edit with authority in creative store environments fusing fashion, design, art and music, and extend elevated levels of personalised service. Regarded as an industry benchmark for innovation in retail concepts and creative, Lane Crawford holds a number of prestigious international awards including The National Retail Federation's International award selected by global industry leaders.

Lane Crawford is a part of The Lane Crawford Joyce Group, Asia's pre-eminent luxury lifestyle group specializing in fashion retail, brand management and distribution which includes iconic, luxury department store Lane Crawford, cutting edge fashion boutique Joyce, fashion footwear, handbags and accessories specialist Pedder Group, retail, brand management and distribution company ImagineX and all channel retail platform Walton Brown. 

The Lane Crawford Joyce Group operates luxury department stores and boutiques, free-standing branded stores and e-commerce and omni-channel operations. It has leadership positioning in designer womenswear, menswear, shoes and accessories, cosmetics, home and lifestyle, and fine jewellery. It works with more than 1,500 international fashion brands -- including 35 brands under exclusive distribution partnerships.

With more than 168 years of trading experience in the region, each of The Group's companies is acknowledged as a pioneer in its space, being first to market with designer and luxury brands, and building brands' businesses through dynamic partnerships and collaborations. As of September 2015, the Group operates more than 450 points of sale across 50 cities in Greater China and South-East Asia, with a total retail space of more than 2,000,000 square feet.