Prada signs loan for sustainability targets

Prada has signed a five-year, sustainability linked loan with UniCredit banking group worth 90 million euros. The loan is linked to performance indicators including the regeneration and reconversion of production waste and Prada’s ability to increase the share of self-produced energy.

“Sustainability, as a value, is now universally recognized and shared, also by the financial industry,” said Prada’s chief financial officer, Alessandra Cozzani, to WWD. “For us and for all companies, this results in an important stimulus to achieve increasingly ambitious goals toward a sustainable economy. We are proud to be among the first players in the luxury sector to have embarked on this path and to be considered a reference counterpart in the field today.”

The loan has provisions that allow for the reduction in the interest rate if certain quantitative targets are met for sustainability. An independent third party will periodically review where Prada is at with achieving these sustainability goals.

Some of Prada’s recent sustainability moves include investing in reducing production waste for apparel, as the now transfer waste materials to third parties to be used for future production in some form. As more consumers educate themselves on how to shop sustainably, Prada is doing their best to stay ahead of the curve.

Prada has signed several loans for sustainability recently. In November 2019, they signed a sustainability-linked loans with Crédit Agricole Group, marking the first sustainability loan in the luxury goods industry. Prada has poised itself to be a framework for other luxury goods companies who are trying to become more sustainable.

photo: via prada.com