Chloé is the first luxury fashion house to earn a B Corp certification

The sustainability conversation has gotten noisy and confusing lately. Recycled polyester, organic cotton, regenerative farming, plant-based leather, ethical labor, vertical production—all of it falls under “being sustainable,” and the rise of rampant greenwashing has forced many of us to become skeptical. If your leggings are recycled but were sewn in a sweatshop, how is that progress?

You really have to dig into the subtleties to confirm if a company is living up to its claims. But there’s one thing that cuts straight to the point: a B Corp certification. In the complex world of standards and certifications, from OEKO-TEX to GOTS to Fair Trade, B Corp is the most rigorous and demanding one, requiring brands to answer 300 questions about their social and environmental impacts. Their answers are scored on a points system, and brands must earn at least 80 to be B Corp certified; only 3,500 brands out of 100,000 have made the cut. Patagonia is near the top with 151.4 points, while Allbirds has 89.4 and Another Tomorrow clears 80.3.

Today, it was announced that Chloé is joining the list, in turn becoming the first luxury fashion house to do so. The news comes less than a year after Gabriela Hearst became creative director of the maison, where her impact has been swift: Hearst’s debut collection included recycled cashmere and wool knits, reworked vintage handbags, and puffers made in collaboration with Sheltersuit, a nonprofit providing shelter for the homeless, using leftover Chloé textiles. The total carbon footprint was a whopping 400% smaller than the prior year’s line, in keeping with CEO Riccardo Bellini’s mission to become a “purpose-driven” brand. At her recent spring 2022 show, Hearst introduced a new line of ultra-luxury pieces, Chloé Craft, which are made entirely by hand in an effort to support artisans.

The B Corp stamp verifies and elevates those efforts, but it doesn’t mean there isn’t more work to do. “Rather than a final goal, this certification makes a new stage in our transformation toward a purpose-driven model, reinventing how we do business,” the brand stated in a release. Importantly, it also outlines the brand’s actions beyond the product itself: Chloé now has a board of external experts to review and approve its plans, and it is creating sustainability goals for employees across all departments to encourage company-wide engagement. Bellini adds: “B Corp offers us a powerful framework to accelerate and guide this transformation… By becoming B Corp today, we reinforce our commitment to continuously [challenge] ourselves to use our brand and our business as a force for good.” Consider the bar significantly raised.

This article first appeared on Vogue.com.