THE DESIGNER BRINGING CLIMATE CONSCIOUSNESS TO HIGH FASHION

A visitor to the Manhattan office of Gabriela Hearst doesn't need to peruse the impeccably well-made clothes to spot proof of the fashion designer's impact."Those recycled cardboard hangers you see?" Hearst says, pointing. "We were one of the first to develop them." Her abhorrence of the plastic kind owes to its frequent fate: the landfill.

Today the designer-who grew up on a ranch in Uruguay and launched her eponymous brand a decade ago-is a prestige player in the world of fashion and embodies the quiet luxury movement. Even more distinctively, Hearst, who served for three changemaking years atop the Parisian luxury house Chloé, is regarded as perhaps the most climate-conscious designer in fashion. She does more than merely buzzy things like using deadstock fabrics (which she does, of course). She uses her position as a business leader to immerse herself in the global climate conversation. In 2023 she spoke at COP28 with environmental and political heavyweights such as U.S. special presidential envoy for climate John Kerry, discussing the promise of fusion energy. Sure, she understands the drape of a sweater, but she might prefer to discuss her (quite nuanced) opinions on alternative energy sources.

Thanks to Hearst's activism, consumers are associating the label with far more than a flawless cashmere coat or her iconic Nina bag. The ideology is beginning to take precedence. "The most rewarding kind of anecdotes," Hearst says, "are when I hear that clients are buying these really beautiful pieces, and when our retail team tries to wrap them up in this beautiful packaging, they say, 'No, thank you, because I know Gabi would prefer us not to take the extra packaging.”

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