Reviewing the various stages of the product life cycle with a circular economy perspective it is among the Group's priorities in order to minimise the resources used, extend garment lifespan and promote material recovery.
USE OF "PREFERRED" MATERIALS1
For several years, the Group has been introducing into its collections products made with “preferred” materials. “Preferred” are those that aim to have a lower impact compared to the conventional solutions used by the Moncler Group, such as materials that are recycled, organic, from regenerative agriculture or certified according to specific standards.
The journey began in 2019 with the bio-based down jacket, designed with materials of plant and natural origin. The range of garments created with recycled fabrics in the Moncler Grenoble collection continued, with the launch in January 2021 of a selection of “Born To Protect” jackets, made entirely of materials with a lower impact than the conventional materials used by the Brand. In 2022, the Moncler Born to Protect range was expanded to become a total look, including, in addition to jackets, various types of garments and accessories, all made from fabrics and components with a low environmental impact, certified according to specific sustainability standards. In 2023, the Fall/Winter collection continued to evolve: in addition to these fabrics and components, R•DIST down, specifically DIST down recycled through an innovative mechanical process, was used in some down jackets.Since 2023, in addition to focusing on specific projects, the Moncler Group, in line with the commitments made in the 2020-2025 Sustainability Plan, and on the basis of the Raw Material Manual, has been progressively introducing raw materials with a lower impact than the conventional materials used by the Group in the Moncler and Stone Island collections. Through the collaboration of its Design, Fabric Research and Development, Operations and Merchandising teams, and with the involvement of the supply chain, the Group has successfully integrated over 55% of fabrics and yarns made with “preferred” materials into the 2025 collections, thus achieving its pre-established public target. This result was achieved by adopting over 60% recycled nylon, over 50% recycled polyester, over 55% cotton from organic or recycled practices, over 70% certified wool (e.g. the Responsible Wool Standard, Nativa or Sustainawool), 100% certified alpaca (Responsible Alpaca Standard) and 100% certified mohair (Responsible Mohair Standard).
The achievement of these important results was also supported by a comprehensive training programme dedicated to “preferred” materials, which enhanced the internal awareness of the various teams by encouraging greater responsibility across all corporate functions, as well as the collaboration resulting from sharing common objectives linked to the use of raw materials with lower environmental impact. The training content explored the main international certifications (including GOTS, GRS, RWS, OCS, etc.) and the related environmental and social assessment criteria applicable along the supply chain, for both natural and synthetic fibres relevant to the Group’s products.
Since 2021, Stone Island, in addition to materials, has also integrated new treatments into its collection, maintaining the technical and performance aspect of its products but with lower environmental impacts, such as reduced water consumption treatments compared with the conventional solutions in the Soft Shell e.dye® Waterless Colour System™2, as confirmed by experimental data and the Environmental Product Declaration (EPD).
The assessment of the environmental impact of materials and products is a key issue that, for years, the Group has also addressed through Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) analyses, aimed at quantifying the potential impacts throughout the life cycle and based on a structured methodology consistent with the main reference standards, including ISO 14040, 14044 and 14067. To date, about 80% of the Group’s products have been assessed using the LCA methodology.
During the year, in continuity with the path taken, the Group further evolved its approach, with the aim of identifying tools and potential partners capable of supporting an increasingly structured and digitised data collection, while ensuring high flexibility and speed of analysis. This evolution reflects a regulatory context that is undergoing continuous and rapid change, which requires increasingly structured, comparable and verifiable data to support a timely and integrated assessment of environmental impacts in procurement and design choices.
To continue spreading the culture of sustainability and provide technical knowledge to the Sales Assistants, a dedicated training programme has been created with the aim of increasing knowledge in terms of good environmental and social practices and the characteristics, certifications and corporate objectives of the “preferred” materials and components used in the collections. This program involves the entire sales force.
ADOPTION OF RECYCLING SOLUTIONS
One of the phases of the circular economy model to which the Group has devoted particular attention in recent years is the reuse of production scrap materials through more efficient resource management. To this end, the Group actively works at its production sites and with various suppliers, to reduce scrap and waste, and consequently textile waste, by optimising the use and cutting of fabrics, while implementing the infrastructure needed to recycle and maintain the intrinsic value of unavoidable scrap. Through recycling networks, production scrap can be turned into recycled raw materials, driving the production of new materials and contributing to the promotion of a circular economy.
These activities have led to the inclusion in the recycling process of all nylon production scrap generated at the Moncler Group’s direct sites in Italy and Romania. Since 2023, the project has also been extended to the Moncler brand’s outerwear production network, leading to the recycling of more than 55% of total nylon scrap, also in 2025. This was made possible thanks to the collaboration of the Moncler Sustainable Innovation Department, which set the scope, parameters and methods of recycling, and the Operations and Supply Chain Department, which implemented the Nylon Scrap Management Process.
According to the process, during the year nylon scraps were classified and collected by line operators into specific recycling categories, weighed, recorded, stored and sent to the recycler. In order to monitor the correct assignment of nylon scraps to the respective recycling category, the Group carried out physical and process checks at the sites, as well as differential scanning calorimetry analyses performed on a sample basis at third-party laboratories. At the recycler’s site, nylon scrap may undergo unravelling processes or may be subject to shredding, melting, cooling, extrusion and subsequently cutting of the material into chips to be used as a “secondary raw material”.
At Stone Island, the project to recover cotton scraps generated by suppliers during garment production, by subjecting them to a mechanical recycling process, was continued. This process results in yarns containing at least 50% recycled cotton, used to make 10 models, including outerwear, trousers, sweatshirts, t-shirts and sweaters, for the 2026 winter collection. In addition, the finished garments obtained from the recycling of waste materials were treated with a dye based on iron oxides. The entire process was verified by a third-party organisation that validated the recycled content of the materials and their origin from production scraps.
Moncler, again with the aim of reducing production waste, since 2024 has been enhancing the “smart factory” in Trebaseleghe (Padua) by introducing a filtering system designed to optimise the management of processing scraps. This system allows dispersed down to be collected and subjected to a filtering process that removes impurities and makes it usable again.
Thanks to constant collaboration with its suppliers to identify innovative solutions from a circular economy perspective for the business, Moncler has, since 2021, combined its expertise in down with that of a supplier specialised in recycling technologies, resulting in a machine that through an innovative mechanical process, allows for the recycling of DIST down. In 2023, the patenting process was finalised in Italy and also launched at the international level. The initiative, complemented by new collaborations with recyclers active in the various Regions in which the Group operates, has made it possible to send an increasing volume of down from Moncler garments to recycling. By 2025, more than 10 tonnes of down had been recycled and certified according to the R•DIST module of the DIST protocol, which defines the requirements necessary to obtain certification for recycled down.
The Moncler Group continues to work on refining the system for selecting and recycling garments that cannot be sold in collaboration with several international companies that are leaders in fabric reuse and recycling practices. Depending on the category, products are recycled and put to various uses, such as the creation of new yarns or components for jackets and the production of furnishings and objects, which have been used at the new Headquarters, for example. In this direction, in 2022 the Moncler Group joined the Re.Crea consortium, under the coordination of the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana. The consortium was founded to organise the management of textile and fashion products at end of life and to promote research and development of innovative recycling solutions. Through participation in industry associations such as the Re.Crea consortium, the Group is aware of the positive contribution it can make both to constructive dialogue with other brands and to the sector on this topic, producing benefits for the environment.
The Group’s commercial strategy is based on the principle of scarcity and, from an operational point of view, on effective inventory management, translating into efficient production planning and the right quantities at the right time and in the right place in order to minimise inventories. This approach, combined with a high level of sell-through, allows to limit the amount of unsold products. In the event that seasonal garments, specifically those that are offered for one season only (which differ from carry-overs, which can be reoffered for several seasons) remain unsold, they are placed in the outlet channel operated by the Company or marketed through “Family and Friends” sales initiatives. In collaboration with some non-governmental organisations (NGOs), some of them are donated to people in difficult situations through the Warmly Moncler programme, designed to protect people from the cold. Lastly, the limited number of remaining products are all recycled through innovative and also experimental processes.
ABILITY TO LAST OVER TIME
Some of the key principles of the circular economy, such as garments’ durability, have always been a part of Moncler's DNA. The high quality of its products and the way they stand above fashion and trends ensure that they have a very long average life. This characteristic was the foundation of the Extra-Life project, a service aimed at giving Moncler jackets a second life by making specific repairs, thanks to an efficient personalised service that can also carry out repairs on damaged fabrics, thus extending the product life. The project is active in all the regions where Moncler operates and, from 2026, will also be extended to the Stone Island brand. This initiative is part of a process of increasing clients’ awareness of how they can contribute to avoiding the environmental impact associated with the production, purchase and disposal of new garments. In terms of how clients should use products in order to increase their ability to last over time, information has also been included on product labels and in the appropriate “composition and care” section of the site that provides guidance on garment care and washing.
In 2025, through this initiative and the other services of the after-sales channel, the Moncler brand handled more than 43,000 requests for repairs of garments used by its clients, equal to about 40 tonnes, 95% of which were fulfilled. All garments that cannot be repaired or returned to clients are recycled.
SEARCH FOR INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS
The Group’s innovation journey is based on an open innovation model that encourages the exploration and development of ideas, solutions, skills, processes and materials, in collaboration with universities, innovation centres and suppliers of different sectors, as well as accelerator hubs and research bodies. For this reason, the Group, which aims for continuous improvement, invests in research and development every year in order to explore and identify solutions with less environmental impact, including those related to packaging, “preferred” materials and circularity.The Sustainable Innovation team, among its various activities, also works closely with the Operations and Supply Chain teams in identifying partners in the various Regions that can provide the most innovative, cutting-edge techniques for recycling the main product categories. At the same time, with the Sustainability Unit, it takes part in working groups with external organisations to identify circularity solutions aimed at reducing the impact of materials.
In this regard, specific projects and programmes are included. As an example, in 2025, in the context of the new Moncler Headquarters in Milan, designed to high environmental standards, the Sustainable Innovation team collaborated with several external partners to create materials that find new life by transforming into functional elements, some of which are patented. These include: the carpet and the bases of the office chairs are partly made from nylon production waste and the sound-absorbing panels, some cabinets and desks contain recycled textile fibres, while some external flooring is made from recycled shoe soles.