“This mission is not something that belongs only to us,” says Lorenzo Bertelli, speaking just before heading to 2025’s United Nations Ocean Conference, which is currently underway in Nice. The Prada Group CMO and head of corporate social responsibility (CSR) went on to co-sign the creation of an independent fund linked to its flagship ocean education programme, Sea Beyond—a fund to which Prada is committing an initial €2 million.
Since 2019, Prada has dedicated a percentage of revenues from sales of its Re-Nylon collection to funding Sea Beyond, which it developed in partnership with Unesco’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (Unesco-IOC). In that time, Prada says Sea Beyond has exposed 35,000 children across multiple nations to ocean education initiatives, including the launch of an outdoor education project for pre-schoolers in Venice and the purposing of a historic sailing boat, the Cassiopea, as a floating oceanographic research education facility (it is currently docked in Beaulieu-sur-Mer, near Nice).
Now, the two parties want to open up Sea Beyond to any other company and individual that might feel inclined to stand alongside it and take part—in effect, deferring their leadership of the programme in order to expand its reach. “It is becoming an initiative where more entities from the private and public sectors can work together. Today is the moment where Unesco is presenting [the fund] to all the government entities [at the UN conference] in order to make them aware, and to, we hope, enlarge the scale of the undertaking,” says Bertelli.
Prior to yesterday’s announcement, Vogue connected with Bertelli to talk through the move. Naturally, the conversation began with the subject at hand, before drifting far and wide. Here is an edit of that discussion.
So you are announcing the creation of a new, open-access fund to broaden the existing work of Sea Beyond.
It is a fund that will receive some of the proceeds that come from Prada Re-Nylon for the Sea Beyond collection sales. This fund is going to be called ‘Sea Beyond—Multi-partner Trust Fund for Connecting People and Ocean’, but its governance will be independent of us. We will have one voting right as will all the other members of the fund’s executive committee, its main governing body. Everyone who makes a contribution will have a say. In this way, it’s going to be an independent fund… One important thing is that with this fund, we are making it clear that it is not something that belongs only to us.
You are making this first deposit of €2 million in the fund. Have you already approached other entities you work with to tell them about this initiative and maybe encourage them to become members?
Absolutely. I can’t disclose who, because it is for them to disclose. But absolutely. Sea Beyond has always been an initiative open to third parties, but maybe the reason that we were leading it was making, if not a barrier, then a reason to prevent others from joining. So, for it to be independent is the best way, I think, for it to attract as much capital as possible. And help shape the project and vision for what we have been trying to do.
Luxury is a competitive industry, as you know, so even when members of that industry are engaged in philanthropy or CSR work such as this, I get the impression that they sometimes cannot shake that competitive mindset. They become territorial about ‘owning’ whatever category of work they are engaged in, so that even when the cause in question is for the common good, they want to be the only brand seen to be undertaking it. I used to see this a lot with brands working through sustainability initiatives.
Can I tell you something? It is still very competitive today. There are some very important groups, not necessarily in fashion, who were not happy about having us. And they actually excluded us from some charity opportunities just because they feel it is a competition. To me, this is weird. Because there can be no competition in sustainability. So if in this fund we were to be joined by Vuitton, or Gucci, or any of our competitors, I would just be happy, because this mission is for everybody.
Human nature is hard to shake…
But you can’t be egoistic when it is about sustainability.
Your business card is printed with two titles: as well as Prada’s head of CSR, you are also group chief marketing officer. So when you make these investments in the ocean…
Hold on: we are not investing in the ocean, we are investing first and foremost in people. The ocean is the subject, but we are investing in people’s minds, spirits and hearts.
This is the scope of it: in sustainability, there are many people looking at short-term impacts, things like decarbonisation, waste reduction, water-use reduction, sustainable products — and that’s all correct and makes sense. But ultimately, if people’s mentalities [about the environment] do not change, then we will not see a corresponding change in consumer behaviour. So in order to help this change in consumer priorities and mindset, we need to think about education, and look forward 20, 30 years.
Politicians, most of the time, their horizontal landscape is understandably limited to the length of their mandate. So we are maybe losing, also in the public space, strategic long-term thinking and planning. And education is the subject with the widest horizontal time frame. We want to invest in that long term — to help explain how human behaviour that [preserves the environment] is also convenient and beneficial to the people who enact it. That is the most important thing.
CSR sustainability activities undertaken by private companies generate a reputational halo effect. What are the benefits to Prada that you have seen since Sea Beyond began?
Look, I think this is a problem with the conversation today: that ideologically, sustainability has become like a religion. In a way, there is too much ‘sustainability’. But the truth is, we have the knowledge, the technology and the capability to live in balance with the environment in a way that allows us to flourish and for the environment to be healthy. Of course, if humankind was taken out of the environment, that would fix the problem, but I don’t think we want that. So what is critical to understand is this: what is the impact of my action—and the real cost of my action? To give the right value to the goods we buy, and to give our actions the right value, and to understand that everything is connected and therefore there is a cost, and a consequence, to every action. So we need to become conscious of our actions and their impacts in order to live harmoniously within the environment.
This doesn’t mean that we should not buy, that we should not do what we are used to doing, but maybe we should do it in a different way, from a different perspective. We know that if I buy a €5 T-shirt there are probably some irresponsible practices in terms of production, and there is impact in some other part of the world for families, and the environment, and so it’s not sustainable. Because something else is paying for the cost that you have not paid. In the paradigm of the elements we use to value goods or products today, we’re not factoring in everything.
So, how do you flip sustainability from being a selfless value to being a selfish value, one that is culturally inherent?
It’s a matter of communication—I think communication is the biggest challenge. Maybe if we say this €5 T-shirt has a negative impact on other people, consumers won’t let that obstruct them from buying the T-shirt. But if you say it is going to affect you negatively—because of the chemicals in the fabric that damage your skin—then they will listen. You know, I think there is this perception that convenience for yourself is something to be guilty about, but I don’t think this is an absolute dichotomy—convenience for yourself can also be convenient for others, and for everyone.
Drifting from the subject but staying adjacent to communication, there is a broad suspicion, especially among younger consumers at the moment, about the inflation in the cost of luxury goods over the last few years.
Our journey is to find balance between the environment and our capitalistic approach. We cannot pretend to maintain the same kind of volume as in the past. We cannot pretend to be able to buy everything. We cannot pretend that people will buy without honesty and transparency. We are in the process of balancing consumer expectations and education about the cost of goods because they were not sold at the right price… so we are going to have to adjust our message and the values of our content in order to explain the prices to the perception of the consumer. Transition and evolution can be painful. And that’s normal.
Last year, you opened a factory in Torgiano, Umbria, specialising in knitwear, which became the latest addition to Prada Group’s 20-plus portfolio of manufacturing facilities across Italy—where more than 50,000 small companies engage in luxury manufacturing. In terms of that paradigm of values, I increasingly see an unarticulated overlap between ‘quality’ in the traditional sense—of design, fabrication, and materials—with also quality of life, both for those who produce and consume, and everyone else, in terms of social and environmental impact. But even traditional material ‘quality’ seems to be an intangible and challenging value for big luxury to communicate: the quality of a bag or a garment is not widely very clearly understood.
No, it’s not clear. And that’s not the consumer’s fault. That’s our fault. So what we can do is invest in changing the mindset of the future consumer. In the end, it is not politicians but the economy that is telling us, ‘Guys, you have to do something.’ So we have to take this journey.
Trusting in provenance is a key part of accurately assessing quality, and the Aura Blockchain Consortium, of which Prada was a co-founder alongside LVMH and Cartier, is part of that. It has gone a little quiet recently—what is its progress?
It is being implemented by the companies in their supply chains. Since the end of last year, 100 per cent of our production has had the blockchain tag. But until our warehouses rotate and dispatch [everything produced previously], we cannot categorically state we are 100 per cent online. This is what every company is in the process of doing, some more advanced than others. But at the moment, this is more like a technological solution than a sustainability solution in the sense that it gives you the opportunity to track and trace steps of production, but if the information at step zero is wrong, you’re gonna bring that wrong information all along the blockchain. And this is a good question and a point of discussion. Because people might think that Aura is synonymous with sustainability or transparency, but this is still in the hands of the brands.
But the information does indicate sustainability factors in a quantifiable way, assuming that step zero information is correct?
Yes. But the point is we don’t want to add that within the scope of the consortium because then you’ll end up in a typical consortium situation, which is that it self-certifies. And that’s not the right way to have governance: this should be done by a third party. Otherwise, you have a conflict of interest.
Still, the blockchain certifications, if based on truth, should be valuable within luxury—especially at a time when, due to wider geopolitical issues, we have seen widespread assertions that luxury goods labelled ‘Made in Italy’ are in fact made offshore and only finished here, if that.
All of this is part of a fake news war, I think. There is part of it that is true: the supply chain is all around the world. And any idea that there is no value in China’s manufacturing is completely wrong. By the way, we do not produce any bags in China. But the point is not that. It’s that this negative idealisation and nationalisation of manufacturing is wrong. Because I can make a long list of skills in which the Chinese are super skilled and advanced, far more so than other countries. And Italy, for sure, is good at some things too. So why should we not be proud and talk about it positively?
I hope that one unintended positive consequence, more generally, is that today there is so much fake news that I’d like to think that where people once could believe anything, they are going to become much more selective and discriminating about what they believe in the future. Also, with artificial intelligence. So in the future, I think we’re going to go from believing everything we see to believing almost nothing. Because when so many things can be faked so easily, people will be obliged to investigate for themselves.
So the value of truth will increase because of its rarity? This could be good news for journalists…
I think so, absolutely. And something very interesting related to blockchain is that every video journalist or photojournalist will be able to have the time and geolocation in blockchain to ensure that the picture cannot be faked or modified in any way, because it is certified.
So, the truth—or at least the source material—becomes non-fungible. Can you talk about Versace? Since you announced the acquisition last month, how has the atmosphere settled within Prada Group? And how are you approaching the show in September?
Well, first we have to make the closing. Because, for now, we are technically in charge of nothing at Versace. Until the closing, we might be gathering information, but essentially, we are nothing more than a kind of spectator. So that could be the end of July or later. And as for the show, even if we have an opinion, right now, that is not up to us.
But there must be an expanding consideration in Prada Group of this upcoming chance to express its production through the prism of another fashion identity and voice.
One of the reasons we believe Versace is an opportunity is that its identity is very different to that of the brands currently in our portfolio. And it is very important, if you are a group, that your brand identities do not overly overlap.
What’s your feeling about live fashion shows? I read a CMO in fashion recently characterising shows as ‘content engines’, which made me flinch a little, but was also something I absolutely recognise from how shows have changed, even in the last five years.
Well, I think it’s about what you expect from the show. So your expectations define the scope of what you think the show is for. However, for me, the show is really relevant to get to the core of the fashion, and to drive the conversation on — which are the trends, what is the direction? And this maybe speaks to only a small part of the audience. And then, you can use the show also to give a taste to a much wider audience…There are more mediums than ever today, and you need to use them all in a practical way. But I will say that it is much harder to make a good dish with many ingredients than it is with a few. And today, you have so many ingredients it becomes much more challenging to cook something good!
You have spent years competing as a rally driver. So, to end with a slightly cheesy question, what have you taken out of that sport that you apply in your roles at Prada? Something related to navigation, maybe, or planning, or risk?
From my philosophy studies to my competing in sport, and everything else in my life, I think I bring it all into this job and my way of working. Because, in the end, it is our lives that define ourselves, so even if you do not want to bring your experience from the past into your present, in the end, you always will.
This story was originally published on Vogue.com
