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Hotels are making dramatic progress in sustainability as they realize its compatibility with luxury and cost savings, global consultant Ashlan Cousteau says. Trends range from organic cocktails to in-room monitoring of water and electricity use.

At Milan Fashion Week, Greenpeace activists opened the show by unfurling an enormous banner calling for an end to the toxic luxury industry. 

Global fashion brand Tommy Hilfiger has unveiled plans to launch a range of 100% recycled jeans this spring, in what it claims is a first for the luxury fashion sector.

Paris-based Kering, which owns luxury brands Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Balenciaga and Alexander McQueen, among many others, is working on a 10-year sustainability plan that includes specific green standards for its supply chains. "When you are in the luxury sector, you have a responsibility because you set the trends," said Marie-Claire Daveu, Kering's chief sustainability officer.

Kering has committed to a science-based goal to cut its direct and indirect emissions by 50% by 2025, becoming the first luxury company to do so. The goal has been verified and approved by the Science Based Target initiative.

Launched by two leather rookies, Billy Tannery is the first ever entirely British goat leather brand. Shocked at learning that almost all goat hides end up in the trash, Jack Millington and Rory Harker, two friends, decided to create a sustainable goat leather brand at home in the UK.

Though efforts in sustainable fashion production continue to expand and evolve, the beauty industry has been slow to follow, particularly when it comes to fragrance.

Exposure to lead, mercury and organophosphate pesticides has led Americans to lose a collective 41 million IQ points, according to a study by a Harvard neurologist, and other common chemicals could be responsible for everything from ADHD to autism-spectrum disorders. Researchers compare the problem to climate change and say it's important for regulators to act even before the development of clear scientific evidence for safe exposure levels. "We don't have the luxury to sit back and wait until science figures out what's really going on," says environmental health researcher Philippe Grandjean

Sustainable packaging and design is helping beverage brands promote themselves as eco-friendly without appearing less luxurious, write Fiona Bennie and Barbra Wright. Recyclable packaging can help, but it's only a first step. "[I]f we consider packaging in isolation from the rest of the system we will only ever manage to create minimal impact both financially and sustainably," they write.

Stella McCartney, long an advocate for ethical fashion, has been busy over the last several months trying to drive the industry away from a take-make-waste model; the luxury label recently announced plans to use Parley for the Oceans' recycled plastic yarn and Aquafil's ECONYL® fiber in its line of shoes, accessories and outerwear. In its latest bid to call attention to the cause, the vegetarian brand has shot its entire Autumn/Winter 2017 campaign on a landfill site on the Eastern Coast of Scotland.

Guests at Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas' properties can further their education in sustainability and local ecosystems through a new program called Earth Lab. Workshops and videos will further the company's noted commitment to wellness and environmental care.