Socially responsible business
“In the face of the health crisis, Hermès reinforced its role as a socially responsible group, supporting its employees, partners and suppliers, as well as the public.”
Axel Dumas, Executive Chairman of Hermès
Ambition
Sustainable development at Hermès stems from a humanistic vision and is rooted in harmonious long-term relationships with its employees and shareholders and, more broadly, with its stakeholders. Hermès has a role as a corporate citizen in the places where it operates, contributing to the economic, social and cultural vitality of these regions. This ambition is accompanied by a highly humanistic desire to give back to the world some of what it has been given.
Organisation
The strategy for responsibility towards the regions where Hermès operates, in particular concerning the choice of locations and development activities, is supervised by the executive Committee. In addition, each executive vice-president for its activities is responsible for implementing actions which have a positive impact on society in their area. A committee, led by a member of the executive Committee and the president of the Fondation d’entreprise Hermès, oversees and coordinates all of the maison’s initiatives to make a positive impact on society.
Commitments
As a committed and responsible group, Hermès is vocal about its desire to help make the world a better place thanks to numerous local, national and international initiatives and partnerships. The aim of these activities is to support economic activity and bring benefits to the local community, whether they be social, fiscal, environmental or cultural.
- To give back to the world some of what Hermès has been given, through generous acts of financial support and skills development undertaken by the group’s entities, including its distribution subsidiaries, and through the Fondation d’entreprise Hermès.
- To contribute to reflection on civil society and academic research by taking part in multi-stakeholder initiatives.
- To participate in advocacy for alternative modes of production: handicrafts, lower intensity agriculture, local roots.
Responsible initiatives
Since 2012, Hermès has been a partner of the Livelihoods Carbon Funds (LCF), which aim to sustainably improve the living conditions of disadvantaged communities by developing large-scale projects that have a real impact on climate change (www.livelihoods.eu).
“Our gestures define us and show who we are.” A commitment to this unifying statement drives everything we do at the Fondation d’entreprise Hermès. Put another way, individual actions nurture growth and well-being for us all. The Foundation puts in place the necessary conditions for the transmission of skills and know-how, the creation of new work across the arts, of social solidarity and the protection of our environment, through several programmes designed to accompany its beneficiaries as they build tomorrow’s world. Together, these actions reflect our fundamental aims: to cultivate shared intelligence, harness progress for the greater good, and enshrine humanitarian values at the heart of today’s society. Established in 2008, the Fondation d’entreprise Hermès is presided over by Olivier Fournier and directed by Laurent Pejoux.
Local roots
60production and training sites in France
62%of the group’s employees is in France
74%of objects are made in France (including 100% of leather goods)
Long-term relationships
Hermès maintains special relationships with leading schools (Sciences Po Paris, HEC, ESSEC, Design Fashion Luxury, etc.) and secondary schools and colleges specialising in vocational qualifications, for example in leather goods: Jean Rostand (Angoulême), Boismard (Brionne), Boudard (Montbéliard), Jean Monnet (Paris), Charles Péguy (Eysines) and Les Huisselets (Montbéliard).
In 2020, Hermès signed a partnership with Sciences Po Paris to participate in their chair for sustainable development and climate change, in particular to study in depth subjects related to local economic development and social inclusion.
The group has made a long-term commitment to using local fabrics as well as local suppliers and partners (68% of purchases are made in France and Hermès has worked with its main suppliers for an average of 19 years).
Solidarity actions
Solidarity actions
In 2023, more than 388 solidarity operations were carried out to help local communities around the world.
In 2023, the group has made another five-year commitment in an amount of €63 million for the actions of the Fondation d’Entreprise Hermès.
2.8 million people impacted by Livelihoods projects worldwide.
Socially responsible business
In 2023, €6.7 million in total purchases from socially supported organisations (EAs and ESATs).
In 2023, the group paid €1,623 M in taxes, a tax rate of 27.8%.
An inspiring initiative
With manufacto, craftspeople are returning to school to share their métiers
Manufacto, the Skills Academy is a programme which enables school pupils to discover craft techniques and gestures through the step-by-step creation of a contemporary object.
Manufacto was launched by the Fondation d’entreprise Hermès in 2016, with a pilot scheme at schools administered by the Paris Board of Education, in partnership with the Compagnons du Devoir et du Tour de France, the École Camondo (Paris) and the Villa Noailles (Hyères). Throughout the school year, pupils aged 9 to 16 take part in practical, technical workshops, working with specialist activity leaders – an artisan, class teacher and classroom assistant – to make their own, hand-crafted objects.
Building on the programme’s success so far, Manufacto extended its reach to 89 schools in 2023-2024, involving 2,150 pupils in the following boards of education across France: Amiens, Besançon, Bordeaux, Créteil, Lille, Lyon, Nice, Normandy, Occitanie, Orléans-Tours, Reims, La Réunion, Paris and Versailles.
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Discover how social responsibility part in our strategy "All artisans of our sustainable development".
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