Scandi-chic label GANNI doesn’t identify itself as sustainable but as an environmentally-driven brand constantly striving to become its most responsible version. Whether incorporating plant-based innovations or tackling radical supply chain transparency, GANNI is on a continuous journey to create positive change at the industry level.

In 2020, GANNI launched its Responsibility Game Plan, consisting of 44 goals across People, Planet, Product and Prosperity. To this day, the label has already achieved 33 of them, along with many other sustainability milestones available to explore in its yearly Responsibility Report. Of course, this hasn’t been an easy journey — as we all know, sustainability comes in many different forms and challenges.

Specifically, the Danish brand found leather to interfere with its environmental commitments. Upon evaluating the dimension of the company’s carbon emissions, GANNI noticed leather goods accounted for the majority of them. As a result, the imprint decided to sign up for Fur Free Retailer in 2021 and seeks to phase out virgin animal leather entirely by 2023. Despite leather alternatives seeming expensive and often a let-down in the beginning, GANNI founders Ditte and Nicolaj Reffstrup didn’t stop until they succeeded in their quest of searching for efficient, plant-based substitutes.

With a latent mission of reducing all emissions by 50 percent by 2027, Ganni keeps showcasing its resilient commitment to all things ethical. Since 2021, GANNI has notably introduced leather alternatives such as Mylo, created from Mycelium or mushroom roots, and Vegea, made from grape waste, to its product range. The brand has now incorporated a new material into its impressive portfolio of hero accessories: Ohoskin leather.

During the imprint’s Autumn/Winter 2023 runway show, which was part of Copenhagen Fashion Week, GANNI introduced a new vegan bag made from 48% of byproducts of orange and cactus farming, as well as 52% of recycled plastics. Dubbed, The GANNI Bou bag, the accessory was produced in collaboration with award-winning leather alternative Italian startup Ohoskin. The bag presents a playful hexagonal shape inspired by the Copenhagen way of life and is set to arrive in a wide variety of colors: red, black, beige, burnt orange, burgundy and pale blue.

As per the label, the Bou bag is designed to be a staple you can take to many different occasions: “It’s a bag you bring everywhere. Whether it’s a bike ride, coffee run, workout or dinner out, the GANNI Bou bag is a committed companion that you can love forever and carry with you anywhere. Self-expression, craftsmanship and wearability are inherent to the Scandinavian mindset, and the bag is designed with those principles.”

Ditte Reffstrup, Creative Director, GANNI, commented: “This bag is what GANNI is all about. We really wanted to design something that speaks to a modern luxury mindset — a unique design that still carries the GANNI DNA, something that feels easy and playful but still sophisticated. A bag made to follow you everywhere. I’m also so proud to be launching this silhouette in a new innovative fabric that brings us one step closer to becoming free from virgin leather by 2023. It’s such an exciting moment for us, and I can’t wait to see people make it part of their everyday life.”

With prices ranging from $425 to 525 USD, we can expect the new GANNI Bou bag to hit the shelves later this year, as well as appearing on the brand’s website – a space where the Danish label provides an extensive range of information regarding its responsible practice.

Elsewhere, in other Scandinavian sustainability news, purveyors of low-key contemporary cool Our Legacy have released a set of deadstock crochet bags, and Stockholm’s Benim Denim is on a mission to do the circularity job so thoroughly that they cease operations altogether.