In support of its environmental commitments, The Estée Lauder Companies has launched the Responsible Store Design program, which provides a framework for the assessment of new and existing retail stores, and for the design of visual merchandising, across a variety of sustainability-related areas including:
 

• Waste reduction
• Water and energy conservation
• Responsible material sourcing

 
The Responsible Store Design program was developed with the assistance of a sustainability consulting firm with expertise in green building design and reviewed by a third-party to assure its credibility and accuracy.
 
“Sustainability has long been part of our corporate strategy and company culture, and our new Responsible Store Design program is a creative and impactful way to showcase ELC’s sustainability commitments to both our employees and our consumers,” said Al Iannuzzi, Vice President, Sustainability. “We’re excited to launch our branded retail sustainability program and look forward to scaling this work beyond our pilot stores to impact retail operations globally in the future.”

How It Works

To participate in the program, brands must meet all relevant program prerequisites, which vary based on the retail space and store type.
 
For new stores, a scoring system is used based on points, where each individual location is evaluated based on various sustainability efforts across retail design and operations. For existing stores and visual merchandising, a checklist of pre-requisites is used to ensure each location meets our core sustainability requirements. For both new stores and existing stores, these requirements include store build out, energy and water, responsible sourcing of materials, visual merchandising, store operations, and innovation.
 
The program applies to all brands under the ELC umbrella—from Estée Lauder to Aveda and Origins.
 
To date, 6 stores have successfully aligned with the framework as part of the fiscal year 2023 pilot program. Among these is the Origins store in Nanjing Deji Plaza, opened in July 2022, which met all prerequisites and achieved 26 points.
 
Many of the pre-requisites for the program directly correlate to emissions reductions, including reducing energy usage through LED lighting and Energy Star rated equipment, and sourcing low-emissions materials for store design and visual merchandising. Other practices, like waste management and efficient plumbing fixtures, help to better connect these key tenants of ELC’s internal Green Building Standards back to its retail spaces.

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