Situation

A major house of brands hired a CEO who realized the company was lagging behind in all aspects of sustainability. How might Blu Skye help the leadership team understand sustainable value and develop a bold plan to quickly learn from leading competitors and leap-frog to the front of the pack?

Goal

Design and execute a leapfrog strategy. 

Our Role

Assess

Conducted leadership readiness and product assessments.

Align

Co-created strategy through a series of working sessions with CEO, the Executive team, and up-and-coming leaders throughout the company. Engaged with sub-brand leaders to rapidly develop sourcing, manufacturing, and product-specific initiatives for next season. Developed governance structure – Sustainable Value Networks – to distinguish and coordinate global, Brand-specific activities.

Execute

Integrated sustainability in new global sourcing strategy and throughout all the brands.

Results

• Certifications in organic materials, recycled polyester and fair trade.

• The most engaged sub-brand leader is now company CEO, demonstrating that leadership in sustainability correlates with business success.

• Despite significant restructuring and senior leader turnover, the leapfrog strategy remained part of the new growth plan.

Feedback

“We worked with Blu Skye to bring teams from across our business together and create a strategy for our sustainability goals. Their perspective and ability to facilitate a collaborative process was paramount in how we were able to set ourselves up for success. The work we did with them is the foundation for what you see today through our ‘re-imagined’ program at J.Crew and ‘do well’ at Madewell.”

— Libby Wadle, CEO of J.Crew Group