Zadig & Voltaire Recruits Hélène Jessua to Head Sustainable Development
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PARIS — Zadig & Voltaire has named Hélène Jessua head of sustainable development, reflecting the fashion industry’s increased focus on the environment.
“Her mastery of environmental and social issues in supply chains, her 360-degree vision of matters linked to the evolution of consumption habits and her international culture allows us to write a new, ambitious chapter for the brand and align Zadig & Voltaire’s know-how with the concerns of our times,” said chief executive officer Rémy Baume.
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Jessua, 46, started her career at Carrefour, where she spend a decade in the sustainability department. She then moved to Redcats, a catalogue business that belonged to Kering — at the time known as PPR — where she helped over a dozen labels with their development strategies.
She joined French ReFashion in 2014 as director of the French association that helps textile companies manage stock with an eye to repairing and recycling products. Since 2017, as an independent consultant, Jessua has been advising companies on corporate social responsibility issues.
Under the direction of Baume, who took the helm of the contemporary French fashion label in January 2020, Zadig & Voltaire has been focusing on ecological materials. For the rock-chic label’s spring collection, designer Cecilia Bönström offered a tightly edited lineup of wardrobe staples that included a distressed sweater in recycled cashmere, and for fall, she introduced a vegan handbag.
Zadig & Voltaire is in expansion mode, with an eye on China, where it joined Alibaba’s Luxury Pavilion on Tmall last June.
The label aims to open larger stores in the future so it will have more space for accessories: small leather goods, shoes, jewelry, perfume and watches.
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