The full picture came to 1,604 tonnes CO2e, of which 874 tonnes was press travel alone. Inside the scope Versace can actually control, the show measured 51 tonnes, and 60% of that was the convention centre's own energy.
Versace · Allianz MiCo Milano Convention Centre · Milan, Italy · 2024 · Luxury and beauty · Consultancy
Versace asked for an independent read on the sustainability of its Autumn/Winter show and for recommendations that would apply to future shows rather than only to the one reviewed. The commercial reason is reporting and procurement: Capri Holdings has net zero targets, and a luxury house is asked to evidence event impact by its parent reporting, by regulators and by media. The answer has to come from a measured event. Pie Factory did not produce the show. This was consultancy: a gap analysis built from conversations with key stakeholders, questionnaires issued to Versace and its suppliers, and a three day visit to Milan covering preparation, build, full rehearsal, the live show and partial takedown.
Two footprints were built, not one, and the reason is the whole value of the exercise.
The first is the full picture: every emission source associated with the show, including the travel of press, VIPs, very important clients, models, hair and makeup. It came to 1,604 tonnes CO2e. Press travel alone was 874,499kg of it, 54.51% of everything.
The second is the recommended scope. Pie Factory's advice was that only emissions from travel Versace directly paid for should sit inside the final footprint, because the brand's influence over the movement of press, models, VIPs and hair and makeup during a Milan Fashion Week with many competing shows cannot be quantified. On that scope the show measured 51 tonnes.
Fourteen categories were quantified across both. Documents reviewed included guest origin countries for press, VIC and VIP travel, Versace internal transport, supplier logistics, materials, hotel accommodation, hair and makeup origin, model origin, MiCo energy and waste data, collection movement logistics, the catering menu and covers, and the gifting breakdown. Every assumption is declared in an appendix: travel classed by region, hotel carbon from UK government 2023 factors, embodied carbon from the ICE inventory, transfers modelled at 100km on petrol, catering from a cradle to gate online calculator.
Which number is the real one. Draw the boundary wide and the footprint is 1,604 tonnes, dominated by flights Versace neither booked nor paid for, and the data behind that 96% has low accuracy because the information does not exist. Draw it tight and the footprint is 51 tonnes, defensible and actionable, but it omits the largest emissions the show causes in the world. Both are true. Publishing either without the other is misleading, which is why the report contains both and recommends the narrower one for offsetting while keeping the wider one visible.
The second difficulty was that the largest controllable source turned out to be somebody else's. Running the Versace controlled areas of MiCo for three days created over 30.5 tonnes of CO2e, 60% of the in-scope footprint, through thermal energy and electricity governed by a centrally run building management system. For context, an average UK SME emits half that in a year for its whole business. There is very little Versace can do about it beyond choosing venues that can meter accurately.
Recommended scope total: 50,997.88kg CO2e, 51 tonnes. Venue energy 30,594.11kg (59.99%). Employee travel 9,436.18kg (18.50%). Production materials, embodied carbon, 4,982.33kg (9.77%). VIC gift materials 2,171.79kg (4.26%). Versace transfers 1,307.49kg (2.56%). Catering 948.15kg (1.86%). VIC experience 573.68kg (1.12%). Supplier logistics 394.47kg (0.77%). The remainder across employee and guest hotels, MDF recycling, supplier travel and venue waste.
Full picture total: 1,604,356.90kg CO2e. Press travel 874,499.67kg (54.51%). VIC travel 253,867.15kg (15.82%). VIP travel 166,712.26kg (10.39%). Model travel 147,512.20kg (9.19%). Makeup travel 68,402.79kg (4.26%). Hair travel 42,364.95kg (2.64%). Over 96% of the full picture sits outside the recommended scope.
What the show did well, measured: 1.6 tonnes of production materials kept in circulation. Storing the moquette underlay and hanging fabric for reuse avoided nearly 2.5 tonnes, 2,483kg, of CO2e. Partnering with Spazio Meta for carpet reuse avoided over 3.3 tonnes, 3,394kg. Renting the glass for the stage set rather than buying it avoided over 4 tonnes. Zero waste to landfill or incineration from production materials, with everything except the MDF fibreboard reused. 100% local suppliers, all based in Milan or Italy. The venue holds ISO20121, ISO14001, LEED Gold and renewable energy purchase certificates.
Indicative, calculated in house, not independently audited. These are the client's event emissions, quantified by Pie Factory, not a Pie Factory production footprint.