A large orange duck suspended two metres above the ground like a kind of idol, approached by a trail of light along which the Save the Duck collection unfolds: from the classic down-free puffer jackets to new clothing pieces made from cruelty-free materials with no animal-derived ingredients — no feathers, no wool, no leather. This is how the Milan shop presents itself, the Italian brand's first single-brand store, a space that is also a concentration of interesting ideas to reflect on. "In our creative vision the brand has become a movement, the jacket a superhero costume, the sales assistant an ambassador and the customer a secret agent," explains Antonio Pisanò, visionary architect at the studio Marcel Mauer, who worked on the project together with communications agency Futerra, both with a long track record in sustainability.

Save the Duck has always made irony a key ingredient in communicating its message, starting with the logo depicting a duck walking away whistling, a bead of sweat on its brow after narrowly escaping being plucked.

Sustainability for Save the Duck

"We save animals, we save geese, that's what we do," explained Nicolas Bargi, CEO of Save the Duck, paraphrasing the brand's name. "Obviously it's not possible to think about saving animals while polluting the environment, so we try to do our best on that front too." But Bargi's reflections reveal that the work is anything but simple: "We like to talk openly about what goes into our products," he says. "Sustainability is a complex concept and within it you find contradictions, so each person will decide which product they prefer and why." The Save the Duck collection does indeed comprise several lines, each with a different soul. Alongside the classic line with the orange logo — which uses virgin PET to make the padding — there are garments bearing the green logo, made using 95 per cent recycled plastic bottles. "This represents a higher level of sustainability, one that looks towards an ideal oil-free society in which we would no longer find virgin PET, which is a refining by-product and one of the main raw materials in the basic collection." Work is also under way on a fully organic, plant-based product, while there is already a line for sea lovers, identified by a light blue badge, which uses a fabric produced from fishing nets recovered from the ocean. "We let the consumer choose, according to their own sensibility, from a range of products that are always and in any case animal-free."

Sustainability as an ethical and business objective

As so often happens, everything began in a moment of difficulty. Coming to terms with the crisis, Bargi looked for a niche with no competitors. He thought back to an article he had read about new trends and the fact that young consumers had started demanding sustainability. His experience in the mountains had also taught him that down kept you warm but wasn't breathable, and that research and technology were needed to produce a good product. On one thing he had no doubts: he did not want a product made from animal-derived materials.

"It was all quite difficult, because I was going in the opposite direction to everyone else and there was absolutely no guarantee I would be lucky," says Bargi, who grew up in a family with a very long tradition in textiles. "But I thought there was a percentage of people who thought like me, and in the end I created an alternative product that is now unique on the market," he adds. "It was tough, more so back then than now: finally, these days, I'm riding my own wave."

The orange badge, clearly visible on the garments, is also a declaration of commitment: "I tend to be anti-logo, but I realised that the only logos that will survive are those that represent a message someone can identify with," says Bargi, recounting how his journey with the brand began. "So with this badge, which looks almost like a road sign, I'm targeting precisely those people who, like me, have a certain kind of conscience."

Save the Duck's products appear to meet every desirable criterion: they are cruelty-free, reasonably priced, made with an eye to the environment, using technical and durable materials, in keeping with a philosophy of making a garment that lasts a long time — even if that translates into fewer pieces sold. "It simply isn't true that clean materials are excessively more expensive than others," says Bargi. This naturally prompts the question of how this is possible and why everyone doesn't follow his example. "Of course it takes the will to earn the right amount and to put a product on the market at the right price." And it also requires a strong dose of organisation. Save the Duck produces in China, because it believes that is where the best and most innovative factories are — ones capable of meeting specific production volumes and quality standards. "To those who criticise us for this choice, we reply by saying that we know how we produce and how much we consume, because we have everything mapped out."