2015
Gabriela Hearst launches her first designer womenswear collection for Fall/Winter with two main values - Long Term and Sustainability. A brand that reflects a slower pace and process: where tradition influences more than trend, where there is a purpose to every piece, where it’s all in the details.“I wanted to create a brand that had that feeling of things that are well made and long lasting.”
The company began a partnership with Manos del Uruguay, a 50 year old non-profit women’s cooperative that empowers rural women who are in charge of the production of Gabriela Hearst hand-knits.
2016
Gabriela Hearst introduces Handbags. In the interest of maintaining her values of sustainability, she decided to produce the bags in limited quantities and available only through direct to consumer channels.
2017
Gabriela Hearst presents her first runway show using about 30% deadstock fabrics “I like the idea that we’re doing our part by not creating something completely new.”
The company introduced TIPA flexible packaging, which offers bio-based alternatives to traditional plastic packaging that are fully compostable within six months. TIPA was founded in 2010 by Daphna Nissenbaum and Tal Neuman to address the plastic waste crisis. The flexible packaging has the durability, transparency and shelf life of conventional plastics, yet has the same end-of-life as organic matter, returning to nature with no harmful impact to the environment.
Gabriela Hearst introduces a special silver fabric that prevents cell phone radiation from reaching women’s reproductive organs. Jackets and coats are lined with this silver textile.
The use of only certified natural fibers and the utilization of leftover materials like cashmere and silk from previous collections is implemented for designs.
For the Resort 18 collection, a brand new fabrication was introduced: aloe-treated linen, a much more complete fiber than cotton because it absorbs less water during production. At the same time, its flax seed can be used for nutritional value.
2018
For the Spring Summer 2019 collection, Gabriela Hearst introduced piqué and twill suits spun from the wool of her family’s six-generation merino sheep farm in Uruguay. This process took a year and a half to execute.
In April 2018, on Earth Day, Gabriela made a commitment to reduce the amount of non-recycled plastic and replace it with compostable packaging for front and back of house.
In November 2018, Gabriela Hearst opened its flagship store at 985 Madison Avenue in New York. The store was built with a conscientious approach, without the use of synthetics or chemicals, using natural, non-treated reclaimed oak, built-in light occupancy sensors throughout the space to reduce electrical consumption and a filtered water fountain that eliminates the need for plastic bottles. 90% of the material waste generated during construction was recycled.
2019
By April 2019, Gabriela Hearst achieved the goal to be plastic-free for both front and back of house with the use of compostable TIPA packaging and introducing recycled cardboard hangers.
In August 2019, Gabriela Hearst opened its London store in Mayfair, at 59 Brook Street, designed by Norman Foster. It was sustainably built without using any new materials. Simultaneously, Gabriela Hearst opened a shop-in-shop at Harrods, also designed by Norman Foster.
For the Spring Summer 2020 collection, shown in New York in September 2019, Gabriela Hearst produced the first ever carbon neutral runway show.
2020
Gabriela Hearst sets a goal to use 50% non-virgin materials by 2020.
In February, Gabriela Hearst announces its partnership with EON, a leading digital identity platform for the fashion and apparel industry, connecting products throughout their lifecycle by unlocking visibility, traceability, and insight through a QR code. The goal is to provide customers with more transparency by sharing the supply chain and giving them access to learn about their garment’s journey.
The premise of the Gabriela Hearst Autumn Winter 2020 collection was to devise further techniques to work with waste that would not compromise the quality or aesthetic values of the company.
Antique remnants of Turkish rugs were pieced together for outerwear, existing pieces of cashmere outerwear from prior collections were deconstructed and re-assembled with blanket stitch, and recycled cashmere was reprinted and repurposed. This idea permeated both the collection and creative direction of the show.
Recycled shredded paper bales from a recycling facility in Brooklyn were used as set design. The paper bales were kept in their original size and condition and then returned to the recycling company.
Gabriela Hearst presents her Spring Summer 2021 collection for the first time at Paris Fashion Week, at the Ecole Des Beaux-Arts courtyard. This heavily handcrafted collection was comprised of 60% deadstock materials and was a carbon neutral runway show.
2021
In January, Hearst designed the dress worn by First Lady Dr. Jill Biden for the 2021 presidential inauguration: an ivory dress representing the new administration’s message of unity with each of the fifty state’s flowers.The materials used were existing available fabrics to minimize the impact on the environment.
For its Spring Summer show, Gabriela Hearst worked with the Navajo community bringing the Americas craft together in a collection along the work of Uruguay and Bolivia, through the work of the non-for profits they work with. In October, Gabriela is selected among the fifteen Leaders of Change at the Fashion Awards 2021 as one of the five Honourees in the Environment category. In December, Gabriela Hearst was nominated by the Financial Times as one of the 25 most influential women of the year.
2022
In November 2022, Gabriela Hearst participated at the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (CoP27) in Sharm El-Sheikh (Egypt) to discuss the critical role fusion power has in the fight against climate change.
2023
On November 9, 2023, Gabriela Hearst opened its first store and flagship on the West Coast on Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills, designed by Foster + Partners led by Norman Foster and featuring a bespoke ‘Nomad’ furniture collection by Benji Gavron and Antoine Dumas of Gavron Dumas Studio. The furniture and fixtures were sustainably made from fallen Western Sycamore that grew within the city of Los Angeles and were Previously designed to be turned into wood chips. Moving away from the current standard pre-fabrication technologies, and echoing its Ethos of craftsmanship, the brand chose to build the vaulted ceiling that envelops the space with traditional materials and manual techniques including time-consuming hand-application of finishings in Roman Clay, an eco-friendly plaster.
In December 2023, Gabriela Hearst participated in the “An Inclusive Fusion Energy Future” panel, part of the Global Energy Forum, at the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (CoP28) in Dubai (United Arab Emirates). At this event hosted by the Atlantic Council, the U.S. officially launched its first international fusion strategy, presented by John Kerry, United States Special Presidential Envoy for Climate.