Editor’s Note
As luxury brands face increasing scrutiny over their environmental impact, Chopard offers a compelling case study in sustainable evolution. In this interview, Co-President Caroline Scheufele details the family-owned Maison’s journey from a legacy of craftsmanship to a proactive commitment to ethical sourcing and transparency, demonstrating how heritage and responsibility can coexist in modern luxury.
The History and Core Values of Chopard
Founded in 1860, Maison Chopard is a Swiss company world-renowned for the luxury watches and jewelry it has created for 163 years. As part of its stewardship of the brand and its heritage, the Scheufele family – owners since 1963 – embarked on a mission to make Chopard creations more sustainable. We met with Caroline Scheufele, Co-President of Chopard, to explain how the Maison is paving the way for more sustainable luxury jewelry.
“Maison Chopard was founded in 1860 by Louis-Ulysse Chopard, whose vertical and fully integrated approach to production allowed it to preserve a rich heritage of artisanal know-how. Even today, Chopard is a company owned and managed by the same family, which is rare in modern luxury jewelry. And our jewelers still practice around fifty traditional crafts across three manufacturing sites, with a strong emphasis on internal training and apprenticeships.”
“For us, watches and jewelry are a perpetual extension of the ‘joie de vivre’: we find pleasure in creativity and craftsmanship, as well as in ethics. From a young age, our parents instilled in my brother Karl-Friedrich (with whom I have shared the co-presidency of Maison Chopard since 2001) and me the values of honesty, respect for our teams, and transparency.”
Chopard’s expertise in luxury watchmaking is found in the L.U.C. collection, a set of exceptional mechanical timepieces created for the modern man, as well as in the iconic Happy Diamonds, Happy Sport, and Mille Miglia collections. The Maison is also renowned for its high jewelry creations like the Red Carpet collection, which has been present at the Cannes Film Festival since it became the official partner of the event in 1998.
“Today, these values still characterize our Maison. Moreover, knowing that we place great importance on ethics, sustainability itself has become one of Chopard’s core values – a value that, we believe, will largely shape the future of our sector. Because true luxury involves perfectly understanding the footprint of one’s own supply chain. This approach, combined with the creative boldness of our artisans, has allowed Chopard to pave the way for a new vision of ethical luxury.”
The ‘Journey to Sustainable Luxury’ Program
It has been ten years since Maison Chopard embarked on what it calls a “Journey to Sustainable Luxury.” What prompted you to set up this program?
“In 2012, I was shocked to learn that millions of men, women, and children were working in gold mines, often in dangerous conditions and with no possibility of earning a decent wage. At that moment, I resolved to improve not only our Maison but the entire sector.”
“This resolution led, in 2013, to the launch of our internal multi-year program, the ‘Journey to Sustainable Luxury,’ which obliges us to guarantee responsible sourcing and to support the people working in our supply chain who are too often overlooked. We still have much to do and it will not always be easy, but I am very proud to have set Maison Chopard on this path, to show that it is possible to manufacture luxury jewelry responsibly.”
Balancing Heritage with Sustainability
Like Lombard Odier, Chopard is a long-standing brand with a rich heritage rooted in tradition. Has the weight of this heritage caused difficulties in your journey towards sustainability?
“Chopard is over 160 years old, and changing processes – often established for years – as well as deeply ingrained ways of thinking and working does not happen overnight. This is especially the case in our workshops, where our artisans rightly insist on preserving the traditional expertise required to create the highest quality watches and jewelry.”
“We have been working with some of our partners and suppliers for many years and it takes time to convince them to source materials more responsibly and adopt more sustainable processes. But we have already seen tangible changes since we began our journey.”
“Moreover, as we are an independent company owned and managed by the same family, this allows us to make our own business decisions. It is this independence that has enabled us to take on the challenge of balancing tradition and heritage with sustainability and transparency, both for Chopard and to set an example for the rest of our sector.”
