Why luxury fashion is walking the runway in recycled-plastic heels

From crocodile skins to cashmere wool, the luxury industry is under more pressure than ever before to prove its sustainable credentials

On a full moon at high tide each spring, schools of grunion fish flop out of California’s coastal waters to spawn in the sand.
 
The beaches had a different set of attendees on one misty June evening: an army of spindly young men wearing Saint Laurent’s latest collection, including gauzy button-ups, crystal-studded blazers and pointy leather mules. The models paraded just a few feet from the breaking waves of Malibu’s Paradise Cove as journalists, stylists and celebrity guests flashed their smartphones in appreciation.
 
The grunion were nowhere to be seen, an absence that generated angry complaints and letters