Stella McCartney x 886 by The Royal Mint
We launched an exclusive edit with 886 by The Royal Mint at our Summer 2025 runway show during Paris Fashion Week. Inspired by the presentation’s bird theme and ‘Save What You Love’ manifesto, each wearable dove sculpture is cast in gold and silver repurposed from electronic and medical waste. By using second-life materials and keeping the supply chain within the UK, these are amongst the sustainable jewellery pieces in the world.
According to the United Nations’ Global E-waste Monitor, the generation of worldwide e-waste is rising by 2.6 million tonnes every year; a record 62 million tonnes of e-waste was produced in 2022, up 82% from 2010 – only 18% of which is recycled. It is estimated 7% of the world’s gold is in discarded electronics. The UK is the world’s second-largest producer of electronics debris, with an estimated 99% of British circuit-boards currently leaving Britain for the EU and Asia where it is smelted at high temperatures, using significant energy and creating greenhouse gas emissions.
Stella’s Summer 2025 collection’s ‘Save What You Love’ message is inspired by author and birdwatcher Jonathan Franzen’s book The End of the End of the Earth – a celebration of and call to action for birds, crafted without harming a single creature. This theme informed the bird shapes designed and hand-carved in wax by 886 by The Royal Mint’s creative director Dominic Jones in London – rendered in abstracted, modernist dove shapes with a brutalist texture, in collaboration with Stella’s vision.
The edit was then cast at The Royal Mint’s factory in Llantrisant, Wales, where it can process 70 tonnes of electronic waste per week and extract high-quality gold at ambient temperatures using a world-first patented chemistry process that is cost effective and energy efficient. The silver used is pulled from X-rays from British and Irish hospitals, which would otherwise be stored or sent to landfill.
The Royal Mint is actively engaged with major industry bodies to produce the first standard definition of recycled gold, helping to provide clarity to the industry, whilst championing circularity, sustainable supply chains and supporting employment. The company’s dedication to supporting the workforce in Llantrisant, the new plant will provide employment whilst 886 offers a new life to the established skillset of The Royal Mint’s craftspeople by reskilling coin and metal workers in jewellery making.
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