Sustainability: Is it Redefining the Notion of Luxury?

By Miguel Angel Gardetti

This book presents and analyzes aspects that, within the framework of luxury, have been or are currently being redefined by sustainability considerations. It also presents and reviews cases from industry and entrepreneurs in connection with this ongoing redefinition process.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Springer
• Release date: Dec 6, 2019
• ISBN: 9789811520471

Book preview

Environmental Footprints and Eco-design of Products and Processes

Series Editor

Subramanian Senthilkannan Muthu

Head of Sustainability - SgT Group and API, Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Indexed by Scopus

This series aims to broadly cover all the aspects related to environmental assessment of products, development of environmental and ecological indicators and eco-design of various products and processes. Below are the areas fall under the aims and scope of this series, but not limited to: Environmental Life Cycle Assessment; Social Life Cycle Assessment; Organizational and Product Carbon Footprints; Ecological, Energy and Water Footprints; Life cycle costing; Environmental and sustainable indicators; Environmental impact assessment methods and tools; Eco-design (sustainable design) aspects and tools; Biodegradation studies; Recycling; Solid waste management; Environmental and social audits; Green Purchasing and tools; Product environmental footprints; Environmental management standards and regulations; Eco-labels; Green Claims and green washing; Assessment of sustainability aspects.

More information about this series at http://​www.​springer.​com/​series/​13340

Miguel Angel Gardetti

Sustainability

Is it Redefining the Notion of Luxury?

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Miguel Angel Gardetti

Center for Studies on Sustainable Luxury, Buenos Aires, Argentina

ISSN 2345-7651e-ISSN 2345-766X

Environmental Footprints and Eco-design of Products and Processes

ISBN 978-981-15-2046-4e-ISBN 978-981-15-2047-1

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-2047-1

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Preface

Introduction to the Book

¹

Featherstone (2014) argues that luxury has its own dynamism, since luxuries can offer the user enhanced status, through membership of the imagined cultural community that possession involves, but luxury also demands knowledge about how to consume or use its products and services, how to unlock their full potential. The power of luxuries is not just their social exclusiveness and visibility as status symbols, but the image they have of providing sensory fulfilment: the prospect of experiencing new sensations and pleasures.

Wittig et al. (2014) argue that clear definitions of luxury are rare, but most agree that you know when you see it. Luxury is as much about the story and mystique surrounding the product as it is about the product itself. However, according to Campuzano (2017), luxury is everything, whether consumable or not, that goes beyond our daily reality and has a strong symbolic content of personal enjoyment and social admiration.

Luxury is clearly complex. And such complexity can be found in Dr. Silvia Gold’s—shareholder of Argentine luxury brand SOLANTU—definition (in Gardetti 2018: 29): Luxury is pleasure, enjoyment, an experience. It is a combination of wonderful things. Certain connections between people and situations are luxury bonds. I believe in that luxury.

Luxury—besides the above mentioned definitions—is an industry. In conventional economy, luxury goods are defined as those that increase demand when income increases.

Given the economic expansion of the different economic groups that are part of the luxury good offering, the globalisation of the capitalist system, and the democratisation of luxury, the luxury industry is no longer made up of small niche companies as it used to be. It represents a real macroeconomic sector, aiming at big numbers and under the direction of managers.

Many authors have studied the basic aspects of luxury. These arescarcity, uniqueness and exclusivity; excellent quality and savoir fair; innovation; very high price; and ancestral heritage, personal history and legacy . ²

Luxury brands have started to integrate sustainability—some of them, even strategically. This represents a challenge involving the value chain. Historically, luxury has always been closely associated with craftsmanship, excellence and durability. This means to pass down craftsmanship from generation to generation and to value quality over quantity. These values are aligned with sustainability. However, luxury and consumption have been associated with excess over the past few decades.

Luxury brands are positioned to help people protect our fragile planet. They should. When we buy luxury goods, we do not want to be part of any process involving mistreatment of other people. It does not matter what luxury consumers’ tastes are, how much money they have, or whether they like style or not.

Based on the 2016 Predictions for the luxury industry: sustainability and innovation ³ report, Winston (2016) proposes to build sustainability strategies on four pillars. First, the change of regulations restated to the United Kingdom 2015 Modern Slavery Act; second, the change of social norms driven by renowned figures, such as Leonardo DiCaprio and Emma Watson; third, the pressure exerted by the financial community; and, finally, the biophysical constrains which might jeopardise corporate sourcing.

Chapter 1 of this book provides a detailed description of the luxury—sustainability relationship.

And the industry is beginning to understand this relationship, since sustainable development has become more important to luxury brands (Gardetti and Torres 2014). Therefore, for the sake of guiding the reader into careful consideration of this issue, we should analyse if sustainability has an impact on the above basic aspects of luxury (Chap. 2 ). To this end, we conducted a survey—based on a non-statistical sample—among professionals and executives who either work in or belong to the industry organisations. To preserve their identities, they are referred to as follows, stating the country where they do business:

The questions—related to sustainability issue—were sorted in terms of the basic aspects of luxury. Questions are listed in Appendix.

To supplement each basic aspect of luxury and the analysis of respondents’ answers, a mini case will be provided for illustration purposes. Moreover, the Fonderie 47 case—which meets all of the above aspects—will be presented in Chap. 3 , before the final conclusions.

Appendix: Questions

Exclusivity

Luxury is based on objective rarity, but we know that natural resource scarcity is a concern, so could a luxury brand be considered as such if it inefficiently uses natural resources? How should it balance this issue with its survival?

For biodiversity-based products, should a luxury brand adhere to ethical principles? And why?

Are uniqueness and speciality in luxury consumers and potential consumers related to personal sensitivities and values? For example?

Environmental issues and the product journey to consumption is one of the millennials’ greatest concerns, which is, in turn, a great sales potential of the sector. Will luxury have to make its chain transparent and justify the use of environmental resources? Should it communicate so? How?

Quality and Savoir Fair

Is it possible for a luxury brand to reflect its history and origins through transparency and respect? How?

The luxury universe enables to manufacture without times and to use select raw materials. This is a great opportunity to think out of the box, recover and promote cultural, local and our own aspects. Do you think that the luxury universe will be increasing the value of these aspects? How?

The focus on craftsmanship and nuances of details differentiates a luxury product. In this connection, how can the luxury universe preserve ancestral forms of product creation and manufacture?

The industrial production model promotes massification; however, there is