Sustainability is no longer a 'nice-to-have'

Our environment has been steadily degrading over the last decades. Unsustainable resource depletion, energy consumption increase and cumulated pollution have seriously damaged the health of our planet. Indeed, issues such as global warming, deforestation, extreme weather, natural and man-made disasters, biodiversity loss and the upcoming shortage of crucial resources, such as fossil fuels and lithium have resulted in an alarming climate of uncertainty regarding our future.

The raising awareness towards this phenomenon has highlighted our need for sustainable development. Governments and other policy-makers are applying new regulations and scientists are developing eco-friendly resources in order to attain this goal. Furthermore, businesses and industries now need to evolve as they have strongly contributed to overconsumption and environmental damage. The luxury industry has thereby also started altering its business plan in order to promote sustainable development.

The luxury consumers, especially younger generations, are more and more environmentally and socially conscious of what they purchase. Consuming luxury in a more socially aware manner is a trend that is growing in importance (Yeoman, 2010). Consumption of products which are made from animal fur or skin, rare wood, etc. or made by unsustainable companies is now severely criticized by the environmental and animal rights community. For consumers with high need for status, the luxury products not only signal their affluence and special place in society (Han et al, 2010), but also become a conspicuous symbol of altruism, showing they care about the environment (Kapferer & Vincent, 2012 ). For consumers with low need for status, consumption of sustainable luxury goods connects to their own values, hence more meaning.

On the one hand, there are the luxury brands, primarily hedonistic. On the other hand, there is sustainability, which in the collective imagination consists of a sacrifice of certain activities and behaviors in favor of the preservation of our future. Under these conditions it is difficult to imagine how luxury and sustainability can be reconciled. Yet sustainability is above all a design challenge that requires innovation rather than sacrifice. This is the concept of hedonistic sustainability, which means that sustainability can and should be enjoyable.

Thus, sustainability in the luxury market can be both disruptive and the new norm. It is not disruptive in a destructive sense, but rather changes the laws and reshapes them in a different way.

Luxury brands have to guide and set an example, which is an ideal position to develop a sustainability strategy. They need to pay attention to the carbon footprint of their whole value chain from raw materials, production to distribution . Some of the laws of luxury marketing are perfectly adaptable to a policy of sustainability, such as the location of factories, which is consistent with an ecological vision and a desire for more local consumption. Others, however, need to be adapted to this new situation. Integrating synergy into luxury products, for instance in fashion, through partnerships with entrepreneurs in the apparel industry with a real focus on eco-responsible products as well as businesses that offers increasingly innovative methods of recycling materials is an important opportunity for brands in the field. 

During the 2010s, this market has faced many environmental and human problematic. Since this time, the luxury market is pushed to take more ecological decisions. Sustainability is a powerful trend for the future. Already some brands are adding sustainability values ​​to their products, which will also influence other luxury brands. Sustainability in luxury is actually hidden in the product. Because it is a lifetime product, this has not been advertised and tends to give the public the idea that luxury is a waste (Vivian Corporation, 2017).And with the worldwide concern for environmental protection, luxury brands are looking for new technologies to replace their old consumable products, such as Gucci's development of new fabrics and the use of innovative technology to drive the brand forward (Kering, 2020; Ecocult, 2021; Hula, 2020). By introducing better consumer choices, sustainable luxury offers consumers the opportunity to not only satisfy their personal desires and also to support the demands of environmental development through the realization of consumption (Harvard Business Review, 2016). At the same time sustainability is an extension of the brand own values ​​and identity. The sustainable topic is so present in everybody's mind, it is probable that the luxury market will continue this way and get more and more sustainable.

Luxury is - by its trendsetter nature - intrinsically tied to change. Disruption is therefore something that is not uncommon, and in some way encouraged by the market. Regarding sustainability we can see it as a change that had to happen at one point (Winston, 2016) - sooner rather than later. Indeed brands cannot rely forever on their acquired clientele and have to turn to new generations, who have their own struggles (Muret, 2020) and will relate with brands that dare take a stance and guide them.

Now how does “sustainability” rhyme with “luxury”? Do we perceive sustainable luxury brands differently from others? Many questions that the customers ask themselves too - consciously or not.

Lisa-Sophie Demars, Ly Nguyen, Marie Rabel, Mingjiu Li, Stéphane Congouleris & Yann Stehle

References

Yeoman, Ian. (2010). The changing behaviors of luxury consumption. Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management, 10, 47-50

Han, Jee & Nunes, Joseph & Drèze, Xavier & Marshall ,. (2010). Signaling Status with Luxury Goods: The Role of Brand Prominence. Journal of Marketing, 74(4), 15-30.

Kapferer, Jean-Noël, and Vincent, Bastien. (2012). The Luxury Strategy: Break the Rules of Marketing to Build Luxury Brands . 2nd ed. Kogan Page. 

Boston Consulting Group (2020) The Future of Success in Fashion Lies in Sustainability.
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Vivian Corporation (Nov 2017), What is sustainable luxury , Vivivan Corporation.
What is sustainable luxury ?. Sustainable luxury is the future. It is… | by Vivian Corporation | Medium

Lucielle Salomon (Jan 2021), The 25 Most Sustainable and Ethical Luxury Fashion Brands, Ecocutl. https://ecocult.com/sustainable-luxury-fashion-brands/

Andrew Winston (Feb 2016), Luxury Brands Can No Longer Ignore Sustainability , H arvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2016/02/luxury-brands-can-no-longer-ignore-sustainability

Hula (Oct 2020), 10 Luxury Brands That Have Committed To Sustainability , Hula. https://thehula.com/blog/10-luxury-brands-that-have-committed-to-sustainability/ 

D. (2020). Sustainability: crafting tomorrow's Luxury . Kering. https://www.kering.com/en/sustainability/

D. Muret (Nov 2020) , Luxury industry challenged by disruptive surge of young clientele , Fashion Network Luxury industry challenged by disruptive surge of young clientele - News: industrie (# 1261182) (fashionnetwork.com)