1. Luxury and Sustainable Development

The “basic aspects of luxury” will be defined and analysed in the introduction to the second part.

Beyond any individual strategy, the United Nations Global Compact is an example of this. This is a joint initiative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), and the World Labour Organization (WLO), addressed at enabling corporate social responsibility development, fostering human rights, labour standards, environmental protection and anti-corruption. The main goal of the Global Compact is to help align corporate policies and practices to universally concurred and internationally applicable ethical goals. It is the contribution of the private sector to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Visit: https://​www.​unglobalcompact.​org/​.

The 193 Member States of the United Nations, along with a large number of actors from the civil society, the academia, and the private sector, entered into an open, democratic and participatory negotiation process, resulting in the announcement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), in September 2015. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, made up of 17 Goals and 169 Targets, provides an ambitious vision of sustainable development and encompasses its economic, social and environmental dimensions. Visit: http://​www.​undp.​org/​content/​undp/​es/​home/​sustainable-development-goals.​html.

Kapferer and Bastien (2010, p. 23) agree with Silvia Gold. They assert that “…it is absolutely vital to remain ethical, both with respect to others by avoiding provocation, and with respect to oneself by avoiding addiction. The purpose of luxury as we see it and advocate is to contribute to social peace and universal happiness, rather than the opposite…” And they add that “…luxury is not excess and excess is not luxury. In conclusion, this is why one should not confuse ´having a taste for luxury´ with ´having luxurious tastes´. The first suggests someone cultivated and discerning, the second, acquisitiveness and excess…” According to these authors, “…the key word when it comes to luxury is dream, not envy, and it is about being, not about having…”.

Bourdieu (1988) La Distinción. Criterio y bases sociales del gusto. Grupo Santillana de Ediciones, Madrid.

The background to this concept was given by the UN Conference on the Conservation and Utilisation of Resources, in 1949; the UN Conference on the Human Environment held in 1972, in Stockholm; the Conference on Science and Technology for Human Development organised by the World Council of Churches in 1974; and the 1980 World Conservation Strategy, made up of three international NGOs (IUCN, UNEP, WWF). The latter delved into ecological sustainability and living resource conservation, with a small focus on political, economic and social aspects.

Ehrenfeld JR, Sustainability by Choice. Unpublished paper.

The term “stakeholder” has been defined as any group or individual who can affect or is affected by the achievement of the organisation's objectives. As an example, we can mention shareholders, employees, customers, suppliers, competitors, trade unions, the community where the organisation operates, the civil society, the government, the media, trade associations, environmental lobbies, animal welfare organisations and the (natural) environment.

This section includes exclusive work in the luxury and sustainability field, mainly books dealing entirely with luxury and sustainability, including references to certain chapters related to this topic but published in books about luxury. For instance, the books by Thomas (2007) and Girón (2009, 2012) are not included in this section because the authors do not belong to the academic field.

With the contribution of well-known authors such as Jem Bendell (University of Cumbria, UK), Nadine Hennigs (Leibniz University of Hannover, Germany), Luana Carcano (SBA Bocconi School of Management, Italy), and Simone Guercini and Silvia Ranfagni (University of Florence, Italy).

With the contribution of well-known authors such as Frédéric Godart (INSEAD Business School, France), Jean-Noël Kapferer (HEC Business School, France) Angela Finn (Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand) and Connie Ulasewicz (San Francisco State University, USA).

With the contribution of well-known authors such as Joan Farrer (University of Portsmouth, UK), Clauss Lütke (RWTH Aachen University, Germany), Shams Rahman (RMIT University, Australia), Susanne Guldager (Copenhagen School of Design and Technology, Denmark) and Steffen Schmidt (Leibniz University of Hannover, Germany).

A report prepared by SPRINGER publishing house and presented on 6 June, 2019, considered its e-Book format as a “PERFORMANCE LEADER” because different chapters had 14,690 downloads from its publication on 4 March 2017 to 31 December 2018. Edited by Miguel Angel Gardetti, it should be noted that this book included the contributions of Gulen Hashmi (Business School Lausanne, Switzerland), Patricia Hitzler and Günter Müller-Stewens (University of St. Gallen, Switzerland), France Riguelle and Didier Van Cailli (University of Liege, Belgium), Patrizia Calefato (Università degli studi di Bari Aldo Moro, Italy), Oliver P. Heil and Daniel André Langer University of Mainz, Germany), Graham Bullock (Davidson College, USA), John Armitage, Joanne Roberts and Yasmin K. Sekhon University of Southampton, UK), Elisa Arrigo (University of Milano-Biocca, Italy), Tomaï Serdari (Leonard N. Stern School of Business, USA), Elisa Giacosa (University of Turin, Italy), Jana M. Hawley (University of Arizona, USA), Marco D’Anolfo and Matteo De Angelis (LUISS Guido Carli University, Italy), Matteo De Angelis and Cesar Amatulli (University of Bari, Italy) and Duane Windsor (Rice University, USA).

Among other books written by Miguel Angel Gardetti, we can mention: Gardetti and Muthu (2018, 2019).

Dialogue with Alexandra de Royere.

Created in 2011, it is a distinction of exclusively social and cultural nature aimed at annually acknowledging the sustainability-related best business practices, strategies and innovations, and activities in the premium luxury industry. Visit: http://​premiolujososten​ible.​org.

Center for Studies on Sustainable Luxury. Visit: www.​lujosustentable.​org.

The expression "Emerging Davids versus Established Goliaths" was adapted from "Emerging Davids versus Greening Goliats" work developed by Kai Hockerts and Rolf Wüstenhagen in 2009.

To learn more about their stories, read: Gardetti and Girón (2014) Sustainable Luxury and Social Entrepreneurs—Stories from the Pioneers. Greenleaf Publishing Limited, Sheffield; Gardetti and Girón (2016) Sustainable Luxury and Social Entrepreneurs II—More Stories from the Pioneers. Greenleaf Publishing Limited, Sheffield.