Sustainable Luxury

Fashion, with its social gloss of being the most transient of commodities in postmodern Western capitalistic societies, undergirds the hunt for the next “it” item in our modern liquid worlds (Bauman 2006). In fashion, as post-Marxist socialist Zygmunt Bauman argues, there is a perpetuum mobile, or social dynamic, in which progress is articulated as each individual’s avoidance of exclusion (Marx 2015 [1867]: 85). As individuals fear exclusion, the individual’s relation to fashion fulfills a continuous cycle of becoming, a hedonic treadmill with temporary happiness, via materialistic consumption, as its constant goal (Bauman 2010). However, the rise of secondhand markets in the liquid West and consumers’ engagement in both the brick-and-mortar and ecommerce varieties thereof undercut dialectical revolutions of consumption habits for the newest and shiniest of baubles. Taking a new materialist approach to lives and values of clothes, I show how females are oriented toward a particular type of (in)vestment that is underrecognized and undervalued under the lights that cast the pursuit of fashion as superficial. In other words, at the root of the term investment is vestire, to clothe, already suggesting that popular (mis)conceptions about fashion’s frivolity lacks material evidence. Using auto-ethnography as my primary method and the Buffalo Exchange secondhand chain of stores and particularly the East Village, Manhattan location as my primary field site, I illustrate the cycling through of clothing and the changes in these commodities’ value. I complicate the easy narratives that Western political economists have used to explain away Marx’s theory on value and commodity fetishism. The lifecycle of commodities, as symptomized in the classic macroeconomic example of guns versus butter, shows a production possibility frontier circumscribed by the assumption that consumption is a one-time deal. Yet, consuming and wearing secondhand clothing can be upheld by new materialism as a socially impactful (in)vestment. As I show in this case study, in the secondhand market for luxe designer garments, the concept of value changes quickly as it moves through hands in the handed-down, preowned, preloved nebulas that make value itself amorphous. Moreover, as shown by the entrepreneurial example of Brass, alternative extra-industry solutions to accessing such (in)vestments can close the wardrobe gap for women.

In this chapter, we discuss how luxury brands can build their success on corporate social responsibility (CSR), leveraging specifically on the paradigm of circular economy. The idea advanced in the chapter is that luxury and sustainability are not conflicting concepts, as many believe, but they are positively correlated, inasmuch as the quintessential characteristics of luxury goods make them potentially more sustainable than mass-market goods. Through the discussion of four case studies of luxury brands operating in the sectors of fashion (Brunello Cucinelli, Gucci and Stella McCartney brands) and food (Godiva), we point out that the reuse of tangible resources, such as money generated by companies’ activities and raw material, can be a very solid basis for building market success as well as to broaden the positive contribution luxury brands can make to the environment, the employees, the local community of producers, and, as a consequence, to the society at large. A common feature of all the cases discussed is represented by the key role played by the entrepreneur (often the founder of the company) in fostering the balance between brand prestige and sustainability.

The concepts of ‘luxury’ and ‘sustainability’ are antithetical to each other. However, a paradigm shift is presently witnessed in luxury domain. Lately, sustainability is swiftly becoming a critical issue for both luxury brands as well as society as a whole. This case study focuses on the company—‘Natweave Textile Studio.’ It is a textile company founded by Indian textile designer Subhabrata Sadhu in 2009, with a yearning to conserve the rich heritage of rarest and finest cashmere by using the traditional skills of native Kashmiri artisans. The company specializes in producing high-end and exclusive Pashmina scarves and shawls with focus on entirely pure, handmade, and natural production process. Sadhu sources finest Pashmina fibers from Pashmina goats reared in its natural habitat in Changthang plateau in the Kashmir region. He strongly believes in protecting and preserving the rare art form and providing a platform to the Kashmiri craftsmen—custodians of this ancient skill, to showcase their culture to the world. He collaborates with Kashmiri weavers to create contemporary products and remodel ethnic weaves into timeless luxury items and works hard to combine traditional techniques with modern designs to build sustainable luxury products. This study aims to develop a luxury sustainable circular value (LSCV) model that integrates the values of four stakeholders—entrepreneur, organization, customers, and society. LSCV model is used as a tool to examine how ‘Natweave Textile Studio’ contributes toward creating sustainable circular value and thus adds to the sustainable development of the company and society.

Indoor air quality matters in regard of health risks of indoor exposure to particulates. Small particulates indoor are 3–8 times higher than outdoor (Heimlich 2008). The air quality indoor suffers. Industrial products such as building materials, paints, furniture, textiles, flooring, and electronics are off-gazing and in general incorporate toxic ingredients. The environmental and human toxicology quality is a key factor for a healthy living environment. Health risks of indoor exposure to particulates matter in regard to quality of industrial produced products. Wood will certainly stay as one of the leading and the most preferable construction material in the future due to its environmental, local availability, and aesthetic characteristics. Nowadays, using wood in architecture is very fashionable. Research and developments in wood production as well as in wood construction will strongly form the future of sustainable development practically in all parts of the planet Earth. Wood today is trendy, fashionable, and one of the most accessible materials and has an aesthetic view with a natural look and a visual attractiveness, together with the smell, sound, and touch; natural wood is perceived as luxurious. Development could be seen also in façades, inside and other surfaces of modern structures which are increasingly being used. Sustainable luxury products incorporate extraordinary aesthetics, handle, care, function and in addition, to be sustainable need to be safe for humans, society, and the environment. Resources and natural resources are scare and need to be protected in changing the design of the products we use according Cradle to Cradle^® principle ‘Remaking the way we make things’ and ‘Towards a circular economy.’ For companies, this implies entrepreneurship to tackle the large impact in change of behavior, culture, marketing and business models in closing the loop, and taking the goods back from the user. The case study, Cradle to Cradle^® (McDonough and Braungart 2002)—Parquet for Generations (Bauwerk Parkett 2017)—Respect Resources and Preservation for the Future, illustrates a successful lighthouse example from industry.

The luxury sector is a well-established global industry worth approximately US$200 billion a year; although successful, the luxury market is quietly being re-framed to align with key and emerging trends in the industry. The concept of sustainability is gaining increased attention by the industry and consumers. Many companies including H&M, Levi’s, and Nike have already incorporated sustainable development and supply chain partner that focus on sustainability into their business models. Sustainability being inconsistent with value associated with the luxury sector, which is a leading sector known for high margins and social reputation, reports have criticized luxury brands for lagging behind others with regard to sustainable development. Considering their ‘value network’ in a conventional way and ignoring emerging needs and social conditions may be the reasons why the existing luxury companies have not adopted sustainability practices more quickly. Under increasing pressure to implement sustainable development throughout the industry, some new luxury entrepreneurs are emerging with remarkable perspectives on sustainable development. They break the traditional business innovation known to the luxury sector and are implementing the concept of sustainable development as a direction in their business strategies. In addition, they are moving toward developing a circular economy to realize ‘sustainability’ in their supply chains. In this chapter, redefinition of luxury, trends in the luxury market, adoption of sustainability among luxury brands and consumers, disruptive business model innovation, and the circular economy are discussed. At last, a case study on sustainable luxury swimwear entrepreneurs is presented.

Past studies have considered opportunities and barriers to sustainability in the fashion industry, or consumer perspectives and disposal behaviour, but few studies have explored a circular economy approach as a chance for business extension. There is a lack of research that examines luxury fashion, circular economy and entrepreneurship, showing how a circular economy could look. This study used a case study approach to observe and analyse the circular economy business model of Eileen Fisher (EF), New York. This study explores how the company has developed its take-back programme and how this programme led to the development of recycling operations at EF. In 2017, twelve semi-structured interviews were conducted with employees from EF, representing different departments and operating at various functions in the company. Their responses were analysed according to a content analysis method to outline EF’s approaches to both luxury fashion and a circular economy additional data from the company was obtained. Results were summarized in an analysis of the strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats (SWOT) to show advantages and challenges the company faces when introducing the circular economy concept. To better understand the operational processes, while visiting the recycling factory, a variation of a multi-moment recording procedure was conducted assessing the procedures of a particular operation occurring at a specific place over a specified duration to capture how the work was completed and in what ways (REFA-Methodenlehre 1978). The goal of this procedure was to compile a detailed description of the actual processing steps of all the work in the recycling facility, to discover challenges and risks. This chapter describes the effect of developing and implementing a circular economy approach at EF. The results indicate that a circular economy approach in the luxury fashion industry is possible and is beneficial to extended business, can generate revenue and reduce environmental degradation. This chapter explains that a circular economy approach in luxury fashion requires a company to produce luxury products that are timeless, high quality, durable and retail at a high price.