MAKING LUXURY MORE SUSTAINABLE

By Crash redaction

A JOURNEY TO EMBARK ON

The 1.618 Conferences Day on sustainable luxury took place on April in Paris where leaders and mavericks in the cosmetics, jewellery and fashion industries were invited as speakers.
Some leaders of the luxury industry like L’Oréal, the Richemont Group and Kering who are expected to be role models for the values and behaviors of their community explained how they incorporated Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as a demanding management concept. As such, it’s a work in progress, a journey most luxury brands won’t talk about to customers that much though, except for Kering or Chopard. Regarded as a “risky” corporate communication move by many, luxury brands will communicate about their actions once their companies are 100 % sustainable business. Well, it may take some time in today’s globalized world of luxury and suppliers scattered all around the world…
As a contrast to the all-or-nothing approach to let us know or not at all about what luxury brands actually do to respond to the growing demand for meaningful and more responsible design, others like the jeweler Chopard unveil actions taken, no matter how limited they may remain compared to the overall business of the company. Entitled “The Journey To Sustainable Luxury ”, it presents its Green Carpet Collection pieces, as part of its High Jewellery collection to be showcased at the Cannes Festival as well. It is argued that even though the emerging paradigm shift for sustainable business is a long-term project to achieve, it is fulfilling the increasing demand from customers today, including ambassadors of the brand.
On the other hand, emerging brands like the JEM (Jewellery Ethically Minded) were sharing their challenges as well as enthusiasm and pioneering successes. For the emerging maverick designers who created sustainable luxury brands from scratch, it’s high time to turn business into a sustainable model: it’s common sense, there is a demand for it, and the great thing is: your life becomes more meaningful!
All in all, it has been concluded, luxury products will always be bought for their beauty and for the dream they provide the customers with. In that context, the shared values of sustainable luxury need to be upcycled into finely-crafted irresistible stories. “Who will buy a product because it is labeled “100% recycled”?, asked straightforwardly Giusy Bettoni, founder of C.L.A.S.S (Creativity Lifestyle and Sustainable Synergy), a worldwide sourcing hub for sustainable design. Not only is the label deprived of any sexiness, she insisted, but it doesn’t account for the complex technology that made the resulting sustainable design possible. Bringing beauty to the ongoing discourse in the sustainability movement needs to be addressed at this point. The pleasurable dream of endless consumption is on its way to reinvent itself into a sustainable one. Long live story tellers!

http://www.1618-paris.com/

Stéphanie Bui