Luxury and Sustainability

Most consumers of luxury products and services use them as a symbol of success. But the definition of success (and the way it is perceived by people) is changing. Many of these successful consumers now want and want brands to reflect their concerns and aspirations for a better world. In the future, the highest quality products or services will be those that generate the greatest benefits to those involved in their production and trade. Consumer awareness of this benefit will be essential to their elite experience and to the prestige attributed to them by their peers. Thus, sustainable luxury brands will represent the greatest positive contribution that any product or service can make to humanity and the planet; identify the luxury consumer as one who has both the means and the motivation to ensure that others improve their quality of life. This “deeper” and “more authentic” approach to luxury will require social and environmental performance of true excellence; consumers in general expect this excellence and also expect to see it in all aspects of a luxury brand. For these reasons, the Center of Studies for Corporate Sustainability decided to create the Center for Studies on Sustainable Luxury.