But the thing is, the luxury sector has its roots in the environment:
- Animal materials, such as leather, wool or crocodile skin are needed to create leather goods or fashion clothes
- Perfumers need flowers and excellent plants to make sensational fragrance and cosmetics
- To obtain fabulous wines and spirits, the soil must be rich and, as much as possible, exempt from pollution to produce the best grapes, fruits or cereals to create exceptional goods
- For jewellery or other activities linked to precious materials (watches for instance), the manufacturers use gold, diamonds and other gemstones, which are directly extracted from the Earth
The relationship that exists between environment and the luxury sector is strong and vital. But in order to maintain all these wealthy activities, the sector must become environmentally responsible and change some its practices. Currently, some brands, such as Kenzo (perfume), Mobius Marlborough (wine) or NAYA (women’s shoes) have developed and implemented some eco and environmentally friendly new concepts:
Thinner champagne and wine bottles, and measuring a wine’s carbon footprint
Now, the champagne standard bottle will be 835g instead of 900g and new thinner wine bottles are on average 14 percent lighter. Why? It saves resources and weight; meaning less energy is required to transport the bottles! Moreover, a lot of wineries have now started to evaluate their carbon footprint, such as Mobis Marlborough (NZ) who has teamed with Carbon Trust to measure and display its carbon footprint right there on the label for all to see (and compare). Meanwhile the Winemakers Federation of Australia (WFA) has started EntWine Australia - a voluntary national environmental assurance scheme available to all Australian wine companies and grape growers.
Refillable Perfume bottles
Few years ago, the concept of perfume fountain was launched. In order to avoid wasting materials, customers can now refill their bottles instead of buying new ones. Fountains exist for Kenzo, Thierry Mugler or Guerlain fragrances. Can’t find one near you? Ask the store why – you, the customer, have the power to demand these environmentally responsible practices!
Adoption of responsible Eco-packaging
New "eco-packaging", thanks to recycled glass, cardboard boxes or recycled PET5, is now available. NAYA, for example ensures that its shoeboxes are made with 80% recycled paper pulp, soy-based inks and water-based glue and reusable shoe bags and shoe forms are made with recycled PET.
Offcuts and art
Once considered simply waste, leather or other material offcuts from prestigious brands are now being used by artists instead of being incinerated or dumped in landfill – see our related article: Speedo's Record-Breaking Sustainable Fashion.
Ethics and jewellery
Some brands are now aware that the jewellery could have better practices and that is the reason why they want to become more responsible and follow some ethical, social and environmental guidelines. For example the Responsible Jewellery Council is an international not-for-profit organisation bringing together over 260 member companies across the jewellery supply chain committed to promoting responsible ethical, human rights, social and environmental practices in a transparent and accountable manner throughout the industry from mine to retail. Their commitment aims to reinforce consumer and stakeholder confidence in jewellery products.
Design inspired by nature
Inspiration from nature is now being cherished and embedded into the design principles of many design studios. A new event called 1.618, the first annual rendezvous of Sustainable Luxury, is all about sustainable luxury, supporting the arts, creativity, innovation and sustainable development. In 2011, it will be held from 7-10 April, as the closing event of the Sustainable Week in Paris. 1.618 is also known as phi – φ – the Golden Ratio, revered as the divine proportion, a universal key to harmony that originates in nature and provides a formula at the service of aesthetics.
All of these actions (above) are economically good for the luxury sector and stand as better alternatives for the environment, but, as they don’t create a paradigm change, they are only "end-of-pipe" solutions (finding solutions to existing problems instead of rethinking all the products concepts).
More change is possible especially if the luxury sector is ready to reconsider its actual values and morals. Indeed, nowadays the luxury sector must adapt and combine innovation and tradition with sustainability and responsibility to find its core principles again. It must give more importance to the "savoir-faire" (know-how) of the designers, perfumers and wine-makers.
Also, to stop the luxury democratisation, this sector should consider returning to the primary concept of luxury, which associates luxury to rarity, sustainability and timelessness. Instead of making more and more goods, the concept of "less is more" could be applied to this market sector and increase its desirable image.
The luxury sector has a real opportunity to create a paradigm change and already some have understood this and become pioneers in the new sustainable luxury evolution.
Written by: Romain Radziminski
Image: Nautilus shell – displaying the golden ratio, by Jitze Couperus via Flickr Creative Commons
