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_ 04.06. JJuly.uly. 22011011 _PAGE 04 DO OPPOSITES REALLY ATTRACT? _PAGE 06 ACCOUNTING FOR ENVIRONMENTAL PROFIT AND LOSS _PAGE 08 A NEW LUXURY STATUS QUO? TWITTERTWITTER.COM/RACONTEURMEDIA.COM/RACONTEURMEDIA RACONTEUR 0CLIPBOARDRACONTEURPAGENUMBER 01 SUSTAINABLE LUXURY Distributed in CONTRIBUTORS SIMON BROOKE DAX LOVEGROVE MIKE SCOTT Published in Specialist writer on the luxury sector Head of business & industry at Specialist writer in sustainability, association with and men’s styling, Simon contributes WWF-UK, Dax works with major business, family wealth and environ- to national and international companies within key sectors, ment issues, Mike contributes to na- publications, including The Sunday including oil and gas, power, finance, tional newspapers, including the Fi- Publisher Editor Design Times and The Wall Street Journal. food and drink, transport, media, nancial Times, The Daily Telegraph and Nadine Namer Peter Archer The Surgery He is also a regular contributor to ICT and retail, to apply systems- The Guardian, and is a regular contrib- Raconteur supplements. thinking around sustainability. utor to Raconteur reports. COVer image: © THE SURGERY \ theDesignsurgery.CO.UK ANTHONY KLEANTHOUS FELICIA JACKSON JOSH SIMS Your feedback is valued by us. The information contained in this Co-author of Deeper Luxury: Quali- Author and freelance journalist spe- Freelance writer and editor of View- Please send in your opinions to publication has been obtained from ty and Style When the World Matters cialising in economic, technology, pol- point magazine, Josh’s latest book is [email protected] sources the proprietors believe to be and Let Them Eat Cake: Satisfying the icy and social issues surrounding the Icons of Men’s Style. He is a contributor For information about partnering correct. However, no legal liability can New Consumer Appetite for Sustainable transition to a low-carbon economy, to national newspapers, including the with Raconteur Media please contact be accepted for any errors. No part of Brands, Anthony is WWF-UK senior Felicia is editor at large of Cleantech Financial Times, The Independent and Freddie Ossberg: 020 7033 2100, this publication may be reproduced [email protected], withoutthe prior consent of the Publisher. policy adviser on sustainable business magazine and a regular contributor to The Guardian, and magazines, such as www.raconteurmedia.co.uk © RACONTEUR MEDIA and economics. Raconteur supplements. Esquire and Wallpaper. Consumption is a key challenge to maintaining global images environmental balance etty / G images DO tren reconnection more than to tradi- AL © tional luxury items. We are gradu- ally relearning the importance of buying fewer, better things and tak- ing pride in them for longer. In short, luxury is becoming less exclusive, less wasteful and more about helping people to express their deepest values. Those values now include a heavy dose of environmen- tal and social responsibility. The great luxury houses were initially slow to respond to these changes and even slower to lead them. However, the industry has now launched or signed up to a number of initiatives to clean up its supply chains, including the Council for Responsible Jewellery Practice, the Kimberley Initiative (to eliminate the trade in conflict diamonds), and the United Nation’s Global Compact. Many are working with design- ers to develop sustainable fabrics SIMPLY THE BEST and materials, and a few have just begun to embed sustainability in management practices across core IS NO LONGER SIMPLE business functions. For example, French house PPR, (home to Gucci, Puma, Bottega Ven- MARKETING Luxury brands exist mainly to confer on their owners a feeling and an image of success. eta, Yves Saint Laurent and a string of Anthony Kleanthous other luxury marques), now rewards As the definition of success changes, so do our expectations of luxury, writes its top executives for meeting envi- ronmental and social goals. It recent- Ȗ Increasingly, successful people and rejuvenated by a new trend for been scandals over poor labour stand- Row suits. We have fallen out of love ly launched a new sustainability initi- want to show that they understand authenticity and sustainability. ards, blood diamonds, dangerous and with conspicuous consumption and in ative called PPR Home – named after and care about the environment and The luxury industry has been glo- dirty gold-mining practices, the trade love with luxurious experiences, such Jean Yves Bertrand’s 2009 documen- other people. Luxury products are balising at a furious rate. Small, inde- in endangered species, corruption, as spa treatments and luxury holidays. tary, Home, which PPR financed – to expected not only to work beautifully pendent, niche western brands have inappropriate advertising messages, promote “a new business paradigm, and look fabulous, but also to be envi- been snapped up by multinational and anorexic models. whereby the attainment of sustaina- ronmentally and socially responsible. corporations, such as LVMH (Moët Luxury brands have been accused We aspire to elegance, bility is driving creativity and inno- Luxury may be defined as the best Hennessy - Louis Vuitton) and PPR, of fuelling fast fashion, driving con- vation, and vice versa, to build busi- of any given product or service cate- and turned into huge global brands spicuous consumption and tighten- simplicity and spiritual nesses that deliver financial, social gory. Whatever you might look for in in their own right. ing tensions between rich and poor. and environmental returns”. a car, a watch, a bar of chocolate or a Last year, global sales of luxury In Beijing, the authorities have gone reconnection more than The rise of sustainability has been holiday, the luxury versions give you products reached £140 billion. as far as to ban the use of billboards the first, and perhaps greatest, cul- more. They are the best-designed, Sales are growing fastest in econo- to advertise luxury products and ser- to traditional luxury items tural shift of this millennium, and best-made, highest quality and most mies with rapidly expanding middle vices, because such advertising is, it poses huge challenges and oppor- expensive options available. They classes, particularly China, which is according to Beijing’s mayor, “not tunities to brand owners. The long- deliver the highest possible amount about to become the world’s larg- conducive to harmony”. India’s Wastefulness is frowned upon, so term success or failure of the luxury of customer satisfaction. est luxury market. Already-wealthy prime minister has called on the rich Range Rovers are out and hybrids industry will depend largely on the What satisfies luxury consumers – Asian countries have long had a love to “eschew conspicuous consump- are in. The roofs of the nation’s ability of initiatives like PPR Home their perceptions of good quality and affair with luxury. tion” and slapped a 114 per cent rate rich bristle with photovoltaic pan- to foster deep and radical change, good design – varies greatly across With this growth have come grow- of tax on luxury goods. els and wind turbines. In a world both in the nature of products and the world, and has been evolving ing pains. Counterfeiters have learned In mature western markets, baby of overwhelming clutter and rush, services being offered, and the will- over time. The global luxury indus- to make astonishingly convincing boomers and young consumers have space and time have become luxu- ingness of middle-class consumers try has sometimes struggled to keep fakes, remarkably cheaply, and to sell driven a growth in “casual luxury”, ries in their own right; we aspire to to embrace them with their hearts up, but has recently been challenged them all over the world. There have preferring designer T-shirts to Savile elegance, simplicity and spiritual and their wallets. TWITTER.COM/RACONTEURMEDIA RACONTEUR 03 SUSTAINABLE LUXURY At first glance, luxury and sustainability may not sit comfortably together THE SURGERY THE © STRANGE BED SUSTAINING ITS NATURAL FELLOWS? ROOTS BUT OPPOSITES CASE STUDY Fragrance specialist Givaudan has CAN ATTRACT taken steps to secure supplies of the ingredients that are vital for its business, as Mike Scott discovers Givaudan, the fragrances and fla- vours company, is a key player in the perfume industry with many of its raw materials rooted in the natural world. “If we want to have a long-term business model that is sustainable, we need to safeguard our crops,” says Rémi Pulverail, head of natural mate- rials at the company, which launched its Innovative Naturals Programme in 2007, at a time when sustainability was not very fashionable. With a history spanning two cen- turies, Givaudan sources more than BUSINESS Focusing on more than the bottom line makes sense for luxury brands and an increasing 200 pure and natural raw materials from around the world. It is not a huge number are taking account of a growing demand for sustainable products. But the business case for company, but in the esoteric world of sustainability is only slowly rising up the corporate agenda as companies face sometimes conflicting, fragrances and flavours it is one of the biggest buyers of crops, such as san- short-term demands in a testing economic climate at home and abroad. Mike Scott reports dalwood, tonka beans and benzoin. These are often concentrated in un- derdeveloped communities in coun- Ȗ Luxury and sustainability are luxury brands, particularly in cos- High-end brands used to feel insu- Lynne Franks, who now focuses on tries such as Madagascar, Haiti, Vene- not concepts that seem to belong metics, wine and spirits, and jewel- lated from the rest of the economy to encouraging companies to imple- zuela and Laos. together. Luxury is all about con- lery, rely on the natural world for a certain extent because of the nature ment sustainable business practices The viability of many of the compa- spicuous consumption, while sus- their raw materials and are becoming of their customers, but social media aimed at empowering women.