Sustainable Luxury: An Evolving Narrative

Abstract

The study of luxury as a business and commercial concern has grown significantly in the last ten years as new programmes, books and academic publications in the field can testify. This has mirrored the growth of the global luxury industry. The business of luxury became more systematically organised following Bernard Arnault’s leadership in creating LVMH from the brands Moët & Hennessy and Louis Vuitton in the late 1980s. Although that specifically concerned the luxury goods sectors, it signalled an opportunity for other luxury sectors also to take advantage of growth in middle classes and so consumer wealth globally. To understand luxury, it’s important to recognise the different academic and industry perspectives, as there is frequently a different focus and point of view on the subject. Branding specialist J.N. Kapferer has written extensively on luxury and has referred it as the ultimate version of a range, marked by criteria of rarity, high price, sensuality, creativity, attention to detail, age, quality and imagination.