Read more
This book profiles transformational individuals blazing a trail in the sustainable luxury business. It shows us that luxury products need not wreak destruction on the environment and the communities who manufacture them. There are entrepreneurs who are well motivated to break the rules and promote disruptive solutions.
List of contents
Foreword Oskar Metsavaht (OSKLEN founder and CEO)AcknowledgementsSustainable luxury: Stories from the pioneers María Eugenia Girón (director of Mastercard and IE Business School Premium and Prestige Market Observatory)Stories from the social pioneers in the sustainable luxury sector: A conceptual vision Miguel Angel Gardetti (Director of the Center for Studies on Sustainable Luxury)1. Elvis & Kresse, UK Kresse Wesling (company founder and director)2. The IOU Project, Spain Kavita Parmar (company founder and director)3. Aïny Savoirs Des Peuple, France Daniel Joutard (company founder and director)4. Pachacuti, UK Carry Somers (company founder and director)5. We Are Knitters, Spain María José Marín (company co-founder and director)6. Positive Luxury, UK Diana Verde Nieto (company founder and director)7. Bottletop, UK Oliver Wayman and Cameron Saul (company founders and directors)8. Big Blue Bike, USA Shudhan Kohli (company founder and director)9. Estancia Peuma Hue, Argentina Evelyn Hoter (company founder and director)About the editors
About the author
Miguel Angel Gardetti Ph.D. He has been the head of the Center for Study of Corporate Sustainability (IESC) since its foundation in 2002, and he also holds the same position at the Center for Study of Sustainable Luxury. He is head professor in MBA and master’s programs both in Argentina and abroad. He has provided training within frameworks of executive education and in house programmes to CEOs and Corporate Managers both from domestic and multinational companies in Argentina and Latin America.
As to Luxury and Sustainability topics, he lectured at the Instituto de Empresa (Madrid, Spain), one of the top Business Schools in Europe. Moreover, he was a speaker in Identidad Uruguay, an event organised by the Universidad de Empresa (Montevideo), with a lecture on Fashion, Luxury, and Sustainability. He was the creator of the Best Performance in Sustainable Luxury in Latin America Award (at present evolving towards the Award in Sustainable Premium and Luxury at a global level). He developed also several publications in the area of sustainable luxury.
He was a member of the United Nations Global Compact Promoting Group in Argentina and a member of its governance body –the Board of the Argentine Chapter of The Global Compact- for two consecutive terms. He was co-founder of the Global Compact Chair in Argentina, and he was also part of the task force that developed the “Management Responsible Education Principles” of the United Nations Global Compact.
He has also coordinated tasks for the Inter-American Development Bank, the International Finance Corporation (private sector arm of the World Bank), the Netherlands Development Organisation, the United Nations (New York), and the World Resources Institute (USA.)
María Eugenia Girón has 18 years of experience in the premium and luxury industry. as executive, investor, lecturer, professor and author.
At Loewe, the leading Spanish luxury goods brand, she discharged international responsibilities. In 1999, she led the management buy in (MBI) of Carrera y Carrera, and was the CEO of such company for six years. In 2012, she took on the position of Chairman of Le Chameau, the French brand known for its luxury rubber boots. She was a founding partner of Silvercloud, the investment fund created in 2010 to acquire companies in the premium and luxury sector. She is member of the Advisory Board of various companies in the sector including several benchmark Spanish and European companies.
Moreover, she is the driving force and executive director of Observatorio de Mercado Premium y de Prestigio de IE Business School y Mastercard [Mastercard and IE Business School Premium and Prestige Market Observatory]. She is also a member of Oceana International Board and of the Best Performance in Sustainable Luxury in Latin America Award. She is part of the Patronato de la Universidad IE [IE University Council], of the Fundación para la Diversidad [Foundation of Diversity], of “Spain Start-Up & Investors Summit” as well as advisor to Ashoka.
She earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial Engineering from the ICAI, Universidad Pontificia de Comillas, and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration (MBA) from the Harvard Business School.
Summary
Luxury products are now seen by a growing number of global consumers as an important and more widely available way of expressing personal aspirations and values. Most consumers of luxury products and services use them as status symbols and symbols of success. However, the definition of success – and the way it is perceived by others – is changing. Many of these successful consumers now want the brands they use to reflect their concerns and aspirations. Such products come with a heavy social and environmental cost. Sustainable luxury is about rediscovering the old meaning of luxury – a considered purchase of a beautifully crafted object with built-in social and environmental value.The social entrepreneurs documented in this book highlight the relationship between personal values and sustainability, entrepreneurship and innovation in developing and marketing luxury products. The pioneers outline how they have developed inclusive supply chains with poor and vulnerable communities. Their stories prove that luxury need not be a destructive force. Instead, this book opens a window on a world where entrepreneurial pioneers can change the rules of the game.
