Earlier this year, at Paris Fashion week, Gucci launched its new line of sustainable luxury handbags. These bags are fashionable, stylish and made with leather sourced from ranches in Brazil that make conscientious efforts in protecting wildlife habitats, providing ethical treatment to livestock, promoting the rights and wellbeing of ranch workers, as well as curbing deforestation.

“Sustainable luxury” for many has been just an oxymoron term but now we see leading luxury fashion brands focusing on this aspect of doing business.

Last week, Gemfields, the world’s leading colored gemstone producer, unveiled a truly one-of-a-kind set of fine jewelry collaborations with 36 leading international designers. Although Gemfields doesn’t make jewelry, they worked with a wide range of international designers to create these pieces from their ethically-soured emeralds and rubies and to generate awareness about Gemfields’ mission of responsible sourcing.

So is sustainable luxury all about Public Relations, altruism and building a socially responsible image about a brand? Now increasingly, it is more about the consumers who are highly aware and look for the real value of the purchased product. They want not just a high-level shopping experience but need to know about the product itself and its material qualities; how it is made, its intangible qualities; the way it’s sourced and created.

Companies are now taking care of this customer and market need by creating not just beautiful and luxurious products but also looking into the ethical values of the business. Last few years, some luxury brands have gained by conveying they are committed to corporate social and environmental responsibility.

A few years back, luxury brands might have balked at the idea of diluting brand image by talking about sustainable practices. But over the years, it has been noticed that the values that luxury brands stand for align perfectly with sustainable practices. These include timelessness, permanence, novelty, craftsmanship, and a meaningful brand and retail experience – all characteristics that mirror the underlying goals of sustainability and social responsibility.

In Nov 2011 Tiffany & Co. launched its first annual web-based corporate responsibility report, detailing its history of environmental and social responsibility, and the previous year’s sustainability performance. The report provided insight into Tiffany’s standards and operations regarding the sourcing of precious materials and details about its diamond supply chain. With this, Tiffany presented that it conducts its business with a moral obligation of protecting the environment and respect for communities.

Earlier this month, Barneys introduced products by ECOALF who develop their own textiles from the innumerable discarded plastic bottles fishing nets, and even coffee grinds, repurposing them into soft wearable fabric. This has brought an interesting sustainable, “green” fashion brand right into the heart of mainstream luxury retail.

Are these initiatives just a fad or are they a new evolving way of doing business? The affluent millennial generation and their purchasing power for luxury, is re-defining the luxury business. Millennials demand to know the origin of luxury products – where was it made, how, and by whom?

So luxury brands that want to grow their market within this growing group have to adjust their marketing message and way of doing business accordingly. It’s important to make these affluents aware of the human touch that goes into their products – the craftsmanship, the sourcing methods involved in the manufacturing process, from origins to the final sale.
Beautifuli.com which is being launched this fall is first of its kind and is positioned as a “leading online boutique offering women a new way to shop and be rewarded for buying sustainable lifestyle products – fashion, beauty, gifts and home décor”. Beautifuli.com has curated a collection of finest eco-luxury products and it would be interesting to see how it evolves as a brand.

Charles Leadbeater – a leading authority on innovation and creativity, thinks that luxury is increasingly defined not by the traditions and preferences of aristocracy but by how we want to “define ourselves”. As our world becomes more complex we’ll seek out and value simplicity and authenticity, which will lead to a ‘less is more’ attitude and desire to experience products that claim to ‘take us back to nature’ and to know where products come from. As a result, consumers want to show that they not only enjoy good quality but that they also care for the environment.

Considering all this we see a change in luxury brand marketing and consumer preference. In the near future, sustainable luxury will be the most indulgent form of luxury.