Sustainable Luxury, Beauty & Sport

Learn from GUCCI, JAEGER-LECOULTRE, ROSY BLUE DIAMONDS, WWF, UNCTAD, HEC Lausanne University and many more luxury brands, NGO and Corporate Responsibility experts. 

     Join the leaders of the Sustainable Luxury community for a one day highly interactive workshop on September 28, 2010 in Lausanne/Switzerland, to learn, share, network and experiment among CR peers, NGO, Academia and experts.  

DOWNLOAD THE EVENT BROCHURE

VISIT THE EVENT WEB SITE.   

Unique workshop. 

Early Bird price until August 25, 2010.  

Information and registration

Lausanne, Switzerland

The debate surrounding sustainable luxury is not new, but very prevailing as luxury consumers’ expectations and behaviors evolve rapidly. The traditional definition of luxury as ‘anything unneeded’ is neither helpful nor relevant in today’s markets. Luxury has become both a commendable and widely obtainable need and necessity.  

When it comes to corporate responsibility, luxury companies don’t become model citizens overnight. But merely complying with public demands for responsible practices won’t protect them very long or even contribute to solve social or environmental problems.

But, how to be good and do well ?                           

What do the terms such as ethical consumerism or discerning luxury consumption really tell us about future luxury spending habits? How to go beyond mere compliance to gain a competitive advantage? How best in class luxury companies succeed in their endeavor of changing their stakeholders’ behaviors? How to make a real difference to society in reinventing a new business model? How to future-proof its company and ensure sustained value for all stakeholders ?

The Atelier of Sustainable Excellence™ aims to provide a learning & sharing platform for engaged CSR/Sustainability professionals from the luxury/prestige sectors, academia and non-governemental/not for profit organisations to :

• Anticipate the trends shaping the luxury industry
• Share business initiatives addressing social and environmental challenges.
• Experiment sustainable excellence during a highly interactive “GameShop”.

Provisional program and confirmed speakers.

• Mr Burak Cakmak, GUCCI, CSR Director, Keynote speaker
• Prof. Sandor Czellar, PhD, Marketing Professor, HEC Lausanne University
• Mrs Iris Maria Alexis Van der Veken, Rosy Blue Diamonds, Manager Corporate Affairs. Chair, United Nation Global Compact Network Belgium
• Mrs Corinne Paget-Blanc, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Communication Director
• Mr Christopher H. Cordey, Wholebeauty, Chief Catalyst Officer
• Mrs Veerle Vrolijk-van Wauwe – Transparence SA, CEO
• Powered by LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®, participants will build a common vision of the luxury goods industry in 2030. They will test how their  informed understandings of this industry and its interactions with key stakeholders –be they investors, consumers, retailers, environmental activists, or members of supply chains –  shape their future business models. The expected output will be a glimpse into the core values that the luxury goods industry will need to promote, as a whole, to future-proof itself and ensure sustained value for all its stakeholders. This session will be facilitated by Mrs Joyce Miller, PhD and Mr Eli de Friend, Caprese

Program may subject to change. Number of participants will be limited. Registration and inquiries

“Our members tell us that the single most challenging aspect of sustainability strategy is rollout in large and complex organizations. This dilemma can seem even more challenging, even impossible when an economic crisis is in full swing,” stated Professor Corey Billington, Director of the CSM – Forum for Corporate Sustainability Management at IMD at the recent CSM event held mid September in Lausanne. Professor Corey works with Deputy Director of the CSM, Dr Aileen Ionescu-Somers.

During this 2 days event, organised by IMD, about 30 CSR professionals from the private and public sectors gathered to discuss about « How to keep on track during a crisis »

Key findings were summarized as follows (source IMD-CSM)

Companies are facing the following “pain points” during the crisis when working to keep on track with their sustainability strategies:

• increased focus on short term results and survival;
• growing uncertainty about the long term;
• increased fear leading to paralysis and lack of decision;
• resource constraints;
• increasing complexity in aligning with stakeholders;
• decreasing share of attention for sustainability issues and strategies.

The following solutions were envisaged:

• Quantify your business case for sustainability as extensively as possible.
• Position sustainability as a clear positive contribution to the strategic redirection of the business.
• Mobilize resources in innovative ways.
• Define a long-term horizon integrated with radical sustainability innovation. Build the corresponding business case for new products, technologies and business models related to sustainability.
• Build a cross-sectoral, integrated vision, to support the mainstreaming of sustainability issues. Build it from topics that are high on the agenda (such as climate) in terms of their economic relevance, or that can produce “quick wins”.
• Fundamentally re-design processes, re-allocate resources and improve priority setting to compensate for the resources crunch.
• Refer to legislation and be more active in political advocacy.

For more information about IMD CSM Forum and Research or How Luxury and beauty brands can leverage the benefits of Sustainability ?

Send us an email

The Luxury Report 2009, surveys conducted among affluent luxury consumers show that the culture is shifting and the lifestyle of luxury indulgence is no longer the American ideal. « Luxury consumers’ desire to do good and give back is a bellwether of more profound changes taking place in the luxury market, » Danziger says.  « Luxury has lost its luster.  Today luxury is synonymous with excessive indulgence, self-gratification, and an arrogant, wasteful lifestyle.  Affluents who have much are giving back, doing good, taking concrete steps to make the world a better place. They claim that   »When the current recession is over, the luxury market is going to be very different from the way it was before the current crisis.  The next generation of affluent consumers are thinking about the impact of their consumption on future generations and learning that conspicuous consumption is not the way to grow wealth, to achieve happiness or to make their lives more meaningful. »
Can luxury brands afford not to be concerned by inequalities, wealth disparities, social exclusion ? Can luxury brand’s CEO and board afford to stay complacent ? Can they afford not to understand and address the needs of the new affluents ethical consumers ?
For luxury brands, the question is not « to make profit », but rather « how they make profit ». Sustainable luxury management goes behind cause related marketing or strategic philanthropy; of course worthy initiatives, but somehow questionable in the long run as not bringing any competitive edge.

If business means more to you than the bottom line; if you are ready to embrace or enhance the idea of sustainability. It’s time we talk.

Christopher H. Cordey
www.wholebeauty.ch – Prestige. People. Planet. Profit.