June 01, 2011, Universia Knowledge@Wharton
To explain how things work inside the most exclusive, high-end consumer market, Universia Knowledge@Wharton interviewed Maria Eugenia Girón, a professor at the IE Business School and author of The Secrets of Luxury. Girón also manages the investment firm Megam Capital, which specializes in the high-end sector, and provides companies with advice about strategic planning and brand-building.
Universia Knowledge@Wharton: What is eco-luxury, and what impact does it have on the development of a sustainable high-end market?
Girón: Eco-luxury is the favorite term for describing the initiatives that luxury brands are taking in order to integrate the value of sustainability into their business strategies. This term includes many different kinds of initiatives. Tiffany & Co. has eliminated coral from its line-up of products because it cannot be harvested in a sustainable way. Zegna and Loro Piana have repopulated the vicunas of the [Peruvian] Andes, which were on their way to extinction...
...Today’s consumers are interested in knowing where the products they consume are coming from, and understanding the impact of their design, production and development on the environment and on people. For reasons of health, as in the case of foods or cosmetics, or because of [greater] sensitivity to the problem of environmental deterioration, consumers today identify the “best” products as those integrate those values...
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