well, duh.

By definition, luxury goods are typically made of rare or precious materials. Ivory, Crocodile, Ostrich, various furs, rare bird feathers, the list goes on and on.

If a luxury good is made of common materials, then your pretty much paying a huge markup for style. Or the massive marketing campaign that made said item "luxe."

Reply

Hhhm, just because something is made of rare materials doesn't necessarily mean it has to be made in an environmentally damaging or inhumane way, does it?

Perhaps this study shows that luxury customers should avoid the big brands (which, honestly in many cases you are just paying for the name anyways) and stick to small, family business type labels - in my experience, at least, these tend to be more ethical/sustainable producers.

Reply

Beyond the use of damaging or wasteful materials in the products themselves, there's even more to worry about with packaging. Packaging is all that really separates some luxury-branded goods from non-branded ones, after all, especially at the levels where most consumers buy. And don't forget the wasteful practices of boutique stores, using woods that may have come from rainforests in their paneling and furniture, non-energy-efficient lighting, etc. Expand it out to retail stores, and add mass advertising mailings or newspaper inserts on paper weekly, etc.

But if everyone got an attack of conscience and went to minimal packaging and renewable, ecologically friendly materials served up from efficient warehouses, shopping would be a lot less fun for a lot of people, and a lot less stuff would get sold. Ignore the surface reasons of people who have closets full of stuff they never wear or use; in reality it's the experience they buy, isn't it?

And that's not even getting into the wasteful features some products have just to entice buyers. Do you know how much energy is wasted by an always-on stereo or TV when it's on standby? It may not seem like a lot, but try multiplying it by millions of devices. All because people don't want to have to walk over and push a hard power switch.

Feels good to rant :)

Reply