Responsible Luxury Development: A Study on Luxury Companies’ CSR, Circular Economy and Entrepreneurship

In this chapter we discuss how luxury brands can build their success on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), leveraging specifically on the paradigm of Circular Economy. The idea advanced in the chapter is that luxury and sustainability are not conflicting concepts, as many believe, but they are positively correlated, inasmuch as the quintessential characteristics of luxury goods make them potentially more sustainable than mass market goods. Through the discussion of four case studies of luxury brands operating in the sectors of fashion (Brunello Cucinelli, Gucci and Stella McCartney brands) and food (Godiva), we point out that the reuse of tangible resources, such as money generated by companies’ activities and raw material, can be a very solid basis for building market success as well as to broaden the positive contribution luxury brands can make to the environment, the employees, the local community of producers, and, as a consequence, to the society at large. A common feature of all the cases discussed is represented by the key role played by the entrepreneur (often the founder of the company) in fostering the balance between brand prestige and sustainability.