Lucy Siegle: Luxury will have to work hard to be sustainable

Opinion

Will the hegemony of the "it" handbag ever end? For a while it was challenged by the "it" shoe, and now we're left with both. But then the luxury industry these days is all about accessories.

Just ask Victoria Beckham who apparently has a Hermes Birkin bag in every colour - 100 versions of the same bag.

The luxury business has transformed from the old craft-based companies dependent on the skills of Parisian ateliers and Italian leather workers (small businesses but with big reputations) to a set of multibillion-dollar conglomerates. LVMH (including Louis Vuitton and Marc Jacobs) is the biggest, followed by PPR (including Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent).

Ethically, it's been a tricky evolution. "Democratising luxury" largely meant giving up the tight control of the supply line in favour of cutting overheads. For a while many brands defected to Southeast Asia, but, presumably missing the 300 per cent premium that a Made in Italy tag attracts, many have returned to Europe.

But on what terms? The Tuscan textile town, Prato, now has an estimated army of 25,000 low-wage workers making "luxury" goods, predominantly from China.

Working conditions can be brutal, as exposed last year by Luxury Slaves, an Italian TV documentary.

The 2007 WWF report, Deeper Luxury, gave LVMH a C and Tod's scored an F (after failing to answer basic questions) for sustainability.

This is not a good look. Then in March 2007 LVMH was expelled from the FTSE4 Good index, which tracks businesses conforming to its environmental and social criteria, for supply chain issues.

Is it too late to rescue luxury's reputation? Not according to the main players, who appeared to be tripping over themselves to reduce energy consumption, announce water projects or phase out excess waste (we are talking about an industry where faulty product or end of line is routinely incinerated to "protect',' the brand) at a recent sustainable luxury conference in Delhi. Meanwhile LVMH, returned to the FTSE4Good, has just become a shareholder in Edun, the socially conscious clothing company set up by Ali Hewson and her husband, U2's Bono. PPR's chief, Francois Henri Picault has even made a film with Luc Besson titled Home, "a constructive look at the social and environmental issues of our world".

Should you buy the bag? There is some logic in sustainable luxury. It's supposedly reliant on superior, carefully managed materials and there's that heritage of bespoke craftsmanship and attention to detail over the supply chain - in theory adding to the one, high quality piece you can keep for ever. And just one should be fine.

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