Luxury Craftsmanship as an Alternative to Building Social …
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need for regular awareness-raising, while emphasizing the shared values between
luxury and sustainability, such as creativity, high-quality, and production of exclusive
and timeless pieces, among others.
The luxury fashion industry as a robust value creator and trendsetter can generate a
more significant impact on the way we consume nowadays [33]. It can also support the
way we see artisanship and craftsmanship. In a society where massively manufactured
cheap clothing is the norm, unique pieces, with meanings and stories, are the way to
go.
Hence, sustainable luxury opens endless possibilities to support and empower
indigenous communities with ancestral knowledge by giving a new meaning to luxury, where the expression of values and beliefs, united to high-quality and handmade
work, can play a fundamental role to fighting the copying of crafting skills and
designs [24].
Luxury goods have implicit in their construction sustainability characteristics,
such as the lasting duration of the piece and the no need to be part of a trend. Luxe
goods do not just go out of style. They remain as a vestige of the consumer personality
and values.
Even more important, there is a need to return to the essence of luxury and use
the connection with craft and its possibilities of recovering ancestral techniques, as
well as to promote the production of artisan items, handcrafted in a responsible way
and with a vast ancestral meaning behind it [15].
Although luxury has always been important as a social determinant, it is currently
starting to allow people to express their intrinsic values. Thus, sustainable luxury
promotes a return to the essence of luxury itself with its ancestral meaning, i.e.,
a thoughtful purchase, artisan manufacturing, beauty of materials in its broadest
sense, and the respect for social and environmental issues. Consequently, sustainable
luxury would be not only the vehicle for greater respect for the environment and
social development, but also a synonym for culture, art, and innovation of different
nationalities, maintaining the legacy of local craftsmanship [19].
If we look carefully at the conceptualization of handicrafts and luxury and its
diverse characteristics, we understand that the basis of each is the production of
exclusive, authentic pieces or services, and full of values and stories of its creator. In
that sense, a close link is created between the creator and his creation throughout the
process and manages to transmit it to the world, generating products with significant
symbolic value and durability over time.
Luxury can offer a unique opportunity to create sustainable business environments
due to its two main characteristics that differentiate it from other market segments or
industries [27]. First, luxury is (often) based on unique skills; it allows luxury to provide high-quality and rewarding business conditions. Second, luxury is characterized
by its unique relationship with time, since its value is everlasting, enabling luxury to
offer a sustainable business model for resource management and the development of
high-quality products [31].
The fusion of crafts and design, empirical creation and theory, ancestral knowledge, and academy allow cultural immersion to develop proposals that harmoniously
113
need for regular awareness-raising, while emphasizing the shared values between
luxury and sustainability, such as creativity, high-quality, and production of exclusive
and timeless pieces, among others.
The luxury fashion industry as a robust value creator and trendsetter can generate a
more significant impact on the way we consume nowadays [33]. It can also support the
way we see artisanship and craftsmanship. In a society where massively manufactured
cheap clothing is the norm, unique pieces, with meanings and stories, are the way to
go.
Hence, sustainable luxury opens endless possibilities to support and empower
indigenous communities with ancestral knowledge by giving a new meaning to luxury, where the expression of values and beliefs, united to high-quality and handmade
work, can play a fundamental role to fighting the copying of crafting skills and
designs [24].
Luxury goods have implicit in their construction sustainability characteristics,
such as the lasting duration of the piece and the no need to be part of a trend. Luxe
goods do not just go out of style. They remain as a vestige of the consumer personality
and values.
Even more important, there is a need to return to the essence of luxury and use
the connection with craft and its possibilities of recovering ancestral techniques, as
well as to promote the production of artisan items, handcrafted in a responsible way
and with a vast ancestral meaning behind it [15].
Although luxury has always been important as a social determinant, it is currently
starting to allow people to express their intrinsic values. Thus, sustainable luxury
promotes a return to the essence of luxury itself with its ancestral meaning, i.e.,
a thoughtful purchase, artisan manufacturing, beauty of materials in its broadest
sense, and the respect for social and environmental issues. Consequently, sustainable
luxury would be not only the vehicle for greater respect for the environment and
social development, but also a synonym for culture, art, and innovation of different
nationalities, maintaining the legacy of local craftsmanship [19].
If we look carefully at the conceptualization of handicrafts and luxury and its
diverse characteristics, we understand that the basis of each is the production of
exclusive, authentic pieces or services, and full of values and stories of its creator. In
that sense, a close link is created between the creator and his creation throughout the
process and manages to transmit it to the world, generating products with significant
symbolic value and durability over time.
Luxury can offer a unique opportunity to create sustainable business environments
due to its two main characteristics that differentiate it from other market segments or
industries [27]. First, luxury is (often) based on unique skills; it allows luxury to provide high-quality and rewarding business conditions. Second, luxury is characterized
by its unique relationship with time, since its value is everlasting, enabling luxury to
offer a sustainable business model for resource management and the development of
high-quality products [31].
The fusion of crafts and design, empirical creation and theory, ancestral knowledge, and academy allow cultural immersion to develop proposals that harmoniously