Abstract
To sustain their growth worldwide, luxury brands are increasingly adopting the codes of fast fashion. They continually introduce new designs that move quickly from the catwalk to stores to stay on-trend, resulting in short and constantly renewed collections. But does this fashionization impede luxury brands’ Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) image? This article investigates this question building on the ephemerality–scarcity dual-route model. Findings from a first experiment involving a fictitious luxury brand show that fashionization increases both perceptions of ephemerality (negative route) and scarcity (positive route), with opposing resulting effects on the brand’s CSR image. Extending these results to a real-life luxury setting, findings from a second experiment show that the influence of fashionization on the brand’s CSR image is only mediated by the positive scarcity route. This study provides a number of noteworthy theoretical insights and relevant managerial implications for luxury managers involved in CSR communication.
Highlights
Luxury is not the very opposite of sustainability
We focused on the influence of the fashionization of luxury, as it can be inferred from the brand’s products that are displayed on its website, on the brand’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) image
Study 2 referred to the real luxury brand Louis Vuitton and aimed at enhancing the external validity of the findings derived from Study 1
Summary
Luxury is not the very opposite of sustainability. “When you buy a luxury product, you think it will last [but] there is a kind of modification of luxury today, as fashion is seizing the territory of luxury” [1]. Luxury brands take more direct inspiration from streetwear designers and influencers, such as Virgil Abloh, who was recently appointed Louis Vuitton’s new artistic director of menswear They introduce an increasing number of pre-fall, cruise, and resort collections in addition to the traditional two-season calendar (Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter). They launch several limited editions (e.g., Chanel’s Métiers d’Art collection and runway bags) and implement the see /buy concept (invented by Burberry) that makes products available right after the show This fashionization, where luxury brands are positioning product lines closer to fast-fashion industry codes and managing them allows a rapid response to emerging trends and fashion consumer demands. In the end, creating permanent visibility in the media, and especially in the social media, fashionization aims at increasing volumes and profit [2]
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