WANT WANT WANT WANT WANT WANT WANT

Solitaire Townsend writes a letter to Gucci in the Guardian last week wishing the fashion leader a happy 90th birthday and asking whether a designer brand can be sustainable.

Gucci sells the most aspirational lifestyle on earth. So, says Townsend, a transformative business model for Gucci wouldn’t just transform its brand, it would transform consumerism. “Gucci could teach the world that without sustainability, fashion is doomed; and without desirability, sustainability is impotent. Gucci can make sustainable consumption desirable.”

Is that possible?  According to Townsend, the global middle class is expected to triple by 2030, becoming a new market worth $5tn. Natural resource consumption will rise to 170% of the Earth’s bio-capacity.  Given these statistics, it better be.

In her missive, she quotes Aron Cramer of Business for Social Responsibility who says: “The need to develop new consumption patterns is the mother of all innovation challenges.”

Indeed.  Desire fuels consumption.  Advertisement-fueled conspicuous consumption further fans the flames of status anxiety leading to more desire. And so on.

Gucci is king of this hill. I can’t imagine the luxury brand suggesting we stop buying its bags and steamer trunks.  But if not that, what would constitute sustainable consumption?  Recycled leather and fabric?

Perhaps the company could take your old Gucci and make it new Gucci for a fee.  A fresh business model, not creating anew but remaking and refining the past.   Slightly better for not using some new materials perhaps but it still means using energy and resources.

So what is Gucci to do?