Letters to leaders - Gucci sells sustainability

Dear Mr Robert Polet,

Happy birthday Gucci. It's 90 years since Guccio Gucci started stitching luxury handbags from an artisan studio in Florence. Today you are the world's most coveted luxury brand , with 20% of global consumers eager to buy Gucci (if they could afford it), including a staggering 41% of Indian consumers naming Gucci as the most desirable brand in the world.

Can a designer brand be sustainable? Unfortunately the pesky issue of conspicuous consumption keeps getting in the way. Aron Cramer of Business for Social Responsibility puts it bluntly: "The need to develop new consumption patterns is the mother of all innovation challenges." Oxford Street on a Saturday makes a convincing argument for managing our expectations on that. But perhaps your own Aldo Gucci found a fragile little bridge across this gulf when he noted that "the bitterness of poor quality is remembered long after the sweetness of low price has faded from memory."

So is Gucci part of the problem or the solution? You don't just sell handbags, you sell the most aspirational lifestyle on earth. Your brand is toted by the likes of Rihanna and Pippa Middleton, who set the standard for our desires. Your signature fragrance is even called Envy. When it comes to sex, status and desirability Gucci has our number.

So a transformative business model for Gucci wouldn't just transform your 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.

Of course some argue that desire itself is the root of all evil, by fuelling our collective status anxiety. Alain de Botton advises us to embrace a bohemianism that despises all bourgeois status totems.

Except (as Gucci knows well) status and desire aren't manufactured, they are simply exploited. Researchers have found that men's testosterone rises when revving a Porsche. Those calling for conscious and value-led sustainable consumption are fighting not just attitudes, but the endocrine system. Our striatums (the status node of the brain) become just as animated when given a shot at improving our social standing as when we could win hard cash. And our medial prefrontal cortex goes wild when we see people who outperform or are higher status than us, flicking switches in the same regions of the brain that process pain. Unravelling the consumption conundrum becomes manageable once we realise affluent people aren't buying products, they are buying status.

Giveaway – Reuseit Hemp Shopping Bag Set – Ends 5/13/11 ...

Are plastic bags, bottles & other disposables the worst things affecting our environment? Probably not. However they are very important because of their ubiquitous nature. Nearly all of us use them — all the time. Pervasive and out of control, they are powerful symbols of consumption gone wild. The mindless over-consumption of use & toss items is just plain dumb, and we’re helping make it a thing of the past.

Reuseit has a great commitment to the earth. Their reusable products can help you have a positive impact and reduce the amount of waste that you are responsible for.

The Hemp Shopping Tote Set is fantastic!  It includes:

The totes are lightweight and very strong. They have unique double handles. There are long ones for over the shoulder and short ones for carrying by hand. The bags are roomy and sturdy enough to carry heavy grocery items. 2 gallons of milk were no problem in one tote.

The produce bags just might be my favorite new eco-friendly product. Why do we put healthy, fresh produce into plastic bags and then into our reusable totes? It makes a lot more sense to skip the plastic produce bags and use these great looking organic cotton bags. I loved filling them up at the store today.

The totes and produce bags are machine washable and made to last.

Produce Savers are a fun addition to this set. I just place one in the crisper in my refrigerator and it goes to work. There are food safe natural minerals inside that absorb moisture and ethylene gas so that your food retains vitamins and stays fresh longer. Each one lasts 60 to 90 days.

HOW TO CONNECT - You can like Reuseit on  Facebook and follow them on  Twitter .

PRIZE – Reuseit would like to give a Hemp Shopping Bag Set to 1 of you – choice of black or natural (ARV $39.95)

*** MANDATORY ENTRY : Leave a comment – just say something nice!  ***

Extra Credit Entries: (must do mandatory entry first- post a separate comment for each optional extra credit entry) * Enter another current Sweeps4Bloggers giveaway and let me know which one you entered (enter as many as you’d like, but only 1 bonus entry)

Giveaway ends May 13, 2011 at 8pm Pacific Time. Giveaway is open for residents of the US & Canada only. No purchase necessary – void where prohibited by law. Winner will have 48 hours to respond to email notification with shipping info and claim prize – if no response, another winner will be chosen . Subject to the  official rules .  Disclaimer/Disclosure : Sample and prize provided by sponsor.

American economist, devoted to the protection of American labor and industries

Rolling thunder

The Tariff review

Little Green Handbook, 145 Simple Steps to Save the Planet

Elihu Root collection of United States documents relating to the Philippine Islands