Luxury Fashion Brand Sustainability and Flagship Store Design. The Case of ‘Smart Sustainable Stores’

In recent years, the relevance of sustainable practices has increased in the luxury environment as socio-environmental problems have become more severe and consumers started to react sensitively towards the conduct of companies and the eco-friendliness of their offer. Several luxury companies have thus realized that only by reinforcing their sustainability’s values and improving their awareness among external stakeholders, could they safeguard their brand equity. Although many companies have already embraced sustainability in their development strategies, very little is known on luxury sustainability in academic research. In particular, a research gap has emerged on the role played by luxury flagship stores in disseminating externally the corporate sustainability of luxury fashion brands. Hence, this study aims to close the above-mentioned research gap by focusing on sustainability issues in store retailing research. To address this gap, apart from the literature review on luxury sustainability and flagship store format as a brand communication channel, a case study has been carried out on the ‘Smart Sustainable Store’ policy of the Kering Group. For the first time, findings show how sustainable design and management of the flagship store help to minimize the environmental impact of the store’s operations by optimizing energy efficiency, and can make stakeholders more aware of the luxury fashion brand’s commitment towards the environmental sustainability by safeguarding and improving its reputation.