Do luxury brands have to trade off for sustainability?

Abstract

In today’s global landscape, sustainability emerges as a paramount concern for both individuals and businesses worldwide, including Vietnam. Vietdata reports that luxury distribution and trading enterprises in Vietnam saw a 67% revenue gain to about 25,000 billion copper from 2021. Twelve companies selling 34 luxury brands including Louis Vuitton, Chanel, and Dior generated this data. Thus, luxury sector stakeholders may be interested in Vietnamese consumers’ tastes and purchase behavior, which local research rarely examines. This study explores how sustainability and high-end fashion intersect to meet consumer tastes that increasingly prioritize sustainability in purchase decisions. Despite this trend, the research scrutinizes nuanced reactions when juxtaposing sustainability with luxury. Investigating the influence of factors like exclusivity, conformity, hedonic value, and attitude on the purchase intentions of Vietnamese luxury consumers toward sustainable fashion brands, the study surveyed around 300 luxury consumers in HoChiMinh City. Utilizing PLS-SEM for analysis, findings underscore the pivotal role of attitude in driving intention towards sustainable high-end fashion, followed by hedonic value, exclusivity, and conformity. This exploration aims to guide luxury brands in navigating the sustainability-traditional luxury dichotomy, offering theoretical and practical insights and profiling potential influential customers in sustainable high-end fashion.