Is Sustainability Sustainable Case Study

Is “sustainability” Cool?
Since the mid-1990s, consumers have become more concerned about environmental issues (Strong, 1996). Strong (1996) defines a green consumer as someone who rejects products that are harmful to self or others, have manufacturing processes that damage the environment, consume a large amount of energy, involve unnecessary waste, and use materials originating from threatened animals. According to Uusitalo and Oksanen (2004) this type of consumption can be defined as ethical consumerism. They suggest that ethical consumerism includes concerns about unethical and unfair trades at the global level, like child labor, low paid labor, disrespect of human rights, animal testing, and environmental damage. These concerns have led

In 2006, Graydon Carter, editor of Vanity Fair, said that “Green is the new black,” in the first environmentally focused issue (Winge, 2008). This issue was characterized by celebrities, including politicians, and movie stars such as Al Gore, George Clooney, and Julia Roberts, speaking about factors that affect global warming and things that we can do to improve the environment. Consequently other magazines like Elle, Flaunt, Glamour, Marie Claire, and Surface published articles and pictures of celebrities showing their green lifestyles. This paradigm shift created a demand for sustainable fashion, and as a result, designers such as Giorgio Armani, Betsey Johnson, Stella McCartney, Todd Oldman, and Oscar the la Renta produced apparel with sustainable materials, and advertised their lines with celebrities (Winge, 2008). In 2006, Paris´s Third Annual Ethical Fashion Show presented sixty eco-conscious designers from all over the world. In 2007, Brazil´s Fashion Week in Sao Paulo included sophisticated evening dresses made of e-fabrics or recycled supplies. In many cases, celebrities cooperate with designers to launch eco-fashion lines. For example, the rock band U2 collaborated with the designer Ali Hewson and her husband Bono to launch their eco-fashion collection called Edun, which is “nude” spelled backwards

They point out the Toyota Prius as an example, The Prius is a hybrid gas-electric car, which means it consumes less fuel, and is more expensive (by thousands of dollars) than conventional cars. Still, the Prius has been a complete success in the market (Griskevicius, Bergh and Tybur, 2010). The hybrid Prius is considered a “green chic” car (Ottman, Stafford and Hartman, 2006). It would be reasonable to infer that green consumers will purchase this car because they would save money in the long run by reducing the expenditure on fuel. However, a report by the New York Times of the main five reasons consumers purchase the Prius states that consumers buy this car because it “makes a statement about themselves,” and environmental concern was the last item on the list of reasons that participants described. The question is why do consumers believe that the Prius “makes a statement about themselves”? Griskevicius, Berghand and Tybur (2010), suggest that green products imply that their owners are willing and can pay more for products that help to improve the environment and society. Consumers driven to purchase green products are more motivated by social factors than environmental or economic factors. The literature has shown that when individuals sacrifice themselves for the well being of a group of unknown people they increase their status in