Adopting voluntary simplistic lifestyles with practices that are socially and environmentally responsible remain key issues in the quest toward saving the planet. This research explores the prevalence of voluntary simplistic clothing consumption practices among female consumers in South Africa, where dramatic increases in consumption must be curbed.

Following the resurgence of the application of theories of social practices in consumer research, we offer a comprehensive typology of luxury consumption practices. In doing so, we shed light on how personalized meanings of brand luxury are emergent in the private sphere of everyday life, as luxury consumers integrate various materials, meanings, and competencies within their practice performances. The findings provide important insights for both scholars and practitioners in developing a more holistic understanding about the multi-dimensionality and fluidly of luxury brand meanings in the context of contemporary consumer culture. Specifically, we draw attention towards the active and creative role that consumers play in constructing multiple meanings of brand luxury, and illustrate that brand luxury can be appropriated and personalized by consumers in many different ways. This ranges from being considered as a form of financial investment to facilitating an imaginary escape; from being perceived as markers of an affluent lifestyle and a conveyer of social status to emerging as resources for aspirational personalities that assist consumers in their self-transformations. Moreover, we found that consumers are not restricted to preforming only one particular luxury brand consumption practice. They can, and often do engage in different practices of luxury consumption, where each addresses different needs salient to the context of their life themes and situational influences. Finally, we show that different dimensions of luxury brand imaginary can become more or less important, depending on which practices are performed by consumers.

This essay presents an anthropological approach to embodied skills in brand rituals. In an ethnographic account of an everyday domestic practice of men’s shaving, this essay argues that men who apply skill to ritualized shaving practices evoke particular sensorial dimensions that elicit certain memories and ideals that situate time and place differently for them. Rather than evaluate ritual semiotically for its signs and symbols, this study “brings into being” (Ingold 2013) skilled human activity with branded material in ritual as it explores sensory awareness and environmental-temporal consumer perceptions of time and place. As such, this essay examines the less obvious and less frequently addressed issue of time and place as they occur in embodied practices of everyday consumption. The human body is suggested as a particular consumption site for applying skillful embodiment and a new conception of ritual.

Luxury brands embed meanings in advertising and encourage brand/category ritualistic behavior (Johar, Holbrook, & Stern, 2001; Otnes & Scott 1996). The ritualization of a luxury brands, such as champagne, is important because rituals encourage transformation and status attainment (Driver, 1991; Otnes & Scott, 1996). Yet, do all luxury consumers interpret the rituals communicated in advertising similarly? We consider Collins (2004) Interaction Ritual Theory (IRT) to examine how advertised rituals transform consumption practices of luxury products. We used a hermeneutic phenomenological research method (Langdridge, 2007), collecting data (interviews and photos) from 18 informants (Atkinson & Flint, 2001) using a two-tier collection strategy (see Ziller, 1990). After informants provided images of champagne (see Collier & Collier, 1986; Heisley & Levy, 1991), semi-structure interviews were conducted. The questions related to topics such as champagne sharing, ritual influence, image descriptions, and personal consumption. The data were analyzed using a grounded theory approach (Glaser, 1978), inductively coded based on IRT’s conditions. A thematic analysis of the images was also conducted (Fereday & Muir-Cochrane, 2006) as was an iterative analysis of the transcripts. The researchers separately and then together analyzed the images and transcripts to determine similarities, understandings, and interpretations of emergent themes. Consistent with taste regimes literature (Arsel & Bean, 2013), we find champagne consumption is also practiced and ritualized according to two types of regimes. Within an open regime, informants experience champagne as a medium for engaging with limited individuals, with the product as the kernel of the experience. The open regime is a negotiated (beyond what is advertised) ritual that can be explored and extended. Alternatively, a closed regime represents a more stagnant system of social interaction, emerging as a product of the situation, often a celebration (as typically advertised). Those practicing a closed regime banalize the ritual, have hegemonic discourses related to product, and have more difficulty naming brands. Consumer’s luxury brand expectations, including rituals, are often interpreted through advertising and brand-created communications. Understanding how consumers integrate brand messages into rituals with the products and brands as well as the brand role in rituals is important. While it can be hard for brands to know their target customers’ ritual regime, brands may choose varied communications approaches to reach both consumer types. Either way, consumer expectations of open regimes are likely built through advertising, while closed regimes are built through special events and intensive distribution strategies.

This paper will investigate social marketing strategies and tactics used to promote sustainable fashion consumption. It will map the impact of selected ethical awareness-raising campaigns by Asia-based sustainability champion NGO, Redress, using a case study method to determine the effectiveness of promotional practices employed in promoting environmentally sustainable fashion brands.