The global coffee market has undergone several structural changes with power shifting from the International Coffee Agreement and its member countries to international coffee traders, multinational coffee corporations, and ultimately end-consumers. Despite these changes, the chronic issue of income disparity between coffee-producing and coffee-consuming countries remains entrenched. Although various international organizations and individual companies have initiated diverse sustainability movements, these efforts have shown limitations. In this context, it is essential to identify and analyze successful examples of prioritizing the development of marginalized tribal coffee producers and their community in the process of globalization. It is also essential to generalize factors contributing to their success. This study aimed to analyze the Araku Coffee Project led by the Naandi Foundation in India through lens of the cultural-political economy of the Global Production Networks (GPN). The Naandi Foundation rooted in the philosophy of sustainability has worked to enlighten the indigenous people of the Araku region while cooperating and building trust with smallholder farmers, cooperative, European carbon-fund, and international buyers. During this process, not only a platform of international coffee sales but a regional coffee festival called ‘Gems of Araku’ was initiated while marketing efforts using the name of ‘Araku’ were made. At the same time, organizational strategies of the global production network were put into practice. As a result, coffee production showed both quantitative and qualitative growths, leading to an improvement in the quality of life for the indigenous people.

Compelling evidence suggests that the Earth’s resources deplete fast and the fashion industry from mainstream to luxury is also partly responsible to this environmental deterioration. The model of fashion production based on global supply chains for cheaper production locations and consumption where speed and endless diversification cater for global demand can hardly be described as sustainable and luxury is no exception to this. The thorny issue in the current state is how to reconcile sustainability which by definition opposes wasteful production and consumption with competitiveness which is built on aggressive models of global brand domination. The authors argue that the craft practices of the tailoring institutions of Savile Row in London constitute an important sustainable luxury example. The tailors have managed remarkably to combine sustainability and competitiveness in a relational model of competition and cooperation.