In the world of luxury fashion, giving back is one of the biggest trends. Companies are now banking on "conscious capitalism", where they adopt more beneficial social or environmental practices to achieve better returns, and luxury fashion companies are no exception, said Director of the Centre for Marketing Excellence at SMU and Professor of Marketing Srinivas K Reddy. He pointed out that studies have also shown that customers do support well-designed, "from-the-heart" programmes. Ultimately, the question remains: can fashion save the world? "The luxury fashion industry consumes so much of the earth's resources – diamonds, precious metals, exotic leathers, etc – that any effort, even a small one, can help enhance the world we live in. I am confident of it," Prof Reddy said.