Participation
There are a variety of ways that individuals or organisations can participate in our work:
General Membership
General membership is open companies who write a letter from their directorate to the ALA secretariat confirming that they:
- seek to provide their consumers an elite experience due to premium investments in quality and communications;
- endorse the authentic luxury principles and will incorporate them into an official company mission;
- will engage other companies and organisations to implement these principles;
- will credibly and publicly report on their current performance and programme of activities to implement these principles and criteria, at least biannually;
- allocate budgets and responsibilities within their company to implement these principles and criteria;
- will enable the secretariat to assess the company's progress in implementing these principles and criteria, at least biannually;
- will inform the secretariat when mentioning the ALA in external communications;
- will pay an annual fee to the secretariat of the Authentic Luxury Association, depending on their turnover.
General Members receive the following benefits:
- the latest information on best-practice social and environmental management and production techniques;
- assistance in building a solid business case for sustainable development;
- access to top-tier consultants to help improve their business model;
- greater engagement with stakeholders from other sectors of the society including partner institutions of ALA;
- networking with like-minded people within the industry;
- opportunities for associating a brand with other luxury brands and potential for joint promotions;
- greater trust in claims of social and environmental commitment;
- profiles featured on the home page of the Authentic Luxury Network, through ALA agreement with that network's administrators, Lifeworth Consulting.
Select Membership
Some companies or brands can progress to a level of performance on social or environmental issues that is important to communicate to consumers to inspire behavioural change. Select Membership is awarded by the ALA secretariat to those General Members who achieve above average performance in all aspects of authentic luxury and are the best performers for a particular aspect of that, such as carbon neutrality, or community impact. In unusual cases individual product lines may be allowed to be part of the ALA Selection, for specific activities.
The consumer-facing work of the ALA focuses on the success of these Select Members. Trade shows, fashion shows, and most other media work organised by ALA focuses on profiling the possibilities embodied by the Authentic Luxury Selection (ALS), which is comprised of these Select Members. The processes of choosing select members and the brand to use to describe this selection to consumers will be decided as ALA evolves.
Select Members receive the following benefits additional to General Membership:
- membership fee is reduced 50% for future years of membership if a whole company or brand is selected
- additional opportunities for joint promotion of products, services or brand
- greater trust in claims of social and environmental performance
- photos, blogs and postings featured on the home page of the Authentic Luxury Network, through ALA agreement with that network's administrators, Lifeworth Consulting
Individual Associates
Involvement of experts who do not work for luxury brands, but in other related areas such as marketing, consulting, design, media, sustainability, civil society or policy, are important to the ALA. In addition, some individuals are interested in the ALA but not yet able to secure support from their employer for their company to join as General Members. To become an Individual Associate of ALA, such individuals must commit to the AL Principles in writing to the secretariat and explain how they will contribute to the activities of ALA. Signatories to ALA projects, such as the Star Charter, are automatically individual associates of ALA, if not Honorary Fellows (see below). There is no fee involved, no criteria to be assessed upon, and no voting rights. In order to ensure Member companies receive most benefits, Individual Associates who work in luxury companies that are not General or Select Members of ALA will have restricted access to some ALA resources.
Honorary Fellows
Individuals who are making an outstanding contribution to promoting socially and environmentally beneficial luxury goods and services, or supporting the ALA to do the same, will be invited to become lifelong Honorary Fellows of the association. These fellows will be recognised at public ALA events and subsequently have full access to the events and resources of the ALA without charge. They may then be invited to help with further public events, such as those celebrating the signatories to the Star Charter.
Founders
The original founders will always be acknowledged on the ALA site and do not have to be members of the ALA. “Founding Members” is a category of membership for those luxury companies that join the ALA before its official incorporation and public launch in late 2009. Founding members have no more governance rights than other current members.
Partner Organisations
Organisations that collaborate on projects, such as NGOs and IGOs, can be acknowledged as partners. This involves no governance role.
Sponsors
Individual, corporate or charitable sponsors are sought for the Associations work programme. If they take a leadership role in supporting the ALA they may be invited to become Honorary Fellows.