ABSTRACT
New technologies and new forms of co-operation may turn craft trades into interesting ‘local players’ for sustainable development. The labour-intensive production in the craft trade allows for the creation of eco-efficient, decentralised and resource-preserving jobs. With use of the material input per service unit method hand-crafted shoes were compared with industrially produced shoes with regard to their resource efficiency. The example of the made-to-measure shoe shows that reparability and durability are two crucial factors in the resource efficiency of the studied products. The labour-intensive production method allows for the creation of eco-efficient, decentralised and resource-preserving jobs. The worldwide dilemma of jobless growth could be counteracted by allowing for an evaluation of production methods that considers resource intensity not only per production unit but also per worker. The social and economic dimensions of the paradigm of sustainability require solutions that counteract jobless growth with an increasing number of growthless jobs.
