since returning the nyc, this was the lightest, yet most interesting read i could get my hands on. and i give it a high rating. even for those not typically interested in this subject matter, it will reveal a lot of interesting tidbits that you can promptly use during social gatherings to impress your listener (as i have done).
dana thomas did years of traveling and research to understand how luxury went from locally made paris goods where the demand was larger than the supply to outsourced goods where the supply can quite adequately meet the demand.
she means that we have LVMH, for example, an upwards of a billion dollar earning company per year that is founded on luxury and yet they are supporting brands that make JEANS. since when have jeans been luxurious? so why do luxury brands make them? food for thought.
the most direct and honest answer is for revenue. the luxury industry transformed itself since bernald arnault too the helm of LVMH at the beginning of the 1980s and started to make quick fashion available for the masses. for instance, going to the 5th avenue store was no longer reserved only for society's upper-crust of wealth. indeed, the middle class of america could not be found perusing the goods and at the very least, buying the cheapest items available: leather holders, sunglasses, and the such.
some of my favorite insights from the book were:
1. 40% of LV's customers are japanese. these days, they live at home longer and thus have a much bigger disposable income to spend on luxury goods.
2. an LV sales man in japan sold a discerning japanese woman a dress who promptly brought it back to the store because a thread was hanging out of the seam and as she said, it was therefore "defective." thus, the sales man got the idea to try to sell the same dress to a european, who noticed the thread but shrugged and said, "i can cut it off." the last test was an american, who bought the dress and never even noticed the thread hanging out.
this speaks legions to the japaneses' refinement and taste level. this is precisely why i love them so much.
3. the number one tourist to hawaii is again, the japanese, who buy packaged deals that bus them directly from the airport to the duty free luxury store to search out the goods. the japanese speaking clerks say that they usually search first, eat dinner, and then come back at night and make their purchases.
4. there are luxury-brand freaks in japan. there is one man that stores everything in their original boxes in his apartment and never cooks at home for fear that the smell will seep into the fabric.
5. luxury brand stores in las vegas do a lot of money because it's the one place where people of all classes can go into that kind of store and not worry about being judged, no matter how they look. a clerk at one of the stores said that women who look like complete trash come in and throw down thousands of dollars in cash on luxury goods so there is no way to really pick them out of the crowd.
6. asia is the biggest growing market. luxury stores are opening up in china at an unprecedented rate and by the 2000-teens, they will be the largest consumers of luxury goods.
7. luxury goods secretly or not secretely manufactured in china are sometimes not assembled in the country so that when they are shipped to europe, they can be and thus have the 'made in ______' seal of approval. likewise, brands hide the 'made in china' label inside the good well or put the label on the outside packaging so that again, when it is shipped to europe, the receivers can rip off the label and reattach a new one. because no one wants to buy a luxury good made in china.
8. hermes and chanel are just about the only brands that don't outsource for their bags and no. 5 perfume, respectively. hermes has artisans in france who work on each bag individually from beginning to end as opposed to other brands (whether outsourcing or not) who have instated the assembly line technique. meanwhile, chanel still pays enormous sums to keep local french farmers growing the flowers necessar to concoct their eponymous perfume. so if you want the best of the best, shop from them.
9. in the department store, most sales are made on the first floor. wanna know why? because have you noticed that on the first floor, it's always bags and fragrances and neither are concerned with size. no need to try them on, you can just buy them. also, a fragrance is the gateway product for the middle-class consumer who can afford it but not anything else. not to mention, it's shelf-life is quite long.
interesting, right?
Posts
