China

Mr Prada courts flattery through imitation

May 25, 2012 3:18 pm by Vanessa Friedman

Bertelli: “We don’t want to be a brand that nobody wants to copy.”

Getty Images

The above quote is from an interview Patrizio Bertelli, aka Mr Prada, gave yesterday to Bloomberg TV, and it is probably going to set off something of a hoo-ha in fashion, which has of late become very publicly litigious when it comes to copying.

Aside from the recent Gucci/Guess case, and the recent Burberry case (they sued a bunch of Chinese counterfeiters and won $100m in a Manhattan Federal court), there is the still pending YSL/Louboutin appeal. It is striking, because for years luxury – LVMH aside – was very purposefully quiet about this. I remember being told not so long ago by PPR that they were quite active in pursuing IP issues, but that they wanted to do so under the radar. Ditto Richemont.

Yet a few weeks ago even the latter called me to tell me about a trademark case they had going (which they won) in Russia. Something has changed.

Continue reading: “Mr Prada courts flattery through imitation”

Tags: counterfeits, Gucci, Guess, Louboutin, LVMH, Patrizio Bertelli, PPR, Prada, Richemont, YSL
Posted in China, Fashion | Permalink

Weighing profit and loss from skinny models

May 23, 2012 1:35 pm by Vanessa Friedman

Introducing the best argument I’ve heard yet about why skinny models are not, actually, ideal selling agents for fashion brands – and the only one that may actually go some way toward convincing the industry.

It comes courtesy of Ben Barry, who just received a doctorate from Judge Business School at Cambridge University and who spent the last year testing reactions among a few thousand Western and Chinese women to various models of different shape, age and race in the same dress. His conclusion: skinny models in high fashion may not be the attraction we think – especially in China.

Shock! Horror! What are all those luxury brands whose advertisements in Asia feature elongated western models and who want nothing more than to tap into all that new wealth going to do? Nothing changes a company’s behavior like hitting them where their wallet is.

Mr Barry made a video – rather catchily entitled “Does my bottom line look big in this?” explaining his findings: check it out.

Continue reading: “Weighing profit and loss from skinny models”

Tags: Ben Barry, Helena Bonham Carter, Prada, Roman Polanski
Posted in China, Fashion | Permalink

Marangoni to school China in fashion

May 17, 2012 4:17 pm by Vanessa Friedman

You know what they say: if the mountain won’t go to Muhammad….

After building enormous flagships and importing elaborate couture shows, fashion has entered yet another phase in its relationship with that great source of sales, China. Tomorrow the Istituto Marangoni, aka one of the most important fashion schools in European luxury (alma mater, for example, of Domenico Dolce and Franco Moschino), will unveil the creation of a Shanghai outpost.

Continue reading: “Marangoni to school China in fashion”

Tags: China, Domenico Dolce, Franco Moschino, Istituto Marangoni, Italy, Shanghai
Posted in China, Fashion | Permalink

Zegna one-ups the menswear market

May 3, 2012 4:56 pm by Vanessa Friedman

Will “real” men buy silk? And not silk ties, but silk shirts, silk suits, silk trench coats, silk sweaters and silk…seersucker? Can silk be sold, successfully, as “the cashmere of summer,” and hence raise the stakes in the race for the next luxury fibre once again? These are the questions.

Not that Hamlet had to worry about them, of course. Ermenegildo Zegna does.

Zegna, which bought a specialist silk mill two years ago in order to produce a whole new collection called — shocker! — Zegna Silk, thinks the answer is yes. They had a big party last night at their New York store to prove it, with skeins of jewel-toned silks all over, raw silk fibre curling down from shelves, specially commissioned “silk thread” paintings by the artist Emil Lukas on the walls, and lots of champagne. I saw a bunch of guys trying on the silk trench, which really looked like a kind of lightweight navy number. Still – a silk suit? It’s not very…macho. It’s kind of the fashion equivalent of quiche.

Continue reading: “Zegna one-ups the menswear market”

Tags: Emil Lukas, Ermenegildo Zegna
Posted in China, Fashion, Luxury goods, Menswear | Permalink

The luxury pricing problem

May 2, 2012 4:55 pm by Vanessa Friedman

I’ve been thinking of a conversation I had with Rodrigo Bazan, president of Alexander Wang, about the problem of pricing in a global luxury world – and his rather clever way of addressing the issue.

The trigger was the news that European brands (well, mostly LVMH brands) were raising the prices of their products in Europe. The move, to compensate for the slight slowdown of business in Asia, caused it seems by the Chinese buying luxury brands abroad, where they are notably cheaper than they are locally. All of which reminded me of something Mr Bazan had said of the luxury consumer in Asia: “when they see something they like, the first thing they do is Google it on the US web site of the brand, to see what the prices are in dollars.”

If the gap (for whatever reason: import duties, taxes, real estate costs etc) is too big, well – you can guess what happens, and where they make their purchases.

Continue reading: “The luxury pricing problem”

Tags: Alexander Wang, Diego Della Valle, LVMH, Prada, Rodrigo Bazan, Schiaparelli
Posted in China, Fashion, Luxury goods | Permalink

Georg Jensen and Smythson in the headlines

May 1, 2012 3:48 pm by Vanessa Friedman

Things are heating up on the luxury front. Yesterday I was talking to Ulrik Garde Due, chief executive of Danish silver brand Georg Jensen, who confirmed that the stories about their private equity owners, Axcel, considering their exit strategy after 11 years were true. They have hired Rothschild and begun talks with potential buyers.

Meanwhile, Smythson, the leather and stationary group, has just lured Andy Janowski, Burberry’s former COO and senior vice-president of supply chain (now, that’s a sexy title), over to their side to mastermind the brand’s expansion.

Get ready: the heritage accessories brands are on the move!

Continue reading: “Georg Jensen and Smythson in the headlines”

Tags: Andy Janowski, Aquascutum, Axcel, Burberry, Fung Brands, Georg Jensen, Smythson
Posted in Accessories, China, Fashion, Luxury goods | Permalink

Luxury CEOs reveal fears for future

April 30, 2012 3:40 pm by Vanessa Friedman

Luxury brands from PPR to LVMH may have announced more banner results this month, but according to a new report from UK luxury consultancy Ledbury Research, their CEOs may be a lot more worried about the industry’s prospects in 2012 than they are letting on.

The study, which tracked “CEO Outlook” in 25 luxury group CEOs from the abovementioned groups to Starwood, Saks, Remy Cointreau and Netjets over the last two years, found a definite drop in optimism in recent months. Check out their chart!

Ledbury Research

Ooooh. Look at that descending line (the vertices are, obviously time underneath and optimism on the side). Scary.

When I called to discuss this, however, James Lawson, a Ledbury director, said the report “is not designed to be an exercise in fear-mongering, just an indication that perhaps we should keep an eye on things.”

“Everyone knows the 2010/11 bounceback was much stronger than generally expected, so there is this nervousness about what could happen in the future that no one really wants to talk about.” But he does!

He sited statements like the following as evidence:

Continue reading: “Luxury CEOs reveal fears for future”

Tags: Angela Ahrendts, Burberry, Ledbury Research, LVMH, Michael Kowalski, PPR, Starwood, Tiffany
Posted in China, Financial results, Luxury goods, Recession | Permalink

Fung family expands luxury empire

April 11, 2012 3:21 pm by Vanessa Friedman

Today the Hong Kong-based Fung family further enlarged their empire of Western luxury brands when Trinity Limited, the publically-listed menswear specialists that is controlled by the Li & Fung Group (whose controlling shareholders in turn are Victor and William Fung), announced it had agreed to purchase British tailor extraordinaire Gieves & Hawkes from Wing Tai Properties Limited.

The deal was priced at £32.5 million “plus annual payments for 18 years up to a cumulative maximum of £60 million” according to the announcement.

Gieves & Hawkes joins other Fung-owned luxury holdings such as French brands Sonia Rykiel and Robert Clergerie and Belgian brand Delvaux that are controlled via a private holding company, Fung Brands Limited, the luxury investment vehicle of Fung Capital Europe (phew!). Though Fung Capital is a separate entity from the Li & Fung Group, it does have those main investors in common. Interesting big picture, no?

Continue reading: “Fung family expands luxury empire”

Tags: Delvaux, Fung Brands Ltd., Fung Capital Europe, Gieves & Hawkes, Li & Fung Group, Robert Clergerie, Sonia Rykiel, Victor Fung, William Fung, Wing Tai
Posted in China, Luxury goods, Womenswear | Permalink

Can China save Made in Italy?

April 9, 2012 4:36 pm by Vanessa Friedman

Much hair-pulling and hand-wringing has gone on in the last few years over the migration of manufacturing jobs from Western nations to Asia, where costs are lower – exemplified in part in the Obama administration’s current “Made in America” campaign – but a piece today in the FT suggests that, when it comes to luxury and Europe at least, the equation may be about to reverse.

The story, which I encourage you to read (and not because I am a co-author, but because my colleague, Rachel Sanderson, has done a terrific job putting this all in context) is about a new Chinese luxury men’s wear brand named Sheji, owned by the Chinese, designed in China — but made in Italy.

Why Made in Italy? Because Chinese consumers have swallowed, hook, line and sinker, the idea, widely promulgated by European luxury brands to justify their pricing premiums, that Europe is the cradle of luxury and all associated know-how.

Continue reading: “Can China save Made in Italy?”

Tags: Caruso, Fung Brands, Made in America, Made in Italy, Robert Clergerie, Rupert Sanderson, Sheji, Sonia Rykiel
Posted in China, Luxury goods, Menswear, Politics | Permalink

Cracking the commercial code

March 2, 2012 11:27 am by Vanessa Friedman

Any regular reader of this blog knows that my opinion of fashion film shorts is not exactly sky-high; of all the ones produced by this industry recently as it discovered the joys of YouTube and its gazillion viewers, only one has really worked. That’s because it walked a perfect line between self-mockery and great fun, and was not obsessed with framing its products perfectly in the camera’s eye. (The film of which I speak features models wearing Lanvin and dancing to Pit Bull.)

So I admit: when Cartier called me to tell me about its new commercial, my first reaction was (and I’m not proud of this, but we are going for full disclosure here): oh, no. Not again. Ergghh. And so on. But I took myself off to the unveiling at the Mini Palais restaurant in Paris anyway, sat myself in the plush velvet seat and prepared to grit my teeth.

Continue reading: “Cracking the commercial code”

Tags: Cartier, Lanvin, Pit bull, YouTube
Posted in China, Fashion, India, Jewellery, Luxury goods, Russia | Permalink

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Material World

China

Mr Prada courts flattery through imitation

Weighing profit and loss from skinny models

Marangoni to school China in fashion

Zegna one-ups the menswear market

The luxury pricing problem

Georg Jensen and Smythson in the headlines

Luxury CEOs reveal fears for future

Fung family expands luxury empire

Can China save Made in Italy?

Cracking the commercial code

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