PPR

Parsing PPR’s Asian jewellery acquisition

December 10, 2012 3:00 am by Vanessa Friedman

PPR’s announcement last night that they had bought a majority stake in baby Chinese jewellery brand Qeelin – it was launched in 2004 by Dennis Chan and Guillaume Brochard– marks the third move on the part of French group with an Asian dimension. You know what that means: I smell a trend. Read more

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Posted in China, Jewellery, Luxury goods |

Labelux and Mulberry race for leathergoods crown

December 6, 2012 2:47 pm by Vanessa Friedman

Two interesting announcements this morning, both of which are worth examining: First Labelux announces instead of embracing (and chasing) hard luxury, it is exiting the segment to focus entirely on leathergoods; then Mulberry rejects the outlet model to take its bags and other products further up-market. The moves are complementary, in the context of general industry strategy. They both indicate that in the highly competitive world of leathergoods, current theory says it’s the most special, elaborate, highly worked pieces that sell.
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Posted in Accessories, China, Financial results, Jewellery, Luxury goods |

Wang officially moves to Balenciaga, more than doubles workload

December 3, 2012 5:11 pm by Vanessa Friedman

So it’s official: Alexander Wang, the 28-year-old wunderkind who launched his eponymous brand in New York only five years ago has just been handed the creative director reins at Balenciaga. He will continue to run his own brand (which is owned independently by Wang and his family), and split his time between New York and Paris. His first collection will be autumn/winter 2013 womenswear, next March. I’m wondering, does this indicate a new theory about/stage in luxury brands?

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Posted in Fashion, Luxury goods, Shows |

Dissecting the PPR rumour mill

November 29, 2012 2:58 pm by Vanessa Friedman

Oooooh those PPR folks are making the gossip waters churn. Today reports say NY hipster designer Alexander Wang is the top candidate for the artistic director job (artistic director, creative director, designer – does no one else wish these companies would regularise their titles?), while rumours are that Christopher Kane, the erstwhile favourite for that spot, is actually being looked at in the context of buying his eponymous brand! Good gosh and golly. Two young designers at once! Both would be surprising moves, however, seems to me.
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Posted in Fashion, Ready-to-wear, Womenswear |

Join the cult: sell less, for more

November 13, 2012 4:21 pm by Vanessa Friedman

Tiffany has announced it will open a flagship store on the Champs Elysées in Paris. Image by Getty

There’s a piece in the Financial Times today that should send luxury brands leaping for their lizard (and python, and shagreen, and croc and so on).

Discussing a new study on retail, my colleagues Barney Jopson and Tim Bradshaw note that it “suggests the most effective use of retail space is selling expensive products that are occasional purchases to well-off consumers.” This is like giving candy to a baby.

After all, this is what luxury has been saying all along – it’s what Burberry just announced it was going to do in china, and François-Henri Pinault described as PPR strategy as far back as 2006. My guess is the industry take-away from this will be simple: sell less for more. But I think that may be the wrong lesson to draw. Read more

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Posted in Fashion |

Nicolas Ghesquière to leave Balenciaga

November 5, 2012 3:36 pm by Vanessa Friedman

Today PPR announced, in one of the terser emails I’ve gotten, that they had mutually decided to part ways with uber-designer, fashion favourite, and more superlatives like that, Nicholas Ghesquiere. November 30th will be his last day. So what do we think happened?

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Posted in Fashion |

US fashion brands lagging in emerging markets

October 25, 2012 6:54 pm by Vanessa Friedman

There’s a really interesting study out today from the Digital Luxury Group. Based on data from over 31 million searches on Google, Bing, Yandex and Bai du, as conducted in Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Russia, the UK and US, it looked at which American luxury brands were the most popular globally (based on search, natch, not sales). The results would probably surprise you, especially when it comes to who’s on top, and emerging markets. Read more

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Posted in Accessories, China, Financial results, India, Internet, Luxury goods, Ready-to-wear |

Harry Winston bats its eyes and denies — sort of

October 19, 2012 3:49 pm by Vanessa Friedman

Much heart-fluttering in recent days over the rumours that the luxury arm of diamond specialist Harry Winston may be snapped up by either PPR or LVMH. Oooooh! M&A action in the luxury sphere. It’s so hard to resist. Perhaps that why Winston actually issued an official “Nothing doing” statement – albeit with a bit of a sideways wink at possible suitors. It’s lips are saying no, but its eyes….
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Posted in Jewellery, Luxury goods |

Outlets, Gen Z, Chinese power women – Bain’s surprising luxury revelations

October 15, 2012 8:37 pm by Vanessa Friedman

Earlier today I wrote about the odd idea that came to me after reading Bain’s 11th Luxury Goods Market report, but now I’d like to simply list a few more notable — and surprising — conclusions from that exciting document, including facts on outlet shopping, Gen Z, and a new Chinese consumer segment. Read more

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Posted in Accessories, China, Fashion, Luxury goods |

Puma CEO: Fake is fabulous!

October 9, 2012 3:41 pm by Vanessa Friedman

Sorry – that title is a bit misleading. I am not suggesting Jochen Zeitz, the chief exec of PPR-owned sportswear brand Puma, is in favour of counterfeiting. Rather, I was struck by comments he made as reported today in the FT regarding the benefits of synthetic fabrics vs leather in ye olde sneakers, and how the former were significantly better for the environment than the latter. This is something you actually hear a lot from various environmentalists, and it seems to me most consumers would consider it surprising. They also might be surprised to learn that fashion, whether driven by eco concerns or just the lust for the new, is fast going in the same direction.

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Posted in Fashion, Luxury goods, Menswear, Ready-to-wear, Womenswear |
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