Contents List of tables and figures x Foreword by James Ogilvy xv Author’s note xvii Acknowledgements xix Introduction: who said fashion is not serious business? 1 1 A question of luxury 7 2 What’s in a name? The history of luxury fashion branding 13 Branding evolution 13 Origins of luxury fashion 14 Early civilization fashion (3200 BC to 80 BC) 15 From Egypt to Crete and Greece (700 BC to 1150 BC) 16 The Etruscan and Roman fashion influence (800 BC to AD 476) 17 From Rome to the Byzantine Empire and the Middle-Ages (AD ~450 to ~1500) 18 The Renaissance, Italy and fashion (15th and 16th centuries) 20 Seventeenth-century baroque fashion 21 The eighteenth century, France and luxury fashion 23 The nineteenth century and modern luxury fashion 25 The rise of the yankees 26 The twentieth-century fashion explosion 28 The sixties 30 The seventies 31 The eighties 32 The nineties 34 The noughties 35 2007 and beyond 37 The dolce vita style blast 38 America, fashion and commerce 41 The luxury brand index 44 Charles Frederick Worth: Le Père de la haute couture 47 Modern business principles 56 Great moments in the history of fashion 57 3 A passion for fashion: the luxury fashion consumer 59 The consumer is king 59 The consumer purchase-decision process 62 Who is the luxury fashion consumer? 65 vii
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Contents
List of tables and figures xForeword by James Ogilvy xvAuthor’s note xviiAcknowledgements xix
Introduction: who said fashion is not serious business? 1
1 A question of luxury 7
2 What’s in a name? The history of luxury fashion branding 13Branding evolution 13Origins of luxury fashion 14Early civilization fashion (3200 BC to 80 BC) 15From Egypt to Crete and Greece (700 BC to 1150 BC) 16The Etruscan and Roman fashion influence (800 BC to AD 476) 17From Rome to the Byzantine Empire and the Middle-Ages (AD ~450 to ~1500) 18The Renaissance, Italy and fashion (15th and 16th centuries) 20Seventeenth-century baroque fashion 21The eighteenth century, France and luxury fashion 23The nineteenth century and modern luxury fashion 25The rise of the yankees 26The twentieth-century fashion explosion 28The sixties 30The seventies 31The eighties 32The nineties 34The noughties 352007 and beyond 37The dolce vita style blast 38America, fashion and commerce 41The luxury brand index 44Charles Frederick Worth: Le Père de la haute couture 47Modern business principles 56Great moments in the history of fashion 57
3 A passion for fashion: the luxury fashion consumer 59The consumer is king 59The consumer purchase-decision process 62Who is the luxury fashion consumer? 65
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Contents
List of tables and figures xForeword by James Ogilvy xvAuthor’s note xviiAcknowledgements xix
Introduction: who said fashion is not serious business? 1
1 A question of luxury 7
2 What’s in a name? The history of luxury fashion branding 13Branding evolution 13Origins of luxury fashion 14Early civilization fashion (3200 BC to 80 BC) 15From Egypt to Crete and Greece (700 BC to 1150 BC) 16The Etruscan and Roman fashion influence (800 BC to AD 476) 17From Rome to the Byzantine Empire and the Middle-Ages (AD ~450 to ~1500) 18The Renaissance, Italy and fashion (15th and 16th centuries) 20Seventeenth-century baroque fashion 21The eighteenth century, France and luxury fashion 23The nineteenth century and modern luxury fashion 25The rise of the yankees 26The twentieth-century fashion explosion 28The sixties 30The seventies 31The eighties 32The nineties 34The noughties 352007 and beyond 37The dolce vita style blast 38America, fashion and commerce 41The luxury brand index 44Charles Frederick Worth: Le Père de la haute couture 47Modern business principles 56Great moments in the history of fashion 57
3 A passion for fashion: the luxury fashion consumer 59The consumer is king 59The consumer purchase-decision process 62Who is the luxury fashion consumer? 65
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The twenty-first century fashion consumption environment 68Luxury consumer market indicators 70The future luxury fashion consumer 76Strategic implications for luxury brands 77
4 Luxury retail design and atmosphere 78Luxury retail location 78Store concept 81Retail extension 88Product merchandizing design 91New selling techniques 95The case of designer outlet shopping villages 97
5 The art of creating and managing luxury fashion brands 102What is branding, really? 102Branding benefits 103Luxury fashion branding strategy development 105The brand concept 107The brand identity 110Brand awareness 113Brand positioning 116Brand loyalty 118Brand equity 120Brand value 123The luxury fashion marketing strategy 128The product 129Pricing 140The place of distribution 142Promotion 144The celebrity connection 156People 164Positioning 167The confusion and clarification of fashion co-branding 168The menace of fake luxury goods 172The luxury branding death-wish list 176
6 Digital luxury 178The case for e-retail 178E-retail indicators 180E-retail attributes 182The internet as a retail location 182Online luxury fashion consumer behaviour 186Luxury fashion e-retail strategy 191Are luxury fashion products suitable for e-retailing? 192E-retail strategy options 194Luxury fashion e-marketing and e-branding strategy 202E-marketing strategy 203The 10 Cs of luxury fashion e-marketing 203E-branding strategy 209Website and e-store design 212E-merchandizing 221
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Final notes 223The luxury e-retail death wish list 224
7 Le new luxe 225A different fashion landscape 225The effects of the changing environment 226The rise of the masses 227From fast fashion to throwaway fashion 231Trend watching, trend tracking and luxury services 233The new luxury brands 236Accessible luxury 237Intangible luxury 238A borderline identity 240So who are the true luxury brands? 242How the future looks 243
8 Customize me! 246What is customization? 249Who wants to be customized? 250What are the benefits of customization? 252How can luxury brands customize goods and services? 253Customizing standardized products 255Point of delivery customization 257Customizing the retail shopping experience 259Producing bespoke goods 260Customizing the online experience 262Allowing the consumer to customize the process 264What are the challenges of customization? 265
9 The luxury fashion business strategy model 267What is a business strategy model? 268The business strategy modelling process 269End notes 277
10 Case illustrations 278The Armani brand extension success story 278The boom and bust of boo.com 285The effect of licensing on Pierre Cardin’s brand equity 296Is André Ross the first twenty-first century luxury brand? 303What does ‘Britishness’ mean in luxury fashion? 309
References 315
Index 321
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Chapter 1A question of luxury
‘Luxury is a necessity that begins where necessity ends.’Gabrielle Coco Chanel (1883–1971)
When you flip through the pages of a fashion magazine, what do you see? Anarray of luxury fashion advertisements, featuring colourful and alluringpictures of models displaying products that tease your eyes and sensitivity.When you switch on the television, you’re constantly bombarded withcelebrity news and reality shows that touch your natural human craving tofeel beautiful, important and recognized. The gorgeous people in the maga-zines and on television unconsciously speak to you, telling you that theirlifestyle and material possessions like their clothes and accessories can alsomake you beautiful and help you become a part of their world. All you needto do is to obtain the right fashion goods by the right designers. You thenbegin to crave the Gucci watch, the Louis Vuitton bag and the Chanel glasses,not to mention the Jimmy Choo shoes or the Bvlgari jewellery that beckonyou every time you see a picture of a celebrity icon. Welcome to the luxuryfashion land. You’re not alone but a minute part of a world that constitutes ofmillions of people that have been hooked by the luxury fashion fever calledbrand loyalty. Don’t worry, this is not a sickness and you’re not a victim butit is a part of the definition of your personality and lifestyle. In this world, itis not easy to make an exit because it is quite challenging to be logical-thinking in the midst of luxury fashion goods.
When the fashion design icon Coco Chanel stated that ‘luxury is a neces-sity that begins where necessity ends’, she knew exactly what she was talk-ing about. Also as far back as 1899, notable writer T.B. Veblen acknowledgedin his celebrated text The Theory of the Leisure Class, that the consumptionof luxury goods was a ‘conspicuous waste’. The truth is that we don’t needluxury goods to survive as human beings, but we need luxury goods to fuelthe sensations that contribute to our overall appreciation of ourselves and ourlives. It may sound uncanny but the appealing brand features that luxury fash-ion represents contribute to our general well-being.
Still in doubt? Then think about this. On a daily basis, we make most oflife’s decisions based on brands, beginning with the toothpaste we use in themorning to the cereal we have for breakfast, the car we drive, the phone weuse, the restaurants we eat in and also the toilet paper we use. We make daily
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purchases based on the trust we have that the consistent promises of a brandwill be delivered. Now take this trust for basic consumer goods to the higherlevel of luxury fashion and you’ll find that you have even greater brandpromises and more reinforcement that they will be delivered. This increasesyour level of trust. And when your expectations are met and exceeded, whatdo you think will be the result? Of course you’ll be hooked. If you can placeyour trust in a toilet paper or detergent manufacturing company every timeyou spend two dollars on their product, then what level of trust do you thinkyou’ll have for a high fashion brand that contributes to shaping your lifestyleand defining your identity? It is likely to be enormous. And this is whatluxury is all about.
Fashion is not only a matter of clothes and accessories but is also highlyinfluential in structuring society’s culture, identity and lifestyle. Luxury fash-ion even goes further to reinforce the evolution and voice of society. In thisgeneration where image underlies every aspect of our lives, luxury brandshave gained more prominence and are affecting the daily lives of bothconsumers and non-consumers on a greater level.
An intelligent, pragmatic and highly educated friend once told me that shewould rather not wear sunglasses than wear ones that are not made by Gucci.She has been a loyal Gucci sunglasses devotee from the day she bought herfirst Gucci sunglasses many years ago. She also wears prescription glassesand the first time she went for her eyeglass fitting in London, the optician wasout of stock of her desired Gucci frames. She didn’t mind waiting for onemonth for the frames to arrive, in the meantime straining her eyes daily andrisking her vision, such was her level of love and loyalty to Gucci. Of courseshe knew that she wouldn’t become blind but she was ready to jeopardize herfaltering vision for the love of a luxury brand. When I raised this point, shesimply said that I might not understand the intense contentment she feels eachtime she wore her Gucci glasses. This emotional core that the Gucci brandtouched in my friend is the impact luxury brands have on consumers on adaily basis all over the world. When a consumer wants a luxury brand, thereis no substitute. Such is the mind-game that ‘high branding’ plays withconsumers. Again, this is luxury.
So what is luxury fashion branding all about?
First, let’s look at the concept of branding. Brands are powerful and symbolicelements that have the potential of influencing cultures, societies and gener-ations. They play a daily role in our lives from the product decisions andchoices we make to the people we choose to speak to or associate with. Theyare also wealth-creators and a source of a steady income stream for thecompanies that own them. These statements will become clearer as you readfurther.
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The concept of branding has been in existence for hundreds of years. Theorigin of brands comes from the times when early cattle-rearing men stampedtheir ownership on their livestock by burning a mark of their name or identityon the cattle, to distinguish one cattle-farmer’s stock from another’s. Throughthis means of differentiation, the good quality cattle could be easily identi-fied. This crude method has translated into the trademarks and logos of today,which forms a crucial part of the brand.
The current definition of a brand has however evolved from marks, names,logos and shapes to elaborate marketing development and strategies. Theresult is the creation of something powerful and consistent, which has theability to produce emotional and psychological attachment with consumersand financial value for the brand owner.
A brand symbolizes a guarantee and credibility that assures the consumerthat what they are about to purchase will deliver its promise. The instantrecognition and definition of certain products is mainly as a result of thebrand. However, a product is not a brand and neither is a service a brand nora company a brand. If we were to go by the book definition of branding fromthe experts, we might summarize branding as the following:
A brand is a name, term, sign, symbol, design or a combination of these that isintended to identify the product of a seller and to differentiate it from those ofcompetitors. It is an identifiable entity of a company’s total offerings that makesspecific and consistent promises of value, which results in an overall experiencefor the consumer or anyone who comes in contact with the brand.
A product is a commodity that is made in a factory, which possesses attrib-utes and features, making it tangible. A brand is the sum of all experiencesand communications received by the consumer resulting in a distinctiveimage in their mind-set based on perceived functional and emotional benefits,which makes it intangible. This means that branding and all its associationsreside in the mind of the consumer, therefore you and I (the consumers) areimportant players in the branding scenario. Products can be easily copied andbecome outdated, but brands are unique and timeless.
Branding has become very prominent in the last fifty years as a coreaspect of marketing and business strategy. The concept has been stretchedbeyond the product or service application level to become one of the mostimportant business categories. As a modern concept, branding can be appliedto anything from products and services, to companies, countries and evenindividuals.
Every brand possesses the characteristics of identity, promise, value anddifferentiation. These are the features that create the relationship between theconsumer and the brand. The fundamental benefit of a brand is value-creationboth for the brand owner and the consumer. From the consumer perspectiveit is ‘the promise and delivery of an experience’, while from a business
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perspective it is ‘a distinguishable piece of intellectual property and an intan-gible asset that secures future earnings.’
Having said this, let’s now look at luxury goods and their interesting posi-tion in the whole branding set-up.
The luxury and prestige fashion goods sector utilizes fierce brand develop-ment strategies in its overall marketing strategy development, visibly incommunications. Luxury brands recognize that the art of product design,innovation and aesthetic beauty can only be effectively portrayed throughcreating strong brands that appeal to the psychology of consumers. Brandingis the lifeline of the luxury industry while design and creativity are itsbedrocks. Without branding, there would be no luxury goods.
Luxury fashion brands strive for innovation, differentiation and appeal.This is because the fashion business is forward-thinking. Fashion alwaysincorporates the past and the future and is hardly preoccupied with thepresent. It draws inspiration from the past in order to create the desire of thefuture. The present is only a temporary phase because if fashion is here today,it is already old-fashioned. This is where the role of branding is most promi-nent because it fuels the continuous desire of luxury products despite theconstant changes of fashion.
Luxury brands set the fashion trends for every season during the fashionweeks held in Paris, Milan, New York, London and other prominent cities. Inthe past century, haute couture designers like Christian Dior and Valentinodecreed the colour of every fashion season and the cut of every jacket throughtheir designs. Presently, the scenario is gradually changing as a result of awider choice and variety in brand and product offering fuelled by branding.However, luxury fashion designers are still considered like demi-gods in thefashion business. They tell the consumer public what to wear and not to wear,indirectly determining the tastes of the fashion society. If Marc Jacobs ofLouis Vuitton showcases white as the colour of a fashion season; behold theworld of fashion adopts white. If Karl Lagerfeld at Chanel decides thatwedges should be the must-have accessories for a fashion season, thenwedges it must be. If Jean-Paul Gaultier at Hermès rises in the morning andis suddenly inspired by a dream he had of an African safari trip, he can decidethat zebra prints are the new season’s fashion flag and so it will be. Theconsumer population awaits the judgements of these luxury fashion designersand the mass fashion brands take the dictation of these trends to the mass-production manufacturing factory.
But you may ask; who bestows the luxury fashion designers and theirbrands with such powers? How can we trust their opinions without questionand how can the fashion population become like enthusiastic robots undertheir control? The answer is simple: luxury brands have the power ofBRANDING! If you believe that brands like Dior or Gucci have the absoluteprerogative to determine the appearance of the entire global fashion consumer
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population every season, then you’ve acceded to the absolutely powerful andcommanding brand strengths of luxury brands.
Now, take a look at the following brand logos:
The brand symbols shown are a mixture of luxury and prestige, premium andmass fashion brands. When you looked at each of the logos, somethinghappened in your mind. You had a thought about every one of the brands, nomatter how fleeting. Now take another look at the logos, this time a little bitlonger. What connotations do you have from your perceptions of each of thebrands? If you make a note of them, you’ll discover from your list that youalready have an idea of their brand attributes, brand strengths and their levelof influence. You can gauge the brands that are likely to have a high brandasset value, even without looking at their financial figures. If this is the case,then you already know exactly what I’m talking about!
We as consumers expect luxury brands to be innovative in designing prod-ucts and in creating trends. We don’t expect them to wait around to under-stand what we want before creating them. We desire for them to understandour psychology, changing tastes and way of thinking before even we do! Weexpect them to be ahead of the game. We want them to analyse the currenttrends, evaluate what needs to be changed, and to innovate and producedesirable products that will appeal to us. And this is what true luxury brandsdo. However, the magical offerings of luxury brands is reinforced throughbranding.
Luxury brands didn’t happen by accident. There is no such thing. Theyhave been uniquely crafted through consistent and diligent strategies in brand-ing, marketing strategy. They enjoy a specific position in the global consumerworld and branding spectrum as well as in the consumer’s subconscious.
The core characteristics of luxury brands are: brand strength, differentia-tion, exclusivity, innovation, product craftsmanship and precision, premiumpricing and high-quality. It is the differentiated quality of the materials,design and performance of a wristwatch from Chanel that separates it from abasic functional watch sold at a supermarket. As a result, Chanel can chargea premium price of $3,000 and the supermarket $30. It is also as a result ofthe foresight and innovation characteristics of Louis Vuitton that the brandintroduced the canvas in the nineteenth century. It is the craftsmanship andprecision qualities that result in an eighteen-hour manufacturing process ofone Hermès Kelly bag by a single workman, from start to finish. It is the
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high-quality feature that has resulted in the high cost of the Hermès Birkinbag, which is equivalent to two first-class tickets from Paris to New York. Itis the strong brand image of Gucci that results in several of the brand’s prod-ucts being back-ordered for up to two years. The end result of all these char-acteristics is of course the creation of brand value, which translates intobillions of dollars in revenues and an indispensable intangible asset for thecompanies. The brand value is also related to consumers, who attain animmeasurable level of satisfaction from luxury fashion products.
The following chapters explore the deep and intriguing subject of brand-ing and other business aspects related to luxury fashion goods. This is whatthis book is all about.
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A. Lange & Söhne 123A.T. Stewart 27Aaker, Jennifer 111–12Accessibility 78,180, 182–5, 204, 237, 285Accessories 1, 7, 15, 20, 24, 28, 30–1, 34, 39,
Longoria, Eva 230Lord & Taylor 27L’Oréal 104, 230Los Angeles 79, 154, 230Loudemilk, Linda 239Louis Feraud 45Louis Philippe 51Louis XIV 21–3, 57Louis Vuitton 3, 7, 10, 11, 13, 15, 25, 30,