Luxury: Can You Ever Really Go Home Again?

One of the more obvious impacts of the near-collapse of the global financial system and resulting recession upon the luxury industry has been to push luxury back to its roots. Or so we're told. As a result, we're seeing far fewer glitzy advertising campaigns and greater efforts to play up themes such as tradition, history and craftsmanship. The recently unveiled adverts for Louis Vuitton illustrate this tendency perfectly.

The ads depict men and women engaged in various acts of crafting Louis Vuitton products. While the images are infinitely preferable to Madonna flashing her crotch, it also suggests a process of manufacturing that is no longer true except for perhaps a handful of the brand's custom-made items. As it was correctly pointed out by Businessweek, the process has been largely automated and has been for some time. In fact, it is precisely that automation that has allowed Louis Vuitton to expand so massively over the past decade and carve out enviable profit margins by industry standards. The adverts have prompted some to question the misleading nature of the campaign. It also highlights how difficult it is for brands to return to their roots once they've moved so far away from them.

Sincerely,

The Luxe Chronicles

Comments

[pulchra]

I just read the Tyler Brule' article on last FT week end issue on the going green trend and it's amazing to see how difficult it is to find such comments on the press.
It seems that new products have to be presented as environment-friendly or ecological otherwise they are not accepted nor bought by the customers (i.e. cars). It's incredible how this "green" concept becomes so relevant and it is so superficially treated and explained by the brands.
My personal concept of "green" or, let's say "clean" is concentrated on trying to understand how the brands treat their human resources before deciding to buy a product.
To me a "clean" product must be "human being" friendly...otherwise I refuse to buy it. This has to concern not only external suppliers but also internal employees. I want to know if they are respected, sufficiently paid, involved in a professional growth...
Personally I do not care if a good quality product is produced in France, Italy or China but this has to be done by someone who loves his own job and is gratified by his or her employer.
That's the point.
Beautiful products made by happy people.
Is it utopia?

[Helene]

Thank you for your comment Pulchra. I agree with you - too often the debate over "green" issues gloss over the need to address long-standing labor issues that plague the fashion and luxury industries. While I fully concede that environmental issues have an impact on quality of life, I think the rush to jump on the eco-luxury bandwagon by many within the industry glosses over more immediate concerns over pay inequities and labor conditions.

Unfortunately, these are not issues that mainstream media find sexy enough to write about and so few consumers are ever really informed about them or forced to think about the implications of their purchases.

Helene

[pulchra]

I would love to see clients choosing the brands and the products also taking into consideration the level of respect that these brands demonstrate to their employees.
I think that ecology and attention to the environment should also involve this aspects of the issue.
Otherwise it's only pr...

[Helene]

You raise an excellent point regarding the luxury industry supply chain Dahlia.

In fact, the pressure on small suppliers is such that French Industry Minister Christian Estrosi announced this past November that a "Charte de Bonnes Pratiques" would be adopted in January 2010 to address some of the more pressing issues that affect small suppliers such as intellectual property rights, payment schedules, volume, etc. These suppliers are often very small, very vulnerable operations with little or no leverage over large luxury houses. It's about time measures were put in place to protect their interests.

Helene

[Dahlia]

I much prefer these sobering ads from LV than the high celebrity glam crap they've been doing for so long. But will people bite? LV went off into the deep commercial end, and if it weren't for the fact that I know met someone who has subcontracted work for LV and other luxury brands, I would say that the ads are simply another gimmick to lure back customers.

Les métiers d'arts such as leather work is still dwindling in France. This girl whom I've met had worked for a small French contractor in Paris and had just moved back to Montreal because the French luxury companies are scaling back from contracting out their bags and doing them inhouse instead. My boyfriend is also into leatherwork and is having a very difficult time finding work.

Simultaneously, small luxury contractors are also suffering from the bigger players as the latter are buying them out or acquiring things like alligator farms (Hermès) and putting out other alligator farms out of business. I know luxury companies are desperate to survive, but they're destroying other businesses in order to stay alive, and that I believe is a great shame.