Luxury fashion brands like Chanel and Dior need to evolve. Here’s how it could start

Luxury brands dealing with the fallout from the coronavirus need to find alternatives to unsustainable business models
One way is looking to the less trend-driven segment of hard luxury, namely jewellery and watches

Vincenzo La Torre

Published: 5:00am, 8 Apr 2020

Why you can trust SCMP

The impact of the coronavirus outbreak has been catastrophic for the luxury industry.

Months of store closures, disruptions to supply chains, a dramatic plunge in traveller numbers and a series of lay-offs have ended a decade of growth and optimism for luxury groups such as LVMH, Kering and Richemont.

While recovery is on the horizon – industry watchers point to the last quarter of 2020 as the beginning of a turnaround – things will never be the same. That’s why this is a good time to take stock and look at a new way forward for a fashion industry that even before this recent development was in need of a big readjustment.

Thanks to growing middle classes in countries such as China, where millennials have made conspicuous consumption their favourite pastime, the fashion industry has experienced a decade of excess. More collections, more events, more brands, more far-flung cruise shows, more “drops” and more “activations” have been needed to feed this seemingly insatiable beast, regardless of issues such as overproduction and a relentless pace that has taken its toll on industry professionals.

Many luxury stores have had to close as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. Photo: EPA-EFE

As high-end labels start to plan ahead for a post-coronavirus reality, they might do well to look to a sector close to home: the less trend-driven sector of hard luxury, namely jewellery and watches.

While jewellery labels such as Cartier, Bulgari and Van Cleef & Arpels are as marketing-focused and business-minded as their fashion counterparts, they work at a slower – and more humane – pace. They release high jewellery collections once or twice a year (usually during the biannual haute couture shows in Paris) and more affordable, entry-level ranges when they see fit, operating without the constraints and unreasonable deadlines of a fashion calendar that forces designers to have something new in stores every month.

Do luxury labels like Chanel, Dior or Valentino really need to produce a minimum of six womenswear collections a year?

Scarcity of materials, longer timelines for product development and a much higher price point are some of the reasons for the jewellery industry’s less frenetic rhythm, but they are all elements that fashion brands could incorporate into their business models, even at the expense of quick, but short-term, growth.

The purchase of a jewel, whether you’re buying a wedding ring or a gift for a loved one or yourself, is often associated with intimate moments. That’s how high-end fashion brands should start approaching their relationships with their clients, by making every purchase count and feel special.

Acquiring new customers is important, but so is cultivating existing ones and building loyal followings, instead of being all things to all people and looking for the low-hanging fruit.

Chanel’s fall/winter 2020 show at Paris Fashion Week in March.

Do luxury labels like Chanel, Dior or Valentino really need to produce a minimum of six womenswear collections a year? Why not make their clothes more special and forget about the bells and whistles, focusing on fewer, but better, pieces that people actually want to buy?

Those three brands all make haute couture, bespoke fashion that is considered the best the industry has to offer and can only be shown in Paris. One way to help them transition would be the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture (the French entity behind Paris Fashion Week) making couture week a yearly event in July and dropping the January shows, which take place only a month before the ready-to-wear season begins. It’s a small change that would create some breathing room in the busy fashion calendar and elevate the couture shows in July to a more special moment that editors and clients can look forward to.

Valentino’s fall/winter 2020 show at Paris Fashion Week in March.

A reassessment of how things used to be done is long overdue and will not happen without some pain, but those who evolve will eventually reap the benefits and grow stronger.

Less volume, higher margins: this should be the mantra of fashion companies that want to call themselves luxury labels.

Looking at the way watch and jewellery houses operate could be a good start for those who are serious about changing their practices for a more sustainable and responsible decade.

Post