the purpose of luxury
Luxury, merely the signal of the rich to show-off their purchasing power in public. But is that really all to it? What about luxurious yet intimate experiences? – the annual trips with a partner to a Bahamas beach bungalow, Heli-Skiing in Japan, a week of fasting in a Buchinger Wilhelmi Resort, the best seats at a theatre premiere.
“However, in 2023 and with a quick post on social media these experiences can also be used to show-off”, those who oppose the idea of luxury will confirm their position.
Nevertheless, I insist that luxury is not just a code to display individual wealth. That view is biased and limited.
The luxury sector has a purpose, and it is bi-directional; backward-looking preservation and forward-looking innovation. Both exist on two dimensions, tangible and intangible, resulting in a total of 4 different roles.
To discover their characteristics and legitimacy, we can deep-dive on the four.
Tangible Preservation refers to maintaining traditional techniques and using certain fabrics, so they do not get lost over time. In a world where everything is optimized, rationalized, and streamlined these techniques are too complex, time-consuming, and inefficient to actually be maintained by a broad group of companies. Let’s take Hermès’ „one person, one bag“ approach; at the French luxury giant, a bag is created from scratch by one of their artisans who completes all steps themselves until reaching the finished product.1 It would be much more efficient to split the workforce into cutting, sewing and finishing and thereby creating experts per step, connected through optimal hand-over points. The preservation of the „one person, one bag“ approach is a beautiful remembrance of historical and holistic craftsmanship, but it is also costly, which translates into higher prices.
Vicuña wool is another of these luxuries which would not exist if no one would pay the price premium required. It can only be won from the Vicuña, a relative of Alpacas in the high alpine areas of the Andes. There are 12 tonnes of yarn produced per year. Compare that to the 27 million tons of cotton produced annually2,3 – we are not talking about some construct such as artificial scarcity here. This is truly natural exclusivity. To maintain the Vicuñas’ habitat is a challenging exercise, somewhat resembling to the efforts to preserving biodiversity through initiatives like Slow Food.
We can use “savoir faire” a synonym for the preservation of the tangible. It is the unique knowledge and craftsmanship honed by luxury companies. The price is a reflection of their dedication to these products which move much slower than the rest of the ever faster and unsettling fashion landscape.
Intangible Preservation is about the stories, legends, and icons from the past, that we still refer to today. A Chanel dress is not just something to put on, it carries the values of Coco Chanel – female empowerment, independence, and elegance.
Heritage and legacy are infused into brands and the products that carry intangible preservation. To maintain the legacy, the underlying stories have to be reiterated, campaigns have to be created. The bits and bites of marketing material have to reflect the Zeitgeist and be timeless at the same time. Not only the marketing but also the strategic development of the product portfolio of legacy-heavy brands must be thoughtful – Create desire from the top without being too greedy with cash cow product lines.
Consumers experience intangible preservation from the aspirational value of the products they buy, something that they feel while wearing them.
Intangible preservation is time- and cost-intensive. There is a reason why half of the total cost of LVMH and Kering are spent on Marketing4. It is largely due to intangible preservation.
Tangible Innovation creates options for a better future. Next to the techniques that we have praised as part of the preservation dimension, there are obviously also those that have to be improved, rethought, and rebuilt. New materials and techniques must be found to decrease the luxury industry’s footprint on the environment. Tangible innovation is closely linked to sustainability, which requires investments along the whole value chain. Some of these initiatives are Hermès’ mushroom-leather bag1, Marine Serre’s reliance on upcycling and entirely new business models like Reflaunt, which offers it’s customers access to a branded circular economy platform, but there are many more. The actions require investments into knowledge and capabilities, which is priced into the products.
In addition to sustainability, tangible innovation also refers to designing products that fit today’s customer’s needs, e.g., modular design that enables multi-purpose use, like Acronym or Arc’teryx do. They might not be top-of-mind when thinking about luxury brands, but they are top-notch within their original field of use and trickle into “general” fashion for a good reason. Designing something truly functional, yet fashionable takes time; and as the saying goes: time is money.
Intangible Innovation challenges our current beliefs, breakes boundaries, pushes the Zeitgeist and shapes the culture. It cannot be done in a half-assed way! Walls must be torn down and many will be offended by it. Intangible innovation is about taking risk; risk is a cost.
Rick Owens’ unique aesthetic is dark and daring. It attracts only a niche audience of cultural innovators. Show his Kiss Heels to the average customer and they will resent them. Nevertheless, androgynous design is one of the top style trends in the beginning of 2023. Rick Owens’ first showed men in heels in 2005, 18 years ago5! Intangible innovation is about being at the forefront of what is happening tomorrow.
The courage costs the brand and the customers. They are rewarded with unprecedented looks and ideas.
purpose, what now?
We have now established that the purpose of luxury is beyond a simple show-off and can actually be defined as four distinct roles.
On the flipside it is necessary to notice that not everyone has the financial freedom to purchase Rick Owen’s joggers, Arc’teryx’ jackets, Chanel’s dresses and let alone Hermès’ bags. Those who are in the position to actively participate in owning luxuries for themselves should reflect on what they are buying, why, and who they are supporting. More broadly, we should all collectively have the understanding what luxury is and what it is not.
This is even more relevant for the companies that deem themselves as luxury players. They carry the responsibility to preserve and innovate both the tangible and intangible. It is a responsibility that requires attention to detail and thoroughness in execution. We do not need another pretentious, overpriced brand that creates some pieces of fabric to fill our wardrobes with stuff and our egos with short-lived joy. We need outstanding techniques and materials from the past and the future and the fitting stories to highlight them. We need luxury to break barriers and challenge the status quo both in production, distribution, and technology as well as in the global dialogue on topics such as identity and community. If luxury takes its purpose seriously everyone benefits – actively or passively.
Sources
- Hermès, 2021 Annual Report, accessed in December 2022
- Inside the Business of Vicuña, the Wool Worth More Than Gold, https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/sustainability/inside-the-business-of-vicuna-the-wool-worth-more-than-gold/, 2017, April 14, accessed in December 2022
- Tons of cotton produced, https://www.theworldcounts.com/challenges/consumption/clothing/world-cotton-production-statistics, accessed in December 2022
- LVMH / Kering 2021 Annual Reports, accessed in January 2023
- The Mythology of Rick Owens,https://www.archivepdf.net/post/the-mythology-of-rick-owens, accessed in January 2023
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