With Prada and Armani offering their brands to phone companies, cars and television and Christian Lacroix going completely under, it seems as though the world of high fashion may be getting a little scared.
Bernard Arnault (chairman of Louis Vuitton) explained at the Financial Times Luxury conference in Monaco, that the excess of luxury goods sitting in the market is allowing prices to go down, directly correlating to the stimulating demand.
Arnault explains that this is not a result of less everyday consumers, it is Louis Vuitton and other luxury brands who plan to “bail out” luxury brands as a hole in this desperate financial time. As they team up with Citi, Chrysler, and AIG, they are purchasing insurance, offering government loans and bonds and focusing on keeping most labor costs overseas.
Artisan sewing jobs returning to Manhattan and Italy would be a huge financial down turn in the Luxury market. Legal changes are also being made so that a purse made in China can bear a “made in Italy” tag just as long as the tag was sewn on in Italy.
Hopefully these plans to keep the luxury market afloat don’t sacrifice the quality and integrity of these luxury brands that we have respected and loved for many years.
