The aspirational upper-middle-class customer who helped companies like Coach and Saks post double-digit growth in the past few years has disappeared due to the current rotten economy, writes BusinessWeek. The result: luxury goods companies that expanded their product lines to appeal to the not-quite-rich now have $150 purses and nobody to buy them. Coach went so far as to offer coupons recently “to drum up sales.”
Take Tricia Ehrlich, a 38-year-old mother of three in East Setauket, N.Y., who runs her own online boutique. Ehrlich has a soft spot for classy jackets and matching shoes; in November, she spent $300 on a Perry Ellis black shearling textured jacket and bought a black suede Coach bag for $250. But Ehrlich has shelved plans to make a purchase this winter. “I’ll probably hold off until spring. We spent a lot on refurbishing our house last year, and I know we’re not going to reap the benefit of that, so the last thing I need right now is another jacket,” says Ehrlich.
“The Death of Mass Luxury” [BusinessWeek]
(Photo: Getty)
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JD, I look at the Hayden bag and see an oversized vinyl monstrosity. The oversized bag thing must end soon. Then I look at the suede hobo bags and see something I can get online for $45 (still overpriced, but not $300). What do you see that i don’t????????
@Mr.Purple: I’m not cheering for recession, I’m saying the end of the mass luxury trend is a silver lining. I’m hoping that this means the end of listening to my dippy coworker go on about what she’s buying herself and her spoiled daughter from Coach, Dooney & Burke, and Tiffany.
I don’t know. I’d rather pay $400 for a great pair of boots made in Italy (under 1st world conditions) than pay $100 for the same pair of boots made in China. I think think you’re paying in part of the conditions the boots were made under.
The thing that surprises me about the “mass luxury” movement is that it doesn’t support quality. We all have local goldsmiths (most of us anyway) are much better than Tiffany, support him/her, support your local markets, they can even make something that’s one of a kind for you — many times for far less than what you’d spend at Tiffany. Don’t shop at Williams-Sonoma go to your local potter (there are tones of glass/pottery shops everywhere) and see what they have for sale.
@crescentia: The thing is, when the brand is really QUALITY, and not just buying for name, a $150 bag will last 10 times as long as a $25 jobber from Target.
I swapped out my Gucci purse for one from Target for a change of pace and to have something big enough to carry a paperback in, and the difference in quality and speed of wear is REMARKABLE.
(But then, my sister was working at trade shows in college and used to buy samples from the show booths … she got my Gucci, a “floor model” that had lost the pull tab on the zipper, for $12. I replaced the pull tab myself for $1.50. Even knowing that Gucci is sooooooo much better than the Target bag, I’d personally would be hard-pressed to drop $150 on it!)
@youbastid: I’m in Peoria, my mortgage payment is about $650.
(Comes in at just under $1000/mo with insurance and escrow and all.)
Where are those Coach coupons?! Heck, I’ll take some of those any day if the wealthy don’t want it!
Again, WHERE are those Coach Coupons??
@Eyebrows McGee: Agreed, and that’s what burns me up about Coach. They used to be a company that made a high-quality, low-status product that was worth investing in. Then they suddenly decided to jump on the luxury-logo bandwagon, next thing you know the prices shoot up, quality took a dive, and designs went to hell. I don’t care if Louis Vuitton crashes and burns, but it’s sad to see Coach go.
People are so stupid. If any of you have significant assets in the bank, and can pay cash for one of these ‘luxury’ purses, then go ahead. My problem is with the fools who go out and buy one of these on a credit card, because they need it, and they deserve it, and they just absolutely have to have it no matter what.
The problem is not having enough money. I have friends who make $300,000 plus per year, and they live paycheck to paycheck. The problem is willpower, and saying enough is enough. Screw those marketing losers. They won’t pay for your expenses when you’re retired.
I am in love with this article on Slate: [www.slate.com], which offers a delightful overview of a new study entitled “Conspicuous Consumption and Race.”
It turns out that we are, all of us, powerless to resist the lure of status signals. Just because some of us have status signals that can’t be bought in a Coach store doesn’t mean we’re not just as subject to the urge to impress our peers.
In some circles, an Ivy League education is just as coveted — and of equally suspect value — as a pair of Zoom LeBron IVs. Summer houses, Volvo station wagons, frequent vacations, dinner at Cipriani, iPhones — we all have our status signals and we’re all nearly incapable of resisting them.
It’s idiotic to condemn someone for lacking will power b/c you have no desire to buy the same items. It’s not that you’re a better person, just that your peers aren’t impressed by Coach bags. Rest assured, when you feel the need to buy a classic Pre-War six on Park Avenue or put your child in private school, you’ll be in the grips of the exact same hunger as the minimum wage fast food worker eyeing the new arrivals at Foot Locker.
My house payment is $1400 but it is a 15 year.. yea baby, I am almost half way done, and I am under 40. I like to buy the “luxury” brands– but at the Last Chance store- for under $10… cheap! Oh yea!
I’ve gotta say this.
All the products with big letters all over them are absolutely stupid looking. Coach and D&G come to mind here. Do we have to be so incredibly concerned with the symbol of the brand that it has to cover every inch of the product? I love my truck, but it only says dodge on it in 1 place. City folk love their air jordans, but they’ve only got 2 or 3 check marks on them.
The shit is just plain ugly people. Its sad that people arent buying it now because they can’t afford it. They shouldnt have been buying it in the first place, it’s fugly.
My $300 Cynthia Rowley bag that cost $5 from the thrift shop will do me just fine, thanks. I guess if the aspirational crowd stops dropping stuff off I’m in trouble- but somehow I think I’ll be OK for quite a while – as I have been for the last 30 years ha ha . In addition to being cheaper, thrift shopping also obviously has a much lighter ecological footprint than buying new…
@ MYCOKESBIGGERTHANYOURS
Stop shilling the voodoo supply side party line man, that went out with Bush I. The economy has been coasting on cheap mortgages and consumer spending and nothing else for the LAST FIVE YEARS. This isn’t a correction, its a major economic problem that affects the whole system…