China is going to be one of the next luxury producing countries. It will develop its own brands and will conquer a substantial portion of the luxury market backed by the purchasing power of the ubiquitous Chinese consumer. This is a strong statement, but a closer look at emerging Chinese brands shows the opposite: the typical Chinese entrepreneur has a tendency to imitate rather than create, an attitude which could explain the impressive success of a “sector” that makes up 8% of Chinese GDP: the flourishing counterfeit business. Let’s take a short trip to Shenzhen, the capital of Chinese fashion. Just next to the train station, the naïf western tourist…
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The Luxury Market Spectator: LVMH
(DISCLAIMER: The purpose of this article is merely to illustrate the performance of a luxury company that I care about. I’m not a market guru, manage your money wisely.) When I buy a bag, I try to expiate my sins (and to forget the negative balance on my bank account) by convincing myself that I’ve made a good investment which is going to last. But you know what? Why don’t’ you make a real fashionable investment buying a stock – of a luxury company, of course? The company I’m analyzing today is LVMH. Decrypting the acronym, Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy. The company, given its fame, doesn’t even need an introduction, but…
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The Fashion Industry in the Great White North
As many of you might already know, I am Canadian and so proud to represent my country abroad and in Italy. There are so many great things our country has, however when you think of Canada you don’t link it to fashion, why? Well, on my flight back to Canada last week I had a ton of delays aka loads of time to finally catch up on some great reads and I came across this great article in The Financial Post called “Why Fashion Brand Success Stories are so Few and Far Between in Canada”. That’s when it really hit me, yes nobody in Italy would ever think that Canada…
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LVMHxBOCCONI Spring 2016
If you are a Bocconian, your geolocation can oscillate around piazza Straffa for the whole day. Looking for a place in the library for fifteen minutes makes sense, as well as having no time for studies because of studies. However, in spite of all the hard times we share times of pride. As part of the cooperation program between Università Bocconi, ESSEC and LVMH the last couple of days our university hosted the “LVMH days”. The main event of the program was the inauguration held on the 16th of March. Toni Belloni, the Group Managing Director, started off with the introduction of LVMH (though the 78-billion-worth conglomerate does not seem…
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A Conversation With Two Neapolitan Excellences
The 8th of March, BS4F had the great honour to host at Bocconi University two successful Italian entrepreneurs: Luciano Cimmino and Fabio Attanasio. Luciano Cimmino, Pianoforte Holding’s chairman, started working for his father as an agent and after many years of apprenticeship decided to set up his first own business: Original Marines. However, due to the difficult relationship with the other founders, Cimmino decided to leave the company and to start another project, founding the well-known lingerie brand Yamamay. In 2001 the company started with a single store in Milan, but in only two years the number of stores grew to 50 all over Italy, reaching 1000 shops all over the World…
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Decoded Fashion
This time last week some of the BS4F members and I were fortunate enough to be invited to attend Decoded Fashion, a two day long conference focusingon digital and technological advances in the fashion world. Although my first time attending the conference myself, it was the conference’s third time in Milan, having also being held in New York, Tokyo and London. We were welcomed at the beautiful Hotel Magna Pars where we had the chance to network with people ranging from the digital, marketing and fashion fields from brands coming from all over the world. For me, someone coming from the fashion world and having no prior knowledge of digital…
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The Business Strategy Behind The H&M x Balmain Collaboration.
Balmain and H&M are two very distinguished fashion companies, in terms of their pricing, customer profile, product quality and company size. Thus, it seemed unnatural that the two collaborate on a collection. After identifying itself as a high-fashion brand, wouldn’t a collaboration with H&M ruin Balmain’s reputation? Some argued the collaboration stained the brand’s credibility whereas others rejoiced to the fact they could finally afford an item associated to the Balmain name. And both reactions are completely understandable. Previous owners of Balmain pieces should be annoyed that others are getting Balmain products for cheaper, and that the luxury value of Balmain clothing decreases.
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Painting Pantone
2014 has barely bid us goodbye, yet talks of 2015 trends have sprung alive. And no surprise, Pantone — American based provider of universal colour systems — have named their colour of the year: Marsala. “A naturally robust, earthy wine red, Marsala enriches our minds, bodies and soul” – cr: Pantone.com Last year, Pantone had “Radiant Orchid” — a curious blend of purple and pink — as colour of the year, and the year before, the ever-green “Emerald” rose as their choice (no pun intended). 50 Shades of Emerald – cr: Pantone Many (including me) wonder: what is the significance behind Pantone’s choices? What is Pantone? What makes Pantone so important? Fret shall answer these…
