Fashion Marketing: Contemporary Issues, Second edition - Pr School

136 Fashion Marketing
mobile phones made out of fine materials and which offer a personalized,
global concierge service, travel experiences, etc. Indeed, it has been suggested
(The Economist, 2005) that: ‘the way the rich seek to display status may simply
be getting more complex’. So that, ‘other motives for luxury purchase are connoisseurship
and being an early adoptor’. . . ‘Connoisseurs are people whom
their peers respect for their deep knowledge of fashion, watches, etc. and early
adoptors are those who are first with a new technology’. Fashion companies,
such as Commes des Garcons are exploiting connoisseurship through the use
of viral marketing and hiring retail sites for very short time periods in out of
town locations to promote special editions, which cannot be acquired without
being ‘in the know’ (Doyle and Moore, 2004).
‘Copycat’ or ‘fake’ brands are available in every category from perfume to
apparel to accessories and objects d’art, so consumers need to be convinced
that the ‘real’ brand has distinctive value; 70 per cent of counterfeits are copies
of French products. Burberry has been subject to extensive copying, so that
its brand became associated with ‘chavs’ and has lost its aspirational appeal,
especially in certain regions, such as the UK (Moore and Birtwistle, 2004). In
France, the ‘Comité Colbert’ has been established and is composed of 65 luxury
brand owners. The mission of the ‘Comité Colbert’ is to defend the premium
quality of their products, their selective approach to retailing, and, to
fight against counterfeiting, as this contributes to brand dilution. The counterfeiting
represents 300 million Euros (7 per cent of the world trade); 70 per cent
of the counterfeits are French product copies (www.comite-colbert.com). One
well-known outcome of the ‘Comité Colbert’ is to defend the title of champagne
to that being produced in a particular region of France. This retains the
notoriety of the product and reinforces its value.
The country of origin is one factor in value creation (Koromyslov M, 2005,
Dubois and Duquesne 1993, Jackson 2004). ‘French chic’, ‘Italian chic’, etc. provide
a unique national identity and attitude, associated with the brand, such
as the eccentricity of the British designer Vivienne Westwood, the ‘British classic
with a twist’ of the British luxury fashion brand, Paul Smith and the elegance
and quality of the Italian brands of Prada and Gucci. Such associations
contribute to the value of the luxury fashion brand. Jackson (2004) argues that:
‘France is considered to be the home of luxury goods because of its heritage,
artisan fashion skills and the centre of haute couture’. Although this is being
challenged with the advent of Italian and US brands being increasingly associated
with luxury (Koromyslov, 2005).
The market for luxury goods has certain discernable undercurrents. One of
these undercurrents is the dilution of luxury and its wider accessibility through
a growth in credit, wealth, retail expansion, a culture of ‘must have’ and the
development of cheaper entry point luxury items. Another, is a backlash
against ‘luxury fever’ (Frank, 2000) and, more generally, of brand distaste and
a concern for social responsibility, as expressed by Klein (2001) in her popular
book ‘No Logo’. A further trend amongst the super-rich is that of ‘conspicuous
non-consumption’ through philanthropy, dressing down and driving beatenup
cars, ironically, to express an exalted status’ (The Economist, 2005).