Retail Confessions: Balenciaga
"We are still in the process of trying to bring back certain clients who have completely dropped brand."
In today’s issue:
A Balenciaga retail employee talks about what it’s really like working at the store for the latest installment of Back Row’s signature series “Retail Confessions.”
What Balenciaga did to help employees when sales tanked following the ad campaign controversies of late 2022.
Do people really buy high-heeled Balenciaga Crocs? Towel skirts? Caution tape? Pantaleggings? Get answers!
Loose Threads, including Dries stepping down, Gisele’s breakfast, American Riviera Orchard, and more.
“Retail Confessions” features interviews with people who have worked in luxury clothing stores. While retail workers are on the front lines of selling luxury fashion, we seldom hear from them. Their fascinating stories give valuable insight into both luxury customers’ shopping behaviors and the world of the ultra-rich. Don’t miss earlier “Retail Confessions,” featuring interviews with people who have worked at Gucci, Tiffany, Hermès, Chanel, and more.
Though not a high-luxury label, few apparel brands have generated the same intrigue, controversy, and spectacle as Balenciaga under the leadership of creative director Demna. As 2022 neared its end, the brand was riding high, having staged a show on a runway made of mud, featuring a custom scent meant to evoke decomposition. The previous show was attended by Kim Kardashian wearing Balenciaga caution tape, and featured models walking through snow, as though refugees fleeing war. Balenciaga items regularly went viral, including a shopper tote that resembled an Ikea bag and sold for $2,145 and high-heeled “Crocs Madame” that sold for $625. The brand seemed to always successfully toe the line of acceptable provocations.
Then, Balenciaga released two ad campaigns that resulted in enormous backlash. The first featured children holding plush toys dressed in what social media users called “bondage outfits”; the second featured the brand’s Adidas collaboration, and included as a prop printouts of a Supreme Court decision in a case relating to child pornography.
Early in 2023, an equity research report from HSBC said the brand was no longer in “hyper growth mode,” and could contribute to fourth quarter results that were “as bad as it gets” for parent company Kering. Kering then reported that sales had declined 2 percent in the period, acknowledging Balenciaga had had a “difficult month” in December.
However, a sales associate in a North America location told Back Row that sales are still not what they were. Part of it is the lingering negative association consumers have with Balenciaga after the campaign controversies. Part of it is Balenciaga’s effort to somewhat reinvent itself, which may not entirely be working. Ahead, the employee offers a revealing look into how Balenciaga customers are responding to the brand today.
Who shops at Balenciaga?
It’s very diverse in my store. We get a lot of foreigners, some locals, young people for sure. At the outlet, you get collectors who are interested in old pieces.
Young people meaning — twenties? Thirties?
Sometimes we get younger than that. We have a lot of kids shopping with parents, girls buying for prom. At some point in the evening, they switch their shoes to something more comfortable, and they're looking for sneakers from us, which is odd because our sneakers are extremely heavy. They don’t buy dresses or statement jewelry from us.
What kind of sneakers?
The Triple S. They're still so engraved in people's minds. They’ve launched five or six different sneakers already, but people still like those. And the Speed trainers, the sock-looking shoe, are still a top seller.
How do the parents react when their kids want this stuff?
Parents are already familiar with us. The majority of the people that come to our stores have an idea of what Balenciaga is, to be honest with you. Other people, they just come in — and I've seen it — to see in person, What is this about? So you see a lot of people just looking at the merchandise thinking, Who the hell wears this? Who will pay for this? What are these people thinking? Nearby is a Saint Laurent and Loro Piana. You see these people sometimes with Loro Piana bags who come in just to look at stuff, being nice and polite, but they're like, “What is this?” “Oh, this is our Croc Madame.” They giggle sometimes. Obviously this is not our target audience.
Who are the top spenders?
We have a lot of resellers who buy in bulk. A couple of professional athletes. A couple of guys who only buy men’s jerseys and T-shirts. As soon as I have an XL T-shirt, they just get it, it doesn’t matter what the season or color is. I have a mom in her late thirties or early forties who owns her own business and has two kids – she shops for her husband and kids as well.
Were Balenciaga stores impacted by the controversies with the ad campaigns?
We are still recovering from it. We are still in the process of trying to bring back certain clients who have completely dropped brand, who haven't come back after the campaign [controversy].
The Adidas collection is in outlets now and even there, it’s very, very difficult to sell. People still associate Adidas with the campaign, unfortunately. The second controversial ad campaign that came out with the legal documents [from a child pornography case] was advertising the Adidas collection, and people don’t want it. It is very difficult. Even now that it's discounted, we have been able to move the most basic Adidas jerseys, but all the accessories, especially the bags, especially the women's ready-to-wear — people are super-hesitant.
What was it like to work there around the time that the controversy was unfolding?
It was very difficult. It was our holiday season, right around Thanksgiving, Black Friday. We were expecting huge crowds.
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