When Buying Luxury, How Much Does Brand Matter?
Back Row readers cited quality and design as much more important than brand when buying luxury fashion.
Survey takeaways:
Respondents cite quality, design, and falling in love with one specific item overwhelmingly as the reasons they buy luxury fashion.
Back Row readers are mostly buying luxury fashion items a few times per year or less.
Respondents are more likely to find luxury fashion purchases through Substack newsletters than social media influencers.
What inspires luxury fashion purchases? According to Back Row’s first-ever shopping survey, you buy luxury apparel because you want something well-made and special.
Sixty-three percent of 800 respondents cited “quality,” 62 percent “design,” and 61 percent “fell in love with one specific item” as reasons for purchasing luxury fashion, with “loyalty to a brand” lagging far behind. In other words, respondents were willing to invest in luxury purchases if they seemed durable and unique, and inspired that impulsive need Carrie Bradshaw had around Manolos. (Bear in mind, the sample is representative of this newsletter’s audience of more than 52,000 subscribers, but not the general population.)
The word “unique” was frequently used to describe respondents’ favorite purchases. One reader said their favorite-ever luxury purchase was a Comme des Garçons dress because, “[I]t's different from everything else, it's special and it represents me, and it has a very good quality.” Another reader whose favorite purchase was a Dries Van Noten coat said, “The pattern was so unique and truly outstanding.” And someone who purchased an Alexander McQueen sample to wear as a wedding dress said, “It's work of art and poetry!!!! The most breathtakingly beautiful dress that has deep emotional value to me.”
When asked why a luxury purchase was the best they’d made, people were more likely to say that they liked an item owing to how it’s made versus brand or designer affinity. Many of you said The Row cashmere sweaters are your favorite purchases because: “[they’re] incredibly soft and drape beautifully”; “it dresses up or down, I think I’ve probably got the cost per wear in the double or maybe single dollar digits”; and “the fit, they feel like a comforting hug.”
Though the luxury apparel industry is experiencing a sales decline, Back Row readers are buying roughly the same amount of luxury fashion now as they were during the pandemic. During the pandemic, the industry experienced a boom as consumers spent stimulus money and funds they weren’t spending on things like travel on fashion items. While the current downturn can be blamed on a variety of factors, Chanel’s watch and jewelry division head Frederic Grangie wondered if it had to do with “luxury fatigue.”
"There's this feeling hitting mature markets in which customers are starting to ask what's the point of this industry," he said, according to Fashion Network.
You could argue that product assortments feel homogenized. So many brands showed oversized eighties suits during the recent ready-to-wear season. Prada, whose hallmark is its uniqueness, even copied The Row’s Margaux bag design. Maybe in this minimalist moment, brands are struggling to differentiate as they tap into that trend.
A plurality of respondents in each income bracket said they shopped for any kind of apparel each month, suggesting that the luxury industry probably could capture more of your discretionary spending.
Unsurprisingly, the higher respondents’ income, the more they spend on luxury goods, though these remain a seasonal indulgence at best versus a monthly one. This suggests luxury brands could probably capture more of your spending, if they can convince you to buy more fancy stuff in exchange for shopping less overall.
Luxury executives also might want to take a closer look at their marketing and PR strategies. Clearly, marketing and PR work, because while respondents cited a wide range of brands like Mary Katranzou, DSquared2, and Rick Owens as makers of their favorite luxury purchases, the brands that showed up the most often were the biggest and most recognizable, like Louis Vuitton, Dior, Chanel, and Prada.
The fragmented media environment has been a big story in the wake of the U.S. presidential election. Media continues to be personality-driven, as evidenced by the popularity of podcasters like Joe Rogan. This has been the case for a while now in fashion, where influencers have probably usurped legacy media as drivers of purchases. However, Substack newsletters are an increasingly important part of the fashion content ecosystem. Of course, the survey respondents were likely all Substack readers already, but I’m certain there’s a huge untapped opportunity to reach customers here. Substack newsletters, unlike legacy media, have the advantage of not being dependent on an SEO algorithm to drive consumers to, say, “best shoes to wear to a wedding” stories. Also, if readers are more driven to purchase fashion based on quality and design, newsletters may simply offer a better way to tell stories around those things.
Also, though some online luxury retailers have been struggling, they remain the most important discovery platform for shoppers of all ages.
Next week, I’ll release results on which items and brands you buy the most (and least!) for paid subscribers. Upgrade your subscription so you don’t miss that issue.
Loose Threads
Louis Vuitton has a new store in NYC on 57th Street, right near Trump Tower, which is serving as the flagship while the usual flagship across the street undergoes a few years of renovations. The temporary store seems anything but, and includes a chocolatier and restaurant. I went to the opening Thursday night and would say, based on the passed food, the restaurant seems like it belongs in the category of overpriced resort food, but the chocolate really was good, if you’re in the market for a gratuitous fashion gift.
Skims has a new collaboration with Dolce & Gabbana but it seems to be landing with a big shrug.
A source told the New York Post that Melania Trump will be a “part-time first lady,” citing her desire to be a “hands-on mother” to her 18-year-old son Barron, who’s a freshman at NYU.
Daniel Craig has transitioned from very tight clothes to very oversized ones, and Vogue calls this his “quirky new fashion era.”
Moda Operandi founder Lauren Santo Domingo has a ski house in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, that she allowed Architectural Digest to feature. Her rules when decorating it were “No chalet clichés!… No fur, no bison heads, no stone mantles, no cowboy hats, no fluffy rugs…” Instead, she put a fake tree inside.
Earlier in Back Row
Thanks for the early results, Amy. I loved taking this survey as I feel too few people consider the consumers' perspectives. Certainly, many brands make good money off of thumbing their noses at consumers (looking at you, Hermes). Perhaps the environment is now ripe for brands to actually pay attention to what we want, instead of selling us what they want!
Brilliant✨