Is Louis Vuitton Losing its Exclusivity?

The well-known French luxury retail brand, Louis Vuitton, has been around since 1854. Louis Vuitton has always been known for its exclusivity. Only the wealthiest and most iconic women would stroll down the streets of Paris in a custom made Louis Vuitton dress matching a petite LV handbag. The designer is known around the world for using fine quality leather. What exactly separates fast fashion and luxury retail? Why do two similarly styled blouses have such a big difference in price? Chanel charges you $2,000 for a blouse that looks just like a $35 blouse you found at H&M. So what gives? How does this happen and why not just pinch a few pennies and buy the cheapest one? This brings us back to the internal fashion war between fast fashion and luxury retail. Luxury retail brands are based upon exclusivity, quality, and status. Leather goods, ready-to-wear fashion, handbags, and shoes are priced a lot higher. This is actually a way of ensuring everyone isn't wearing this brand. You're probably thinking, "What are you talking about? That makes absolutely no sense. Wouldn't they want as many people as they can get to wear their brand?" In fast fashion, yes, absolutely. You have to keep in mind that Luxury fashion and Fast fashion have different motives. Fast fashion is more focused on sales and producing as many pieces as they can at low cost and selling for a low price. This would make their profits a tad low but if everyone is buying their products and sales are through the roof, they are reeling in a profit. Luxury fashion is not as focused on sales but instead, exclusivity. Chanel would rather one celebrity wearing their dress to the Met Gala than a couple million people wearing the same Chanel dress.

Blake Lively wearing Chanel

Lily Rose Depp wearing Chanel

Luxury brands, such as Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, Dior, etc., pay their workers a lot more to make quality products. The designs are much more expensive to produce. Some pieces can take hours, days, weeks, or even months to produce. These brands take pride in detail and quality so a lot of the time there is embroidery or sequins and all of these fine delicate details are done by hand. Haute couture is more similar to art than fashion. At NYFW, all of these designers spend all year creating a collection just to have models wear it walking down the runway. It's for the show. It's for people to admire the beauty and the craftsmanship. It's not about the profit.

Hermès makes some of the most expensive handbags in the world. They make very few handbags and no one can just go up and buy one. You either have to be on a 3-year wait list or be "somebody". Louis Vuitton has always been a brand that values all of these qualities. Ten years ago I would walk down the street and gush about how this gorgeous woman dressed in work attire was carrying a Louis Vuitton handbag, looking like a million bucks. I would just be in awe because you hardly see Louis Vuitton bags in the midwest. Only the wealthiest people would just splurge and spend a couple thousand dollars on a handbag. However, the last couple of years I have noticed more and more people carrying LV handbags. I thought nothing of it. I mean, hey, if you have the money, treat yourself. But it has gotten to the point where I will see Louis Vuitton handbags everywhere I go. Everyone from sixteen year old girls to eighty year old women wearing new balance sneakers are carrying Louis Vuitton handbags and I wasn't impressed or in awe like I remember I once was. Then it dawned on me. Once everyone had Louis Vuitton bags, they weren't this rare item anymore. They weren't as unique or exclusive. Once a brand loses its exclusivity, what does it have? What can Louis Vuitton do to get out of this fashion rut it's stuck in? I'm not saying Louis Vuitton isn't an extraordinary luxury brand anymore but I am saying they are going to have to make some changes or do something big to make themselves stand out again.