“And just like that, stealth wealth, the aesthetic made viral by ‘Succession,’ with its toxic billionaires in their Loro Piana baseball caps and Tom Ford hoodies … has been swept off screen,” the New York Times’ Vanessa Friedman wrote recently. “In its place: logomania.” The Times’ fashion director and chief fashion critic was referring, of course, to Season 2 of the “Sex and the City” reboot – entitled, “And Just Like That …” – in all its logo-ed glory. Among the trademark-bearing goods at play: a New York Times-logoed sweatshirt, a Bergdorf Goodman-emblazoned windbreaker, an onslaught of Burberry check prints, Fendi “F” emblazoned bags, and large Louis Vuitton monogrammed totes, among other things.
It is unclear whether “And Just Like That …” has the same trend-making prowess of the original “Sex and the City” series, which played no small role in “changing the way” women dressed (as Vanity Fair previously put it) between 1998 and 2004 when the show initially aired on HBO. More broadly, legendary costume designer Patricia Field, who was responsible for Carrie’s ballerina skirts (and Manolo Blahniks), Samantha’s suiting, etc., not only “changed the landscape of how fashion is represented on on-screen,” per Fashionista, but she ultimately, had a hand in impacting how “all of us [dressed during that time and beyond], whether we watched the show or not.”
If the reboot comes anywhere near where its predecessor did in terms of trend-making might, the influx of branding in Season 2 will be good news for big brands, which are in the business of selling logos and leveraging the goodwill imbedded in those logos (and other trademarks) into pricing power and high-margin sales. (On the margins front, Deloitte’s recently released Global Fashion and Luxury Private Equity and Investors Survey 2023, which assessed 300 companies globally, found that margins for personal luxury goods companies doubled those of other luxury sectors, with apparel and accessories’ average margins standing at 36 percent.)
It is worth noting that despite a rush of media takes on how “stealth wealth” – or quiet luxury – stands to negatively impact big brands, the potential that consumers might actually eschew ubiquitous logos in a meaningful way has not appeared to be a major worry for luxury’s titans. LVMH management, for instance, shrugged of the trend in a Q1 call early this year, telling analysts that they did not see “quiet luxury” as a problem in large part because most consumers “will continue to favor products with logos.”
(Aside from the tried-and-true lure of logos, part of LVMH’s laisse-faire attitude towards stealth wealth likely also stemmed from the fact that groups like it, while undoubtedly relying on the power of branding to generate revenue, are well-equipped to weather changing trends. For example, LVMH’s largely-logo-devoid brand Loro Piana has reportedly benefitted significantly from the trend, while its bigger names – like Louis Vuitton, Dior, and co. – have continued to churn out trademark-emblazoned wares.
And if Pharrell’s Louis Vuitton menswear debut late last month is any indication, the group’s crown jewel appears to be diversifying a bit to further hedge its bets/ensure revenue growth: it is incorporating a slightly less obvious indicator of source, the Damier print, into the mix in a big way to enable consumers to communicate the company behind their bags, belts, etc. without having the words Louis Vuitton boldly printed on them.)
Put simply, stealth wealth was likely not a major worry for luxury’s biggest names.
As for what might be worrying them a bit more, that is the fact that the $8.8 billion handbag market in the U.S. is “facing a generational dilemma.” New research from Circana – the consumer behavior consultancy that was formed following the merger of IRI and NPD Group – paints something of a grim picture for handbag sales among women between the ages of 18 to 34. “The study found that more than 60 percent of women aged 35 and older report that they always carry a handbag for activities other than work or school,” WWD reported. That figure is down to 39 percent for women aged 18 to 34.
This downward trend could be significant for at least a couple of reasons. Primarily, luxury brands are banking on younger consumers for current sales (millennials and Gen Z accounted for all of the luxury market’s growth last year, according to a Jan. 2023 report from Bain & Co.) and for future growth. The same report revealed that Gen Z consumers are starting to buy luxury goods – “everything from designer handbags and shoes, to watches, jewelry, apparel and beauty products” – at age 15, which is three to five years earlier than millennials did. “By 2030, younger generations (millennials, Gen Z, and Gen Alpha) will become the biggest buyers of luxury by far, representing 80 percent of global purchases,” according to Bain’s estimations.
Second, handbags are responsible for a significant portion of most big brands’ revenues – as is the U.S. market. In reporting full year revenue for 2022, Hermès, for instance, revealed that “Leather Goods & Saddlery” (read: handbags) generated almost $5 billion of its total $11.6 billion in sales, making it the group’s largest division, followed by “Ready-to-wear & “Accessories.”
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