Where does everything go?

It struck me walking through Harrods, Selfridges, Liberty, Browns, Matches etc. how much stuff they still have on sale. Tonnes of it and all reduced. The savvy shopper doesn’t buy full price anymore when most of the stuff on sale is reduced at some point during the year. All the schmutter money can buy, all reduced and most still unsold is on sale should you want it. But what do the stores do with the stuff once the sales are over? There is talk that some of it is burnt in order to protect the brand. Odd when you think about it because in my mind brand protection is not about pilling high and selling low. It is completely the opposite. There must be mountains, or indeed landfill sites of luxury brand goods somewhere in the world- and I don’t mean at the discount villages on the outskirts of the major cities. And as China now becomes the focus of luxury brand retailers with an estimated growth in profits to something like $14.6 billion by 2015 more stuff will be produced. In reality it does not matter where the stuff goes all that really matters is that we begin to understand that the more that is produced the less of a luxury it really is.

‘Sale’ into a luxury brand

And so the luxury story continues. Come to think of it, it is not really a luxury story at all rather a luxury brand fairytale. The whole fashion cycle is becoming so boring. The stuff is more expensive than ever. I can’t believe anyone would pay full price for any of it and as the sales start earlier and earlier there is no real need. And so the sales begin.

Not content with selling their wares in airport shopping malls or discount outlets you can buy discounted luxury brands online. Forget paying full price at Net A Porter or the brands own websites. Don’t even bother going to the stores. Try all year round discounted goods at brandalley, cocosa or secretstyle. If you fancy a pair of Gucci or Dior shoes, a Fendy bag or Stephen Webster jewellery, they have it all. Despite Gucci telling us through their advertising that all the goods are beautifully made by men in white coats in a hazy workshop, the reality is that the goods are still mass produced, probably somewhere other than in Italy, and are not luxury at all. The days of the consumer respecting the artisan are long gone. Talented designers, makers and innovators are replaced by formulas that guarantee sales.

What is frustrating is that the consumer is none the wiser. What do they care if their jacket, jumper, skirt or bag is one of thousands. What they do care about is that it has a logo. To them the logo says luxury. And in reality that is all that matters, to the consumer and the retailer.

What strikes me as odd is that the luxury brand retailers spend millions of Dollars trying to protect the brand image but care little for where the product is actually sold. Why sell a £1000.00 handbag on a website that also sells Calvin Klein swimming trunks for a fiver? Even worse why sell a £1000.00 bag on a website that sells a Woodland Leather (who are they?) jacket for £150.00? What about protecting a brand when it needs it most? Shifting product is the aim of the game. To be honest a sale is a sale no matter where it happens so long as the product sells.