Luxury houses are reducing the size of their logos as consumers opt for less showy monogrammed products. This is the essence of bespoke luxury.
For several years, luxury houses prided themselves on the visibility of their logos by branding their products.
Louis Vuitton used its classic logo to establish itself into the emerging markets and tap the emerging luxury consumers. The monogrammed products became symbols of accessible luxury and mass market consumerism instead of the desired exclusivity.
They began to represent luxury, entry level luxury consumers, leading to a loss of the clients who wanted exclusive luxury. A house like Hermès does not have entry level segments for its clients.
Large logos are sometimes dangerous for the business as they can be easily counterfeited.
Luxury brands are now reducing the size of their logos and visibility as consumers are moving from loud and obvious logos to minimal or no logos.
Consumers from markets such as China are becoming more sophisticated and purchasing products of little or no visibility, these are signs of sophistication and culture without conformity of showing ones status or wealth in society.
Quiet luxury
Understated luxury has been associated with sophisticated luxury consumers. Quiet luxury products command higher demand from consumers. They come at a higher cost with a limited supply and undeniable quality such as the House of Hermès.
A recent study on more than 300 products from Louis Vuitton, Gucci and other luxury houses showed the smaller the size of the logo on a luxury item, it can command a higher price. The study focused on more than 300 products from.
One of the sectors that applied minimalism to its products is the luxury leather goods industry. Gucci, owned by French multinational Kering, has been successful at implementing this strategy.
This season their beautifully crafted luxury leather goods have reduced the size of their logos as seen on the exotic bags collection for spring 2014.
As more individuals increase their spending power there is a desire to buy items that appear to be less showy.
This has seen several luxury brands cater to these consumers by reducing the logo to guarantee silent luxe. Buyers of these products are able to recognise the bags by their designs, shapes and materials.
Italian luxury house Bottega Veneta products are well recognisable by the materials the use on their products.
Leather handbags
Minimalism provides prominence to the beauty of the object, maintains its allure, uniqueness as desired by the consumer. This is the essence of bespoke luxury.
The universe of luxury leather handbags has its hierarchy of quality and craftsmanship suited for each house.
This hierarchy has special order bags or made to order and mass manufactured bags. Buying a bag from Hermès is comparable to buying a Rolls-Royce or haute couture from the House of Chanel.
You order for your bag, with the skin you want for it - ostrich, alligator, crocodile or cowhide - and the accessories you prefer which range from feathers, to diamonds, gold and to others.
The artisans study the skins and cut them out as required for the handbags.
The next step is to wait for several months for the bag to be produced. The finished bag will have the name of the artisan, the atelier (workshop) and the year of production.
This enables you to locate the creator of your bag, if you want to order another bag or for quality control management.
Waiting lists at Hermès ensure it remains high in demand, exclusive and luxury. Hermès has managed to constantly increase its prices while making profits.
Some of the Hermès Birkin bags are made from crocodile and can retail at $60,000 (Sh5.2 million). A Hermès bag defines money, nobility, wealth without being ostentatious. The logo of the product is not visible.
Louis Vuitton has also launched a truly luxurious line of exotic skin handbags for the ultra-high net worth clients as more consumers, men and women, demand for understated luxury.
This seasons bags, like in most luxury houses, are drawstring bucket bags made from exotic skins in various colours such as the Louis Vuitton NN 14 Fatale PM bag which costs $20,600 (Sh1.8million).
These collections of bags are shaped like buckets, crafted from crocodile skin with drawstrings.
The more the minimalism, the higher the cost for the bag. Gucci’s Soft Stirrup Crocodile shoulder bag retails at $32,500 (Sh2.8 million) while the Bottega Veneta Crocodile Accordion bag retails at $15,750 (Sh1.4 million).
