Comments on: Fashion Industry News Roundup: 11/30/08

By: Nathan Branch

Nathan Branch — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 08:41:46 +0000

Okay, what you just said has supplied the missing piece to a jigsaw puzzle in my brain.
This past summer, while we were staying in Maui, we’d get visitors and take them shopping at some posh shopping mall in Wailea. While cruising through the Fendi store, one of the sales girls pulled out a special, limited edition handbag that cost a small fortune and said that Fendi only made a few of them and carefully doled them out to various regions of the world — she beamed as she said that they were the ones who got the single United States allotment.
I was, like, “Wha? A little store in Maui? Why?” I couldn’t understand how they got preference over New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, etc. But now it makes sense.

By: Tara

Tara — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 22:44:49 +0000

Yeah, MWI and Doblis. Head-scratchers for sure. You’d think they’d be willing, even anxious, to sell expensive bottles of fume that perfumistas are clamoring for. But according to carmencanada on POL there are not enough of us to make it worth their while, which I find difficult to believe but there you have it.
As for the Japanese prices, I found that out when shopping at the Ala Moana mall in Honolulu last January. I noticed there were lots of signs in Japanese and Japanese SAs in the shops. I also noticed there was a Loewe boutique, the Spanish leathergoods company – they only have one boutique in America, and it’s in Honolulu, which I thought was odd – why not New York? I asked their SA, and she’s the one who told me all the Japanese come to Honolulu to buy designer goods because they’re 30% cheaper here. Blew me away.

By: Nathan Branch

Nathan Branch — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 18:41:36 +0000

30% higher?!! Holy S**t — it’s not like those bags are cheap to begin with. What’s kind of funny about the price cut is that it’s happening at the same time that the Yen is really starting to pick up steam against other world currencies.
That, in itself, would have provided a good amount of relief for Japanese consumers, but it definitely shows that sales for LV are in trouble when they have to toss in a price cut on top of the favorable currency exchange.
And I still can’t figure out why MW canceled the original incense, or won’t re-release it. It obviously has a following, and its return would be greeted with rapture in the blogs, so it makes zero sense to just lock it in the back of a dark closet and throw away the key, especially now that incense fragrances are all the rage.
Wasn’t the original designed by Lyn Harris (of Miller Harris)? I mean — cult following, designed by a perfumer with high regard among perfume fans and peers, trendy incense formula . . . what could go wrong? Nothing like burying the cash cow.

By: Tara

Tara — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 18:20:58 +0000

From what I’ve heard, LV prices in Japan are 30% higher than they are in the USA, so I would definitely say they are due for a reduction.
And when is Matthew Williamson going to resuscitate the dearly departed MW Incense. Hmm? That was an inexcusably poor decision.