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Luxury brands have often been associated with the core competences of creativity,

exclusivity, craftsmanship, precision, high quality, innovation and premium pricing.These product attributes give the consumers the satisfaction of not only owning

expensive items but the extra-added psychological benefits like esteem, prestige anda sense of a high status that reminds them and others that they belong to an

exclusive group of only a select few, who can afford these pricey items.

The luxury sector targets its products and services at consumers on the top-end of

the wealth spectrum. These self-selected elite are price insensitive and choose tospend their time and money on clothes and accessories that are plainly opulence

rather than necessities. For these reasons, luxury and prestige brands have forcenturies commanded an unwavering and often illogical customer loyalty.

everal luxury and prestige brands such as Louis !uitton, "urberry and #hanel werelaunched in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries when a strict social class

system defined society and royalty and aristocracy reigned supreme. $uring thisperiod, designers like #hristian $ior, Louis !uitton and %uccio %ucci designed

clothes, luggage and leather goods exclusively for the noble men and women of

society. Their work was an art form that took several weeks and sometimes monthsto produce and this was all a part of the &luxury and prestige' experience. $uringthis period, it was the norm to literally dress in one brand from head-to-toe.

(n the present )*st century environment, the story is different. The luxury scene has

changed due to several factors. First a mass class of wealthy people have emergedthe world over. +t the beginning of the century, luxury consumers were a small

segment of the population who all looked the same. (n the last three to four decades

however, a vast amount of wealth has been amassed by individuals due to severaleconomic, social, and technological breakthroughs.

econdly, there has emerged a sea of luxury brands and this has affected the highentry barrier that the industry guarded for centuries. (t has also given luxury

consumers more choice than ever before. Thirdly, the rapid growth of digital,information and communications technology has given consumers more variety in

luxury product offering, easier access to view the choices and lower switching costsespecially on the (nternet. This has empowered the consumers to become more

individualistic, experimental and bold enough to mix luxury and high-street fashion inone outfit something that their mothers and grandmothers would have considered a

taboo in the past.

The result of this change is the phenomenon of &trading-up and trading-down.' The

new wealthy mass class who are enoying their ability to trade up to acquiring luxury

products practice trading-up. Trading-down is the practice of mixing the use ofluxury items with fashion brands. This practice is also popularly called &the

democratisation of luxury.' Therefore it is no longer a surprise to find a wealthycelebrity wearing eans from /0, earrings from #hanel, shoes from #oach, a shirt

from 1ara and a bag from Louis !uitton.

Luxury consumers have unconsciously formed a pedestal for fashion brands to standside by side with luxury brands. The so-called fashion brands such as /0, 1ara,

0ango, %ap and Tophop are redefining their branding and marketing strategies toreflect a &luxurious' appeal to the consumer. +s a result of this, for the first time in

their history, luxury brands are facing competition from the &lesser' mass fashion

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brands that are gradually edging into the lives of luxury consumers. Luxury brandshave always had well-defined territories along which they operate and there has

never been any question that they hold the strings in determining their consumers2behaviors until now.

The mass fashion brands are showing that they have understood the language of

differentiation and individualism and are able to offer the luxury consumeralternatives to their luxury products or complimentary goods at better price-value.They have also developed sophisticated operations techniques to spin off their

products in a short time. This has enabled the mass brands to graduate from &mass'to &mass-premium' brands, as they like to be referred. 3hile they are still fantastic

consumer brands, they are no longer low-end or middle-end brands. They haveunderstood that it is no longer a problem for a young wealthy $uchess to combine a

456 pair of eans from 1ara with a 47,666 bag from !uitton and a 45,666 8*) watchfrom #hanel, and they are exploiting this development. This goes to say that the

luxury bag or watch alone is not solely required to enable the consumer fulfill theneeds of esteem.

+nother factor that has enabled the christening of the fashion brands as premiumbrands is the manipulation of the marketing mix strategies to be similar to those of

the luxury brands. + typical example is the introduction of limited edition clothes andaccessories by high street brands such as the 9:2s 0arks and pencer2s or the recent

wave of high advertisement expenditure in fashion maga;ines like Vogueand

Harpers & Queen, which were previously the sole domains of luxury brands. !iewing

a Tophop advertisement beside #hanel or ermes advertisement in !ogueundoubtedly does something to the mind of the consumer.

(n addition, the mass-premium brands now open in the best locations in fashioncapitals of aris, 0ilan and London. They now act and speak as if they are

really the high-end brands that set the trends. They have become aggressive in theirmanner of communication to their target audience, who are largely luxury

consumers.

+nother example is the teaming up of legendary luxury fashion designer and

$esigner of the ouse of #hanel, :arl Lagerfeld with /0 to design a limited editionwomen2s wear collection in

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Premium brandsare those brands like >olo Balph Lauren, #alvin :lein and Tommyilfiger that aspire to be luxury and prestige brands but their marketing mix

strategies are more attuned to a mass market, albeit a luxury mass market. omeexperts also call this group, mass-premium brands while others have termed them

mass-luxury brands and yet some others refer to them as high-end brands. Thiscategory has perhaps witnessed the greatest changes from the consumer and

aggressive competition from global fashion brands like 1ara and /0.

Fashion brandson the other hand are those that dress the masses. + recent

evolution brought about by competition has created a significant change in thefashion brands category. "rands like 1ara, /0 and %ap can no longer be

considered as merely fashion brands, in the same boat as any high street fashionbrand as they have elevated their offerings and strategies. (n order to differentiate

themselves from the mass-fashion brands, they now refer to themselves as >remiumFashion brands. They are playing a key role in the trading-down phenomenon of the

luxury consumer.

The difference between luxury brands and fashion brands is not only in the aspects

of product quality and pricing but also applies to availability and exclusivity of theproducts. Fashion brands are for the mass market, whether they are of high quality

or not. Luxury brands are for a distinct narrow market and are defined by highquality, differentiation and precision in product design and manufacture. + brand is

either a luxury brand or it is not. There is no go-between. (f a brand does not set outto target the high-end market, then it is difficult to become a luxury brand.

o what brands are the true luxury brandsA eritage and tradition have always

played a vital role in this sector. This is the reason that the industry is emphasi;ing

the differences between luxury and prestige brands, premium brands and fashionbrands. The traditional view of luxury has been affected by the recent changes in the

consumer landscape. $espite this, the true luxury and prestige brands such as Louis!uitton, #hanel, ermes, #artier, Bolex and %ucci, remain unwavering and not

compromising their core values and continuously influencing their consumers2thinking, albeit a more mass consumer base. These brands have strategies that

address the difficult paradox of the combination of exclusivity and availability and toappeal to many while appearing to be right for only a special few.

Finally, a simple test can be used to ascertain that a brand is a true luxury andprestige brand. (f you move the Louis !uitton boutique 76km away, will the

consumer be ready follow the store 76 km away to the new locationA (f you take the/0 boutique 76 km away, will the consumer go an extra 76 km for a pair of /0

trousers or will they find an alternativeA

This answers the question@ 3hat is a luxury brandA

Uche Okonkwo(MBA) is an ndependen! Business Ana"#s! based in $ondon%

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