Why Can Viktor&Rolf Reluctantly Give Up Clothing Business?

It is rainy in Paris, and spring seems to be waiting for a while. In July 2013, Viktor & Rolf, who officially returned to Gao Ding, suddenly announced that the autumn and winter series in 2015 will become the last garment series. The 14 years' unfinished garment business will be ended. The fashion design in the future will focus on two times of advanced customization. For everyone of us, this means that from the beginning of 2016, you will not buy Viktor Rolf & Rolf clothes in fashion buyer shops or department stores, and its flagship store in Saint-Honor fashion, Paris fashion street, will officially end its mission next February.

Viktor & Rolf will return to the brand's 1998 high priority. "We feel a strong need to refocus on the origin of our artistic style. We have been communicating with fashion. It is the first way to express our artistic style. " Viktor said in an interview with WWD last week. He also said that the tight schedule of clothing business limits their creativity, so they will get more time and free space to create clothes.

Coincidentally, Jean Paul Gaultier made a surprising and consistent decision a few months ago - giving up clothing and focusing on Gao Ding.

Persist in artistic expression and not yield to garments. This is the answer given by Viktor & Rolf and Jean Paul Gaultier.

At the end of January 2015, the designers of Holland Rolf Snoeren (left) and Viktor Horsting (right) will take a curtain call after their advanced custom show. In the future, they will focus their attention on the field of advanced customization.

But the market tells us that the high value business of "gorgeous expression" with art expression can not bring strong cash flow to the brand, so where can the most open market garment business be wronged?

First of all, the most direct reason is that Viktor & Rolf and Jean Paul Gaultier's clothing business consumers are too small to achieve profits. The brand of contemporary designers is a very willful existence in the consumer market. They maintain the interest and topic of fashion circle with "uniqueness" and "artist characteristics", but at the same time face the commercial pressure to attract more customers and enter more markets. The antagonistic nature of Commerce and art is particularly prominent in their bodies. In order to maintain the level of God corresponding to their unique artistic expression, their "artwork" pricing is basically above the average, even higher than that of Dior and Chanel. Therefore, how to maintain a certain volume of customer groups under such a high pricing strategy to achieve profitability becomes crucial.

Some of the contemporary designer brands have been returned to the group, such as Kering's Christopher Kane and LVMH's Nicholas Kirkwood. With the synergy effect within the group, they are more able to play than the independent brand, and are allowed to have enough time and money to build brand and complete the market layout without considering the profit. With these contemporary designer brands to carve up the customer market, there is also the already accomplished luxury. Fashion brand For example, Dior and Chanel who never walk down the altar, and Lanvin and Valentino, which have achieved brand revival in the past five years. In recent years, there has also been a large number of fashion brands that are popular with fashion designers and fashion designers. They have more or less style and artistic expression, but they are also very suitable for everyday wear. They can be matched with expensive handbags or shoes. Their prices are the highest, but Kenzo and Acne are low to Opening Ceremony and COS. Faced with such a brutal competition environment, the modern positioning designers of modern positioning are not only two ways to win business: A. bags or shoes should be made explosive; B. garments must be highly wearable.

According to a graduate of luxury management MBA course in Paris ESSEC business school, one of the graduation research projects in 2013 is to provide a feasible profit solution for the development of Christopher Kane brand with the strategic Department of Kering group headquarters. The group hopes that the designer of the same name in the United Kingdom will be able to have one or two it bag as well as a similar brand of New York designer Proenza Schouler.

"Hot sales package or Shoe shoe It is easy to enter the new market, and the highly recognizable design can strengthen the customer's memory point, and then become a commercial cash cow, forming a commercial and artistic balance with the small and low profit garments. " The designer has enough space to continue to play a lot of strange new topics on the T platform next season, attracting hot topics, attracting clothes and selling bags (Gou Rou).

It is obvious that Viktor & Rolf, which has been out of the way for nearly 20 years, has no Proenza Schouler, which is lucky for the "twins" in the handbag business, but not as good as Erdem, Christopher Kane, Peter Pilotto. In the bold consideration of material or color, it also takes into account the wearability of the tailoring contour. It always makes people feel that the clothes are more suitable to be viewed as a work of art, and can not be worn on the body.

Highly sought after by celebrities Proenza Schouler PS1 handbag Has successfully entered the European market.

In 2008, after acquiring most of the shares of OTB, the parent company of Diesel, Viktor & Rolf had high hopes. In 2013, he opened the first clothing store in Paris, and returned to the high level stage in the same year. However, in the first year of 2015, the garment line was announced to be terminated, focusing on high definition and special projects. Renzo Rosso, the founder of OTB, called it "the strategic decision to put Viktor / Rolf in the most luxurious orientation of fashion." It is obvious that the decision to close the store in less than two years after the flagship store is a forced decision made by OTB because of poor market performance.

Italy OTB group, which owns Diesel, Maison Margiela (renamed from Maison Martin Margiela in January), Marni and Viktor Rolf & Rolf four fashion brands, is trying to redesign the positioning relationship between brands. Diesel is slowly losing its attractiveness five years ago. Even the discount shop in the eastern suburbs of Paris has a lot of bleak business. Marni is pretty good. Clothes, shoes or handbags have a group of fashion fans, but the potential for growth is worrying. Maison Margiela has secretly removed Martin from its name, and released the first design series of John Galliano, which was released by Dior in London in early January, and hit the fashion circle. Under such a background, OTB's new position of "upgrading" Viktor and Rolf is also reasonable. If business has been unable to improve, it would be better to stop at the earliest possible date and bet on the group's clothing business on the Maison Martin Margiela, so that Viktor & Rolf can become a quiet beauty on the top.

For customers, the comfort of Viktor & Rolf perfume line, which is not authorized by L'OREAL group of Paris, has nothing to do with OTB. The 2005 Flowerbomb fragrance and the 2012 Spicebomb men fragrance were excellent in the market.

Next month's 2015 autumn winter dress week, Viktor & Rolf will no longer be on the runway. Their last women's wear series will only be open for appointment.

Next, you have a year to buy their ready-made clothes in the following buyer shops: Beijing's old Buddha and 10 Corso Como, Shanghai's 10 Corso Como, Chengdu's Le Select, Chongqing's Chance, Wuhan's Bright Unity, Hongkong's Harvey Nichols and Nichols.

In Paris, the only flagship store in the world that has just opened in 2013 will be closed in early 2016.