Lu Wei Mun'S Conquest Of Men'S Luxury Goods Market

Tuesday, Men's wear The 3 designers in the circle will arrive in Paris. This is the last and most important stop for their tour. This trip, which was accidentally proposed in New York a few weeks ago, is expected to explode in Paris, the city of light. Louis Vuitton's Virgil Abloh, Dior Men Kim Jones, and Celine Hedi Slimane: they are all powerful. fashion The star designer of the circle is also the design of the largest fashion company in the world.

France's LVMH has 70 homes. brand In 2018, he made a series of high-profile changes in his men's clothing business. The group brought the Off-White designer Abloh to Louis Vuitton, which triggered the Domino domino effect. The former director of design for men's wear, LouisVuitton, joined Dior, while the Kris Van Van, who was the designer of Dior Homme for a long time, was spanferred to the company. During this period, Hedi Slimane was appointed the creative director of Celine. Subsequently, the industry rumors that he will also launch the men's wear series in the brand led by Phoebe Philo.

This is only the beginning of change. Givenchy and Loewe are also making greater efforts for their men's clothing strategy to adapt to the rapid change in the men's wear market. Givenchy designer Clare Waight Keller has launched the brand's full men's wear series for the first time last week in Pitti Uomo since taking over Riccardo Tisci in 2017. This series emphasizes clipping rather than the main Tisci term. street Style. In addition, there are the Italy cashmere brand Loro Piana, which is restricted to the Brunello Cucinelli in the high-end leisure field and is well received by Wall Street bankers and Silicon Valley investors.

Fendi 2019 autumn and winter men's wear backstage source: InDigital.Tv

"Last week's fashion week in Paris was pleasantly surprised. Its brands included Loewe, JW Anderson, Givenchy, Vuitton, Dior, Celine and Berluti." Sidney Toledano, chairman and CEO of Lu Wei Mun Xuan fashion group, said, "in terms of creativity, Paris is worthy of the menswear capital... Especially Lu Wei Mun Xuan has done well in the past few quarters, because we have enough talents and perfect organization."

In 2018, Lu Wei Ming Xuan earned about $17 billion 600 million (15 billion 500 million euros) from its fashion and leather products business. They knew well that their growth in the future would come not only from emerging markets, but also from new categories of consumers in the market. Citi Research estimates that the men's clothing category of Louis Vuitton and Dior, the head brand of Lu Wei Mun Xuan group, currently accounts for about 25% of its sales, its business clothing, shoes, watches and leather products.

"For LV and Dior, which have strong leather business, sales of products are quite uneven. And brands like Givenchy may be more balanced, "said Citigroup analyst Thomas Chauvet.

Although men's business is relatively small in the overall proportion of Lu Wei Mun Xuan, it is a fast growing category with a growth rate of "absolutely two digits" and is growing faster than the group's clothing and leather products. Industry analyst Luca Solca added, "men's clothing is growing faster than Women's wear "

However, the market size of men's high-end clothing is still less than that of women's clothing. At present, designer brand's total sales of women's clothing continue to exceed men's clothing in the global market, but according to Euromonitor International, male designers are fashionable and footwear Demand is still growing steadily, and the market is expected to reach US $46 billion by 2023.

The increase in men's clothing can be attributed to two main incentives. First, the global costumes. Trend More casual and fashion oriented. Second, the growth of sales in Asian markets: male consumers here are more fashionable than anywhere else, especially in China.

"The global market will spanform from classic men's clothing business to a more fashionable and dominant consumption mode, and the country that occupies an important position in the market is China," Toledano said. "Chinese men are fascinated by fashion."

Hedi Slimane, the first Celine men's wear series, photo source: InDigital.Tv

Most of the growth comes from casual clothing. Gym shoes And the pilot jacket replaced the traditional suit three piece suit. From 2013 to 2018, men's footwear was the fastest growing designer category in the sex market, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4% and a value of $10 billion 500 million by 2018.

The question is, why is it now? The fashion of men's wardrobes reflects the new generation. extravagant The taste of consumers changed, and they grew up in the post Jordan era (post-Jordan) of Moda Operandi fashion director Josh Peskowitz. In 1985, with the launch of the first Nike sports shoes Air Jordan, the desire for fashion among male consumers began to be accepted by the public.

"From then on, designers began to focus on men's fashion," Peskowitz said. "Sneakers are just the doorway."

Slimane was appointed creative director by Dior Homme in 2000. This marks another important moment for fashion industry. He launched a tight tailored profile and created a 20 year old menswear version. Dior Homme's dominance in the Japanese market laid the foundation for the group's development in the Asian market. In 2018, the Asia Pacific region contributed $8 billion 800 million to high-end men's clothing market, accounting for about 1/3 of global consumption.

As a cultural driving force, K-Pop has risen worldwide and promoted the evolution of men's clothing. This is not only attributed to their huge impact on the Chinese market, but also thanks to their global influence: Jones's latest Dior Men model for the world tour of men's BTS is the best example.

"K-Pop stars like Quan Zhilong are wearing super high-end designer brands, and consumers are looking at them," Peskowitz said. G-DRAGON

The brand of Lu Wei Ming Xuan is catering to the Asian market. When Fendi re launched the men's wear series with the beauty of oddball in 2011, its marketing focus fell on Asian consumers.

"Fendi Man has won the lead in Asia. We understand the desire of Chinese male customers for interest, "said Fendi CEO Serge Brunschwig to BoF. "Monster eye pattern and trademark They all sell well and drive the sale of tailored tailoring.

The fashion company also collaborated with Hongkong pop star Wang Jiaer (Jackson Wang) in a "FendiMan", which won the first prize in two categories of iTunes in the US. Meanwhile, Chinese actor Xu Weizhou served as the opening model of the Fendi fashion show in Shanghai. The brand's global sales grew by two digits in 2018.

Most of these cultural shifts are aimed at serving the main force of luxury goods below 50. "Such male customers are more concerned about their image and are more likely to spend on their appearance," explains Marguerite Le Rolland, a research analyst at Rui International.

In order to make full use of the characteristics of the crowd, Lu Wei Hin has appointed a digital star designer in its head brand, and strategically shifted the brand's attention to the men's wear market. This helps to further stimulate sales in Asia, while male consumers in the region are more courageous in trying out bold clothing designs and are more likely to carry personal leather products (such as pockets or handbags). According to Euro data, Asia accounts for about 27% of the global high-end men's wear market, accounting for 22% of the global women's wear market.

Of course, it also means challenges. In European and American markets, men's demand for suits is shrinking. The brand side has been well prepared for a large outbreak of designer shoes, which has been maintained for several years. The trend return of custom tailored single products led by Abloh and Jones is also sufficient to show that suits will be re recognized and accepted by young consumers in an unconventional way. Maybe, traditional. leather shoes And boots also have the opportunity to "rejuvenate".

"For me, sports shoes and T-shirts are an easy and dangerous way out," Toledano said. "You have to include them, but most of today's star designers know that you still need to customize your business. You may add some tailoring elements to your jacket, jacket or suit. If you lack customized business, brand will give people a sense of street clothes, and you will lose your due elegance.

But most importantly, Toledano mentioned that the group is working together to make every brand unique. These brands are responding to similar market demands, but the group has not made an overall menswear strategy for its brand.

"We will not restrict the decisions of every brand. Obviously, we will be responsible for retail coordination, but in general, brands have their own independence, "he said. "We want to rely on talented designers to bring unique personality to the brand. Berluti doesn't look like Dior, and Dior doesn't look like LV. "

The following are the opportunities and challenges that BoF's future leading brands will encounter.

LOUIS VUITTON

Virgil Abloh is Louis Vuitton 2019 autumn winter men's wear series curtain call: Source: InDigital.Tv

The successful operation of Kim Jones during the period of no doubt promoted the brand's menswear business to the "banknote printing machine" throne of Lu Wei Xuan Xuan group. Among them, the success of his Supreme cooperation series is enough to make people realize that the distribution mode driven by independent publishing is spreading to the high-end fashion market.

Opportunity: Virgil Abloh, who succeeds Jones, is probably the most popular designer for fashion lovers. He has a unique view of the interaction between design, marketing and sales. Although the design of Abloh is often referred to as a sensationalism, its attraction to young consumers will undoubtedly be a permanent solution: even if they can not afford Louis Vuitton now, their brand preference will increase in the coming years. "Quality channel and brand momentum indicators will be aggregated into Louis Vuitton's organic growth performance," Solca wrote in a recent report.

Challenge: Although Abloh's brand Off-White is involved in the fields of art, fashion and industrial design, its persistence is yet to be proved. Now, Louis Vuitton has been able to create enough stability around its core brand to match three stylistic designers (Nicolas Ghesqui re re, Abloh and jewellery designer Francesca Amfitheatrof). Maintaining the balance of the relationship is by no means an easy task.

DIOR

Kim Jones was appointed artistic director of menswear in Dior in March 2018. Shortly after that, Pietro Beccari, the chief executive of the brand, ended up in Fendi. Bernard Arnault, chairman of Lu Wei Ming Xuan, said that this will open the brand's "new era".

Opportunity: as a "social leader" with a strong influence in the fashion circle and a network of quality relations, Jones chooses a new artist to collaborate each season, while creating freshness, and gradually creating a new look of "Dior Men". He is good at designing accessories and this fast growing men's product category is also crucial to the brand. His reinterpretation of John Galliano's saddle bag, originally designed for Dior women's wear, has also become a best seller, satisfying the daily bag products that modern men need, especially the "Z generation" and millennial groups in Asia. Their average age of consumption is far lower than that of Western consumers. Jones has recently designed a new stage costume for Korean men's BTS.

Dior 2019 autumn winter men's wear show source: InDigital.Tv

Challenge: Dior's image diversity has been blurred by the market. Brand has always wanted to combine men's and women's clothing as a "Dior", but there is still a long way to go for brands to do this. The women's wear line designed by Dior Maria Grazia Churi has a strong contrast with the works of Jones. At the same time, the brand's fragrance, jewelry and beauty line are very different.

In the field of clothing, the design of Jones may be too advanced for the public luxury consumers, and they are more willing to accept the fashion that is well understood. "The style of Kim Jones may be too formal for street enthusiasts. They prefer to choose Balenciaga or Off-White, and for the traditional Dior consumers who like classic tailoring, their designs are too street." Said Benjamin Simmenauer, an industry consultant and professor of Institut Fran AIS de la Mode. "He combined into one, but it is hard to find a reasonable consumer group."

CELINE

In January 2018, Lu Wei Mun announced that Hedi Slimane will replace Celine's Phoebe Philo, and will lead the brand to develop advanced customization, perfume and men's clothing business, when the industry was in an uproar. This will make Slimane and Kering Saint's Laurent compete fiercely.

Opportunity: Slimane's influence on the profile of modern men's clothing will play a key role in the success of Celine. "He is the king of tailoring," said Toledano, who worked with Slimane in Dior Homme.

Although the first show of his series of women's clothing is controversial and questioned, he has made a rapid rebound in his confidence in Slimane with the widely acclaimed second series plus the brand retail network. He believes that his dedicated and scalable creative vision will lead Celine into a multi billion dollar fashion house.

Challenge: Although Celine has sold men's clothing series in history, Slimane is now trying to restructure the business from scratch. This will require a lot of investment and long-term patience. The early market research report suggests that Celine is still waiting for the injection of huge amounts of money.

GIVENCHY

The early work of Clare Waight Keller in Givenchy has gained acclaim from the industry. Recently, she shifted her design focus to men's clothing business. Can she continue to write the success of her predecessor, Riccardo Tisci?

Opportunity: Waight Keller is a clear and determined designer. In June 2019, she showed her first men's wear series in Pitti Uomo, the main color and classic tailoring. Whether her future for Givenchy is outstanding or not will depend on whether the brand's high price setting can be accepted by consumers.

"Givenchy itself is an attractive brand," Simmenauer said. "Once the direction of design is clear, the iconic products in the series,"

Challenge: the decision of the fashion house must consider the accumulation of high-end Street clothing enthusiasts in the Tisci term. "Givenchy is still in the shadow of other brands in the group," Simmenauer added. "It needs to find its own position and highlights."

BERLUTI

It is the most traditional way of Lu Wei Ming Xuan. Men's wear brand Berluti only focuses on the development of men's clothing business, and is currently controlled by Slimane's former assistant and Dior Homme's former designer, Van Assche.

Opportunity: Berluti shows a very strong DNA in men's footwear and other leather products business, which happens to be a key growth category. Van Assche's minimalist aesthetics is complementary to the more conservative customers of brand customers.

Although the clothing business accounts for only a small part of sales, the company is entering a growing and ultra luxurious market. In the Paris fashion week, the exhibition hall is opened on the left bank of Paris to meet the needs of brand loyal customers for customized tailoring.

Challenge: since Alessandro Sartori left office in 2016, Berluti has been struggling to spanform itself. In the past 2 years, 3 designers who lived in and out of the market were hard to resist for any brand, let alone a luxury brand which never named the star designer. (Haider Ackermann took over the brand before Van Assche.)

More importantly, the positive behavior of leisure culture such as Berluti has posed new challenges for the formal brand. After showing off his second clothing series this week, Van Assche began to incorporate leisure elements into the design, while the adjusted trademarks also appeared on sportswear and pilot jackets. Because of the constraints of formal brands, he can't get involved in street clothes like Abloh or Jones.

FENDI

Fendi 2019 autumn winter men's wear series: InDigital.Tv

Silvia Venturini Fendi's Fendi didn't have much men's clothing business, but it changed in 2011 with the re launch of Fendi Man. The brand is known for its nifty accessories and creative artists, and is now making further progress in customizing business. In the autumn and winter series of 2019, Venturini Fendi collaborate with Karl Lagerfeld, the creative director of Fendi women's wear. Chief executive Serge Brunschwig said, "Silvia intuitively affirms that men will re invest in jackets."

Opportunity: Fendi's success in accessories business is moving to the men's wear market. Fendi first released its famous "Baguette" handbag version in the autumn and winter 2019 men's wear series. The brand is also working hard to coordinate the business contacts between men and women, and held the first series of men's and women's clothing combinations in Shanghai in June 2019.

"It's because Karl and Silvia have collaborated in two series, and these two series have maintained communication and dialogue," Brunschwig said.

The challenge: "without exception, the problem will be how to maintain fashion relevance." Brunschwig added that hiring the right people and building a strong retail network are the focus of their work.

In addition, designers must jump out of the inertia thinking of trademark design to establish brand identifiable degree. "Strong trademark is our advantage, but its design value is no bigger than that of Gucci and other competitive brands." Simmenauer mentioned.

LOEWE

In the fifth year of joining Spanish fashion house Loewe, creative director Jonathan Anderson presented the debut of the brand men's wear in January 2019.

Opportunity: Anderson's neutral aesthetics makes his women's clothing and men's wear style intersect, and she wants to please the fashionable consumers of gender mobility. At the same time, Loewe's expanding accessories business can promote consumption regardless of gender.

Challenge: the brand is still at the bottom of the group in the impression of luxury consumers. The key to its development is to expand the brand Footprint and stick to its own creative ideas.

LORO PIANA

In 2013, Lu Wei Ming Xuan bought a majority stake in Italy textile manufacturing company Loro Piana. The brand is famous for its glossy fabrics, 75% of its business comes from finished products, and the rest 25% comes from supplying fabrics to other brands.

Opportunities: Loro Piana and Herm s, Brunello Cucinelli and Kiton ranked the highest level of luxury goods, with its "low-key luxury" to attract customers. More importantly, it specializes in the stable knitwear market.

Challenge: the brand has just entered new media and has no experience with consumers. To compete with brands like Herm, s and Cucinelli, it needs to develop something that is not limited to use. Material Science Core competitive products.

Conflict of interest statement: Lu Wei MOH Xuan group is a part of the investment group holding a minority stake in BoF fashion business review. All investors signed shareholder documents to ensure the complete editorial independence of the BoF fashion business review.