有一本书叫DELUXE
作者是位在巴黎,米兰等时尚中心的常驻女记者,她的履历如下,就不翻译了:
Biography
Dana Thomas has been the cultural and fashion writer for Newsweek in Paris for twelve years. She has written about style for The New York Times Magazine since 1994, and has contributed to various publications, including The New Yorker, Harper's Bazaar, Vogue, The Los Angeles Times, and the Financial Times in London. She is the Paris correspondent for Australian Harper's Bazaar and a member of the Anglo-American Press Association in Paris and the Overseas Press Club. Thomas taught journalism at The American University of Paris from 1996 to 1999. In 1987, she received the Sigma Delta Chi Foundation Scholarship and the Ellis Haller Award for Outstanding Achievement in Journalism. She lives in Paris with her husband, HervŽ d'Halluin, and their six-year-old daughter, Lucie Lee.
这本书的主旨是告诉广大消费者,为什么你花大钱买来的名牌奢侈品并不像你想象的那样闪亮.这本书引起了很大轰动,作者已经被 LV 拒绝采访他们最新的show.也许作者真的戳到了这些公司的痛处.
采访中的几个亮点:
大部分名牌公司已经都不是有家庭名字的前店后厂式的经营.他们都是市值几亿的上市公司.家庭品牌的质量和名誉已经不是最重要的.市场份额,高产量,低成本,高销售额,就是赚最多的钱已经是经营宗旨.这就意味着,大批量生产,低成本生产.
品牌最赚钱的不是服装,而是香水,皮包,鞋子,化妆品,首饰,手表等边缘产品.
几乎所有的名牌手袋的价钱都是成本的10-12倍.香水的更离谱,有时是30-50倍.
即使名牌贴着Made in Italy,Made in France.标牌,实际上也是中国制造的.因为低人工成本和对质量不是很高的要求,大部分顶级品牌都在中国生产.LV,Gucci,Prada等.因为各国对产地标牌的要求不是很严格,也许设计在欧洲,也许原材料来自欧洲,也许百分之几的生产是在欧洲,这些最后在中国组装的名牌都可以合法的挂上意大利制造和法国制造的牌子.
这些奢侈品已经不是过去意义上的只以少数人为顾客群了,Chanel在美国就有折价直销店.作者更认为,LV 就是时尚界的麦当劳.
为什么大家拼命要买名牌,有的年轻女孩不吃饭也要买,不是消费水平到了,不是质量有顶级好,而是这些公司的强悍市场攻势.LV 几年前付给J.Lo 1千万美金做代言人,这1千万要打入成本,实际是消费者在买单.但当消费者看到好莱坞明星们都提一个LV,卖身也要买了.
市场攻势多有效? 亚洲消费超过50% LV 的总产量,日本40%,中国10%.是更富有,还是消费观念更不成熟.欧美高档消费品市场有大概100年历史,日本大概50年,中国大概15-20年,你也许可以看出点经营趋势.欧洲已经是饱和走下坡市场, 日本是成熟市场,中国是新兴上升市场.
为了利润最大化,现在的名牌趋势是推出边缘产品季节化.就是每年2季推出新的皮包,鞋子等,让你不停的买.这也是有违高档消费品宗旨的.
我在网上google了一下,review还挺多的,你可以试试看.下面是我找到的一些,就不翻译了:
为什么好多人买假货:
实际上是这些上市公司的市场攻势的结果,过去大家买高档消费品是为了高质量和生产的少,现在只是买品牌的标牌.
What I realized from my tour is that people don't believe there is a difference between real and fake anymore. Bernard Arnault's marking plan had worked: consumers don't buy luxury branded items for what they are, but for what they represent. And good fakes -the kind that can pass for real- now represent socially the same thing as real.
再来一些:
Synopsis
A hard-hitting behind-the-scenes look at the luxury fashion industry today
There was a time when luxury was available only to the rarefied and aristocratic world of old money and royalty. Luxury wasn't simply a product, it was a lifestyle, one that denoted a history of tradition, superior quality and offered a pampered buying experience. Today's luxury marketplace would be virtually unrecognizable to its founders. Gone are the family-owned businesses dedicated to integrity and quality; the industry is now run by multi-billion dollar global corporations focused on growth, visibility, brand-awareness, advertising and above all, profits. Handcrafted goods are practically extinct, and almost all manufacturing has been outsourced to large factories in such places as China, where your expensive brand-name handbag is being assembled right next to one from a mass-market label that will cost substantially less.
Dana Thomas, a journalist who has covered style and the luxury business for The Washington Post, Newsweek and The New York Times Magazine from Paris for the past fifteen years, digs deep into the dark side of the luxury industry to uncover all the secrets that Prada, Gucci and Burberry don't want us to know. Traveling from the laboratories in Grasse, where the ingredients for Christian Dior and Prada perfumes are produced, to the crowded factories in China, where workers glue together "Made in Italy" bags by the thousands, Thomas explores the whole of today's high-end shopping experience to answer some pressing questions: What is the new definition of luxury when advertising for this lifestyle is targeted mainly toward the mass market? What are we payingfor when quality has given way to quantity? Can integrity survive in a corporate culture driven to meet regular growth and profit projections? Is luxury still the best that money can buy?
Thomas has traveled all over the world to interview corporate heads and factory workers, old-money, old-luxury clients and new luxury-obsessed middle-market consumers, and she paints a surprising picture of today's New Luxury. With Deluxe, she delivers a fast-paced, uncompromising look at the real world behind the glossy magazines and red carpet couture and asks: How did luxury lose its luster?
自古就有买的没有卖的精之说,但是从现在我们所受的教育,可以获得的信息,我想我们买家可以更聪明一点.不知大家怎么看这本书的.
