Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Japanese Fall Out of Love with Luxury

I found this article on www.ft.com (financial times)

"Japan’s trend-chasing office workers and ladies who lunch are giving up Louis Vuitton handbags and Chanel jackets for Zara dresses and Gap jeans, making what was a favourite market for luxury manufacturers into one of their biggest headachesThe downturn is forcing customers in Japan to scale back purchases of luxury goods, accelerating a long-term shift in consumer attitudes, according to a report by McKinsey, the consultants...Japan became the world’s “only mass luxury market” in the 1980s and early 1990s, when Japanese consumers saw ownership of a Louis Vuitton bag or Hermes scarf as a middle-class rite of passage. But the growing confidence of shoppers in mixing and matching cheap and expensive products, coupled with competition from a growing array of luxury services such as spas and expensive restaurants, have robbed the brands of their hold on such spending."

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I thought this was interesting because Japanese people seemed loved designer brands and high fashion.  It also kind of made me think about how much they've been influenced by western culture and that maybe that had something to do with the changing outlook on designer items and luxury goods.






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