Michael Tonello's Blog, page 7
November 10, 2015
Where Will Hermès Find Growth in a Slowing Luxury Market?
MIAMI, United States — The pristine sidewalks of the Miami Design District are illuminated by glowing streetlights. Tonight, a champagne flute-clasping crowd gathers around the front of the neighbourhood’s brand-new Hermès flagship. The whitewashed building, wedged on the corner of NE 39th Street and 2nd Avenue, across the street from Louis Vuitton and around the way from the popular restaurant Michael's Genuine Food & Drink, is set to open to the public the next day.Hermès’ new Miami store is its third flagship in the US, which emerged from the global financial crisis and ensuing downturn much faster and stronger than most markets. It is widely seen as a major opportunity for fashion and luxury businesses, especially as growth continues to slow in a troubled China. The store is also strategically positioned to capture spend from wealthy Latin Americans, who come to Miami to shop. “Miami is cosmopolitan, very American, but also very open to Latin America. We really wanted to have a store that reflects what is Hermès in term of a Parisian house, but also in terms of a house that respects the local culture,” says Axel Dumas, the sixth generation member of the family that founded the brand, who became its sole chief executive in 2014 after sharing the title for a year with Patrick Thomas.Outside the store, there are velvet ropes keeping top-tier clients, Miami socialites and press close to the entrance as a parade of flamenco dancers marches past. It’s about 7pm and the sky is already pitch black. The interiors of the three-floor, RDAI-designed space beckon them with promises of exclusive product (and relief from the humidity). Unlike in most Hermès stores, the company’s home — or maison — collection sits on the main floor alongside men’s and a Saint-Louis crystal shop-in-shop, the first of its kind in the United States. Jewellery and scarves sit on the second floor. For women’s clothing, shoes and, most importantly, handbags — the company’s largest revenue driver — one must venture all the way to the third floor. It’s not a terrible strategy. One of the reasons Hermès chose the location — trumpeted by local developer Craig Robins — was that it allowed the company to build a space from the ground up, rather than adapt to something already in place.Later in the evening, guests will head to an even grander spectacle at Soho Studios in the city’s artsy Wynwood neighborhood. The party — which was inspired by 1950s Havana and featured a salsa band, a pop-up restaurant, a game room and several interactive stations where guests could play dress up and have their photo taken — reportedly cost the company upwards of $1 million, according to sources.For Hermès, the extravaganza is reflective of the investment the publicly held, privately controlled French luxury goods purveyor is making in both Miami and the United States overall. Indeed, in the past three years, the company has expanded or remodelled eight of its 28 standalone US stores — Beverly Hills in 2013, Atlanta in 2014, and Seattle, Washington D.C., Houston, Dallas and Miami in 2015 — and opened a standalone parfumerie in the downtown Manhattan’s new shopping center Brookfield Place earlier this year. “If you look at the macro business in the US, it’s a very solid base,” says Hermès’ US chief executive, Robert Chavez. “The whole idea that less is more is really something that is catching on in a major way. People want what they’re buying to last for a very long time. It’s not the throwaway culture that existed for so many decades.”But retail expansion in the US is just one piece of the puzzle for Hermès as the company seeks new sources of growth. “We always try to have a balanced way of investing,” Dumas explains, sitting in the corner of the store that houses the saddlery. “I think it can explain a little bit of the resilience of Hermès in a difficult time.”To be sure, Hermès has plenty of resilience. As the luxury industry takes a beating globally — according to a recent report by Bain & Company, real growth in leather accessories, fashion, hard luxury and fragrance and cosmetics has slowed to 1 to 2 percent — the company has managed to maintain business momentum. In the first half of 2015, the company reported a net turnover of €2.3 billion, a 21 percent increase at current exchange rates, and a 9 percent increase at constant exchange rates. Every category — or métier, as they are referred to more elegantly within the company — saw an increase in sales, except for watches, which declined by 1 percent. Leather goods and saddlery was up 14 percent. Ready-to-wear and accessories: 8 percent. Silk and textiles: 5 percent. Perfumes: 4 percent. The “other” category, which includes jewellery, tableware and home, was up 12 percent.However, as the company prepares to report its third-quarter earnings on November 12, it’s clear that there are challenges ahead. For instance, gross margins for the first of half of 2015 were 66.5 percent, down from 68.1 percent during the same period in 2014. The company has also projected that its 2015 turnover — at constant exchange rates — will be up 8 percent for the year, compared to the double-digit growth it typically reports. Operational profitability is also projected to decrease from 2014’s 31.5 percent. “Over the past twenty years, Hermès has achieved both high organic growth and very significant margin expansion,” wrote analyst Luca Solca in a recent note. “Going forward, neither of the two is likely to continue, as the company seems to be set on a course of mid to high single-digit organic growth and is probably close to peak margins.”So, where will the growth come from? “When you are so successful, how do you maintain that?” Dumas asks rhetorically. “I’m happy for Hermès to have this kind of recognition? Unfortunately, for me, my job is not to relish this good news, but to see what can be done better.”When Dumas thinks about the future of the firm, he often thinks 10, 20, 30 years ahead. He also uses the word “balance” frequently in conversation. The importance of maintaining a balance, he says, is why the company has continued to invest in mature markets like the US, Europe and Japan. “We are not proposing a new country where we invest a lot and discount the other one,” he says. In Japan, for instance, the company opened or expanded stores in Kobe, Nagoya, and Tokyo long before the weak yen brought in an influx of tourists. “There is the groundwork that has been done, which is to become relevant and very different to the Japanese clientele. When people weren’t investing, we were there,” Dumas continues. “We made a statement to the Japanese community. At the same time, the decrease in the yen has created an opportunity for tourists in Japan. But even without tourists, we would have some good growth.” In the first half of the year, the company saw an 20 f percent increase in the country’s sales.Wherever Hermès focuses its efforts, it aims to tightly tailor the product assortment to the local market. Twice a year, store directors from each boutique visit Paris to buy inventory for their outpost. In Miami, for instance, there are more exotic skin bags on offer than any other location in the world, in response to local demand. “It’s important to be relevant to your local clientele,” Dumas says. “You will have the tourist flow, but that is dependent on many things you cannot control.”This dialogue with the customer extends to overall product assortment. The idea is to let the customer guide what the brand should make next. “We don’t have a marketing department. There is this profusion of offer, and we let the customer decide and then we see where the traction is coming from. Obviously, we’ve seen a very strong result in our fashion business. The shoe business has been very strong. We really believe that maison has a strong potential,” Dumas explains. “I’ve talked to you about geography, but it’s also one of our specialties to be balanced in our product offering. Those two pillars — geographical balance and métier balance — are what is important. Now is the time for me to invest in each of them, at our own pace. If you take a 20- or 30-year perspective, you don’t know what is going to seduce your client.”Dumas is also proud to note that the brand is popular with both sexes. “Maybe it’s because of our equestrian roots, but we are also balanced between men and women,” he says. “That’s something we’ve been enjoying a lot.”One category that is not performing as well is watches, which saw a 1 percent dip in the first half of the year. Again, Dumas’ strategy is to invest in the métier, rather than ignore the problem. At Baselworld in the spring of 2015, the company introduced a new range — the Slim d'Hermès — which was recently recognised at the prestigious Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Geneve. “For us, it’s creation first, so I’m glad that we won this award,” Dumas says. He also believes the watch industry’s transition from a primarily wholesale business to a retail business will play in the company’s favor. “I think that will help propel the watch category into growth again,” he says.To be sure, the introduction of the Apple Watch Hermès in September 2015 is also a part of that growth plan. “We had an incredible talk with Jonathan Ive, and there was a lot of mutual admiration and common values. From that, we said, wouldn’t it be nice to have something combining our craftsmanship, our vision? It was about trying to make a contemporary, elegant object. It was not a master plan of global domination,” Dumas says of the drivers behind the partnership. Yet, as Solca recently wrote: “For Hermès, it attracts attention back to a category with which the brand has been struggling and offers an easier entry point for aspirational consumers. It sells a little piece of the brand — a Hermès leather band — at a very significant premium and, I assume, a considerable margin.”Hermès is also making investments in its digital presence. Currently, the company’s brand website is divorced from its e-commerce platform. In mid-2016, the company will integrate the two. “E-commerce is important, but also it’s about communication, telling your value,” Dumas says. “That’s why we are really thinking hard on re-launching the new website in 2016. I view digital as a great opportunity and something that is going to become more and more important.” Indeed, according to Solca, digital is expected to drive, on average, 40 percent of projected luxury sales growth from 2013 to 2020. “[E-commerce] is one of very few ways luxury goods companies can now grow,” he says.When Dumas was named co-chief executive three years ago, he spent a lot of time looking at the archives, and quickly drew a correlation between the international expansion that happened in the 1970s and the digital expansion that is happening today. “There was a discussion in the 1970s, should we go international or should we not? People were saying, you don’t need to go international because everyone is coming to Paris. Going international will be risky and costly. Fortunately for us, we took the step to go international. I think it’s the same subject about digital now.”There is another lesson learned from the 1970s, Dumas says: brand control is more important than ever. “If you believe that digital is strategic, then you should do it yourself,” he says. “In the 1970s, some did licensing, which was quicker than expanding international by opening your own stores, which was longer, slower, harder. But then, 15 years later they all tried to buy back their licenses.”In the end, it’s clear that Dumas believes long-term prosperity will come from the brand’s belief in creativity. “Part of Hermès is resistance. It’s about keeping your value alive, protecting yourself in the future and believing in creativity,” he says. “There is no magical recipe. When you are a house that is 180 years old, there are good times and bad times. We have been able to reinvent ourselves many times. If we were just doing saddle making,” he continues, gesturing over to the horse-y goods stationed next to him, “that would be the size of the store.”
Axel Dumas
Axel Dumas
Hermes, Prada bags worth HK$440 million seized
Smuggled Hermes, Prada bags worth HK$440 million seized Mainland customs officials seized about 6,000 Hermes, Prada and other luxury-brand goods worth about HK$440 million from suspected members of syndicates who used Hong Kong as their transshipment point.The groups bought the luxury handbags overseas and asked the sellers to deliver them to Hong Kong warehouses through courier services, according to a Metro Daily report.From there, the groups employed young and pretty ladies to take the luxury items across the border, each time carrying only one or two items so as not to arouse the suspicion of customs inspectors.The goods were then sold in shops in Shenzhen’s Futain district as well as on online platforms.Due to the high tax rates imposed on luxury items on the mainland, smuggling has become a lucrative business, the report said.One shop in Shenzhen selling smuggled luxury items has raked in 270 million yuan (US$42.5 million) in just three years, a Shenzhen customs official said.At least 32 suspects were arrested on Oct. 16, when customs and other law enforcement units raided several stores and warehouses in a number of key cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen. The operation was codenamed Justice 14.
November 5, 2015
Hermès launches flagship store in Miami’s Design District
13K sf boutique is among brand's largest in the U.S. and the only one with Saint-Louis crystal
More than two years in the making, Hermès of Paris’ flagship store in the Miami’s Design District is set to open on Friday.With three stories and an undulating staircase, the 13,000-square-foot boutique at 163 Northeast 39th Street represents one of the French brand’s largest stores in the United States, said Robert Chavez, president and CEO of Hermès U.S., who was at the boutique’s unveiling on Thursday“It really started with Craig Robins’ vision,” Chavez told The Real Deal, recalling how Robins, president and CEO of Dacra, came to see him three-and-a-half years ago, and told him of his plans to transform the Design District into a luxury shopping destination. “Let’s do it,” Chavez recalls saying after learning more and witnessing what could be created. Once Hermès lease expired at Bal Harbour Shops, Hermès opened a temporary store in the Design District, and began designing and building the new flagship. “We felt it was definitely a market where we wanted to make a significant investment,” Chavez said.The goal was to create an inviting setting for visitors to experience the full Hermès collection, amid floor-t0-ceiling glass and an abundance of natural light. The building’s facade has two layers: a glazed glass box, covered with a white-coated steel grid, broken up by hundreds of vertical steel tubes of varying thickness. “It’s the perfect expression of what the Design District is all about,” Robins told TRD of the new store. “It’s a neighborhood where brands can get out of the more boring context and be creative, and create flagship stores that are different, because it it’s a place where they can experiment and do things that are more exciting,”As part of Hermès’ new store concept, the Hermès men’s collection is at the front of the space on the first level. The Miami boutique also is the first store in the United States to have a “shop-in-shop” of Saint-Louis crystal, which has its own entrance on the first floor.The store’s second floor showcases Hermès’ silk scarves, fashion jewelry, accessories, and the brand’s watch and fine jewelry collection. The third floor offers handbags, apparel, shoes, saddles and perfumes. The array of products reflects the Florida market, like flamingo print scarves and brightly colored items, said Peter Malachi, Hermès’ senior vice president of communications.At the top of store’s rooftop sits the Hermès symbol of a horse, one of just six stores in the world to have it . “The fact that they chose Miami as one of six cities in the world is a huge statement for us,” Robins said.In the Design District, commercial rents are now about $150 per square foot, blended, for three stories, Robins told TRD. Other brands with three-story boutiques include Louis Vuitton, Tom Ford and Valentino. Dior, which will open its flagship in March, will also have a three-story building.Amid the transformation of the district, Dacra now has 50 retail businesses open and other property owners — including Thor Equities and TriStar Capital — have an additional 12 stores open, Robins said. By March, Dacra’s figure will rise to 60. Construction on another 20 stores has begun, and those stores will start to open in late 2016, he said. By the end of 2017, Dacra will have 120 stores open on its own property, and other property owners will have another 40. Ten new restaurants are also planned.“This is a major step in what is still a long process of new opportunities and new offerings that are going to transform the Design District over time,” Robins said.
More than two years in the making, Hermès of Paris’ flagship store in the Miami’s Design District is set to open on Friday.With three stories and an undulating staircase, the 13,000-square-foot boutique at 163 Northeast 39th Street represents one of the French brand’s largest stores in the United States, said Robert Chavez, president and CEO of Hermès U.S., who was at the boutique’s unveiling on Thursday“It really started with Craig Robins’ vision,” Chavez told The Real Deal, recalling how Robins, president and CEO of Dacra, came to see him three-and-a-half years ago, and told him of his plans to transform the Design District into a luxury shopping destination. “Let’s do it,” Chavez recalls saying after learning more and witnessing what could be created. Once Hermès lease expired at Bal Harbour Shops, Hermès opened a temporary store in the Design District, and began designing and building the new flagship. “We felt it was definitely a market where we wanted to make a significant investment,” Chavez said.The goal was to create an inviting setting for visitors to experience the full Hermès collection, amid floor-t0-ceiling glass and an abundance of natural light. The building’s facade has two layers: a glazed glass box, covered with a white-coated steel grid, broken up by hundreds of vertical steel tubes of varying thickness. “It’s the perfect expression of what the Design District is all about,” Robins told TRD of the new store. “It’s a neighborhood where brands can get out of the more boring context and be creative, and create flagship stores that are different, because it it’s a place where they can experiment and do things that are more exciting,”As part of Hermès’ new store concept, the Hermès men’s collection is at the front of the space on the first level. The Miami boutique also is the first store in the United States to have a “shop-in-shop” of Saint-Louis crystal, which has its own entrance on the first floor.The store’s second floor showcases Hermès’ silk scarves, fashion jewelry, accessories, and the brand’s watch and fine jewelry collection. The third floor offers handbags, apparel, shoes, saddles and perfumes. The array of products reflects the Florida market, like flamingo print scarves and brightly colored items, said Peter Malachi, Hermès’ senior vice president of communications.At the top of store’s rooftop sits the Hermès symbol of a horse, one of just six stores in the world to have it . “The fact that they chose Miami as one of six cities in the world is a huge statement for us,” Robins said.In the Design District, commercial rents are now about $150 per square foot, blended, for three stories, Robins told TRD. Other brands with three-story boutiques include Louis Vuitton, Tom Ford and Valentino. Dior, which will open its flagship in March, will also have a three-story building.Amid the transformation of the district, Dacra now has 50 retail businesses open and other property owners — including Thor Equities and TriStar Capital — have an additional 12 stores open, Robins said. By March, Dacra’s figure will rise to 60. Construction on another 20 stores has begun, and those stores will start to open in late 2016, he said. By the end of 2017, Dacra will have 120 stores open on its own property, and other property owners will have another 40. Ten new restaurants are also planned.“This is a major step in what is still a long process of new opportunities and new offerings that are going to transform the Design District over time,” Robins said.
October 30, 2015
Selling $2 Million in Birkin Bags at First Ever Pop-Up Yacht
I see things like this and immediately wonder how many counterfeit bags are in that mix! To me it screams "buyer beware".
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Birkin Is Selling $2 Million in Bags at First Ever Pop-Up Yacht Next Weekend
You can purchase every single one plus a VanDutch yacht for the lowly price of $4 million. $2 million in Birkin Bags, one extremely luxurious VanDutch pleasure yacht. What does that spell? The world's first ever Birkin pop-up yacht, and it's cruising through South Florida next weekend for the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show.VanDutch, Beyoncé-approved yachting company, and Privé Porter, a site that sells about $30 million in rare, unused bags every year, have teamed up to launch the pop-up, which will run from November 4th through November 11th.If you're in the market for a Birkin and don't feel like chilling on a waitlist for years on end, then this might be your chance to purchase one and maybe cruise along in a multi-million dollar VanDutch 55 yacht. Birkin bags in calf, alligator, and not-exactly-Jane-Birkin-approved crocodile skins will be displayed on the ship, and you can schedule an appointment with Privé Porter to browse around and take one home. Or, you buy every Birkin plus the yacht for a mere $4 million. Up to you."Out of 30 Birkin bags we're featuring aboard the VanDutch 55, the crown jewel is the braise shiny porosus 35cm crocodile with 18K white gold and diamond hardware, offered at $360,000," says Jeff Berk of Privé Porter. Their goal is to try and break the record set at a Christie's auction, for a Birkin that recently sold for $221,846. Now as for the rest of us mere mortals, we can peruse all the bags au gratis at the boat show from 11am to 6pm at the VanDutch Center.
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Birkin Is Selling $2 Million in Bags at First Ever Pop-Up Yacht Next Weekend
You can purchase every single one plus a VanDutch yacht for the lowly price of $4 million. $2 million in Birkin Bags, one extremely luxurious VanDutch pleasure yacht. What does that spell? The world's first ever Birkin pop-up yacht, and it's cruising through South Florida next weekend for the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show.VanDutch, Beyoncé-approved yachting company, and Privé Porter, a site that sells about $30 million in rare, unused bags every year, have teamed up to launch the pop-up, which will run from November 4th through November 11th.If you're in the market for a Birkin and don't feel like chilling on a waitlist for years on end, then this might be your chance to purchase one and maybe cruise along in a multi-million dollar VanDutch 55 yacht. Birkin bags in calf, alligator, and not-exactly-Jane-Birkin-approved crocodile skins will be displayed on the ship, and you can schedule an appointment with Privé Porter to browse around and take one home. Or, you buy every Birkin plus the yacht for a mere $4 million. Up to you."Out of 30 Birkin bags we're featuring aboard the VanDutch 55, the crown jewel is the braise shiny porosus 35cm crocodile with 18K white gold and diamond hardware, offered at $360,000," says Jeff Berk of Privé Porter. Their goal is to try and break the record set at a Christie's auction, for a Birkin that recently sold for $221,846. Now as for the rest of us mere mortals, we can peruse all the bags au gratis at the boat show from 11am to 6pm at the VanDutch Center.
October 20, 2015
Cool: Hermès Pop-Up Shop Opens at JFK Airport
Travelers can now pick up scarves, perfumes, and home goods from the classic French brand in Terminal 4.
Hermès is making holiday airline travel a little more luxe, even for those us of who don't have business class tickets. The beloved French heritage brand has set up a pop-up shop in the newly renovated retail lounge in JFK’s Terminal 4. For ticketed passengers looking for a last minute flight accessory like a classic scarf or souvenir scent, the limited-time store will last through the end of November. Capitalizing on the 18 million travelers that catch flights in the terminal each year, Hermès temporarily joins the more permanent retailers in the area, including Hugo Boss, Swarovski, Tumi, and Kiehl’s. Modeled after the flagship Paris location, the shop is offering candles and cleansing gels in a variety of fragrances, as well as the brand’s classic perfumes, like Eau des Merveilles and Jour d`Hermès. This isn’t the first time Hermès has built innovative pop up shops. In the fall of 2013, the luxury brand built a month-long scarf-centric pop-up near New York’s Columbus Circle that was built to look like a classic Manhattan diner.Hermès joins Chanel in its love for airports. Paris Fashion Week featured a Chanel Airlines terminal from the mind of Karl Lagerfeld. It's all the reason we need to step up our sartorial game when we head down a different kind of runway.
Hermès is making holiday airline travel a little more luxe, even for those us of who don't have business class tickets. The beloved French heritage brand has set up a pop-up shop in the newly renovated retail lounge in JFK’s Terminal 4. For ticketed passengers looking for a last minute flight accessory like a classic scarf or souvenir scent, the limited-time store will last through the end of November. Capitalizing on the 18 million travelers that catch flights in the terminal each year, Hermès temporarily joins the more permanent retailers in the area, including Hugo Boss, Swarovski, Tumi, and Kiehl’s. Modeled after the flagship Paris location, the shop is offering candles and cleansing gels in a variety of fragrances, as well as the brand’s classic perfumes, like Eau des Merveilles and Jour d`Hermès. This isn’t the first time Hermès has built innovative pop up shops. In the fall of 2013, the luxury brand built a month-long scarf-centric pop-up near New York’s Columbus Circle that was built to look like a classic Manhattan diner.Hermès joins Chanel in its love for airports. Paris Fashion Week featured a Chanel Airlines terminal from the mind of Karl Lagerfeld. It's all the reason we need to step up our sartorial game when we head down a different kind of runway.
October 12, 2015
Louis Vuitton, Hermès Lead Secondhand Luxury Sales
(a bag from Hermès) PARIS — Louis Vuitton and Hermès have taken the top spots in the secondhand personal luxury market.According to a study conducted by Exane BNP Paribas and the secondhand online retailer Instant Luxe, Louis Vuitton has extended its volume lead in both handbags and small leather goods in the first half of 2015, while Hermès heads the list in terms of average price increases.By volume, Chanel and Hermès, the second and third strongest sellers, together currently make up 40 percent of Louis Vuitton’s worth in handbag sales. The first Italian players in the ranking, Gucci and Prada, combined are worth only 11 percent of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton’s top brand.In the small leather goods category, Louis Vuitton dominates with a five-time advantage over Hermès.Hermès has seen the average price of its handbags increase 23.6 percent in the first half of 2015 versus the same year-ago period, followed by Chanel and Céline, “possibly a consequence of the Kelly’s recent revival, and continued strong demand from Chinese consumers,” the researchers write.The price of Hermès’ small leather goods, meanwhile, jumped 55.4 percent.Hermès is also the leader in the fashion watches department, selling three times more than Chanel, which came in second, while Cartier reigns in the specialist watch space — at the expense of Rolex — as well as in the specialist jewelry space, the study says.In fashion jewelry, Hermès continues to place second, though the French luxury brand has almost closed the gap with Chanel in terms of volume, with both companies also trading at approximately the same average price level.Exane BNP Paribas noted that the faster momentum in the secondhand market is good news short-term. “This suggests higher brand desirability and top-of-mind position. Longer-term, this is also a challenge: higher top-of-mind could come at the expense of perceived exclusivity. Yet, it is obviously better to be relevant to consumers and having to manage perceived exclusivity over time, than to be irrelevant in the first place,” the researchers observed.At present, 80 percent of the secondhand market is still in the hands of physical retailers, they noted, though online players such as Instant Luxe are growing fast, currently accounting for one-fifth of the market.As reported, last month Eurazeo took a minority stake in Vestiaire Collective, one of Europe’s largest sellers of pre-owned fashion and accessories, in an attempt to cash in on the growing sector.The site, which serves as a first gateway into luxury for many buyers, posted 85 percent growth in sales volume in the first half of 2015, the private equity fund said.
By Paulina Szmydke - WWD
October 11, 2015
Vintage View: Hermes scarves are the epitome of understated elegance
Kya deLongchamps takes a wander through the silken, society of the Hermès scarf.
Minuit au Faubourg. Designed by Dimitri Rybaltchenko. €335 (36cm square to 90cm square).
In the 1950s, the classical and equestrian iconography on a Hermès of Paris scarf spoke of an impossibly glamorous life.In winter one was pelted in impeccable couture in Paris, London or New York.
In summer, drinking gem-coloured cocktails with an elite tribe in the Cote d’Azur — the Hermès rolled, could keep the sun off the décolletage.
It was a brand you could hang onto, when all around you life was changing.
If the country seat was given up in death duties, the Baron von Tweeden-Pants dropped you for a starlet or you simply lost your looks — a Hermès scarf knotted elegantly under a gentrified chin (even in tatters) said something. You belonged — you were quality and knew what quality was.
Hunting, shooting, fishing, sparking elbows with royalty — and confidently staring down the under-classes — it was at one time all implied in a 36x36-inch square of exquisite silk jacquard.
Today, every Hermès scarf is still handmade and screen printed. It’s a luxurious, artisan product seamlessly connected with the world of high fashion and celebrity. It’s not too expensive darling — you simply cannot afford one!
Exclusivity, privilege — this is what real luxury is really all about. Since 1880 the headquarters of Hermès has been at 24, rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré in Paris.
The Hermès family got their start in 1837 in harness making under Thierry Hermès, an immigrant of French/German descent.
Its superb leather work garnered top commissions including the supply of saddles, tack and accessories to Napoleon III and the Russian czars. Hermès is known to have made a golf jacket for Edward, the Prince of Wales with a specialised zip that wowed the trade.
Under Thierry’s grandsons Adolphe and Émile-Maurice, the company entered the unchartered waters of retail.
By the 1930s that essential connection with aristocracy had imprinted its name on the collective desires of society, and Hermes had digressed into watches with movements from Geneva, bags, country clothing, ladies wear for country pursuits, ties and carrés (scarves).
The very first Hermès scarf appeared in 1937 and featured a group of ladies playing a parlour game, ‘Jeu des Omnibus et Dames blanches’, designed in-house by Robert Dumas a member of the Hermès dynasty.
The recognition of the branding was crucial from an early stage — the Duc carriage drawn by a hackney horse and the wrapping — that flat, orange box used for the scarves.
The idea for scarves may have come from the equestrian roots of the company, as the material was, and still is, used for searingly bright jockey’s silks and was also used for its thermal properties to line riding jackets of every kind. Silk is not only 100% natural, but for its light weight, texture, warmth and cachet, is unmatched by any synthetic fibre.
The scarf adds a perfect dash of personable colour to any outfit, and has the added practicality of protecting the hair — atrophied in the mid-century with hours of work and a pint of lacquer.
When Queen Elizabeth was drawn in profile for a postage stamp released in 1950, she is seen in silhouette wearing a Hermès scarf, and she always used one as an implied riding helmet — the naughty rebel.
In 1956, the impossibly tasteful movie star Grace Kelly, was photographed carrying a Hermès Sac à dépêches, rebranded shortly thereafter, the Kelly Bag.
When Kelly broke her arm the same year, she rigged up a Hermes as a sling. When Sharon Stone tied up her victims in Basic Instinct, she was tasteful enough to at least use Hermès scarves.
Hermès scarves are made in France, and the company’s resolve to home produce and to stick with this expensive, rarefied textile was said to have endangered its very survival by the 1970s.
The hemming by nuns, and the use of pear blocks may have been superseded by more modern techniques, but the attention to detail, including hand-rolled edges and the intricate repetition of pattern, remains the same.
The silk itself is the best mulberry grown on the Hermès farm in Brazil, and it takes 250-300 cocoons to make a single 36in square.
Original concepts, from a commission to a renowned artist, are engraved on a plate for the screen printing.
Only 20 designs make it through the rigorous 18-month cycle of production each year at the company’s plant at Lyon, established by Robert Dumas-Hermès in the 30s.
The company even has an in-house museum referencing suitable topics for its annual themes (set since 1987 as an ingenious ploy to spur collectors on).
Astronomy, antiques, weapons, fireworks, flora and fauna, the recipes are whimsical, exotic, sometimes surreal and rendered in stunning colour combinations. Each scarf can demand as many as 45 individual silk-screens in its production.
Digital printing and the superb skills of craftsmen in the Far East have led inevitably to wide spread forgery of this high-end product.
There are numerous tip sheets online to educate the new collector in what to look for, from the lie of the jacquard (Hermès are never simply 100% silk) to the wording of the labels.
Hermes also has an app to show you how to knot your scarf in multiple ways and its website is a feminine fairyland.
For identification, try this tenderly maintained online catalogue of the latest collections: facebook.com/Hermes.Scarf.Guides/photos
www.Hermes.com (La Maison des Carrés). Carrés from €270, Silk Twilly from €135.
http://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyl...
Minuit au Faubourg. Designed by Dimitri Rybaltchenko. €335 (36cm square to 90cm square).In the 1950s, the classical and equestrian iconography on a Hermès of Paris scarf spoke of an impossibly glamorous life.In winter one was pelted in impeccable couture in Paris, London or New York.
In summer, drinking gem-coloured cocktails with an elite tribe in the Cote d’Azur — the Hermès rolled, could keep the sun off the décolletage.
It was a brand you could hang onto, when all around you life was changing.
If the country seat was given up in death duties, the Baron von Tweeden-Pants dropped you for a starlet or you simply lost your looks — a Hermès scarf knotted elegantly under a gentrified chin (even in tatters) said something. You belonged — you were quality and knew what quality was.
Hunting, shooting, fishing, sparking elbows with royalty — and confidently staring down the under-classes — it was at one time all implied in a 36x36-inch square of exquisite silk jacquard.
Today, every Hermès scarf is still handmade and screen printed. It’s a luxurious, artisan product seamlessly connected with the world of high fashion and celebrity. It’s not too expensive darling — you simply cannot afford one!
Exclusivity, privilege — this is what real luxury is really all about. Since 1880 the headquarters of Hermès has been at 24, rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré in Paris.
The Hermès family got their start in 1837 in harness making under Thierry Hermès, an immigrant of French/German descent.
Its superb leather work garnered top commissions including the supply of saddles, tack and accessories to Napoleon III and the Russian czars. Hermès is known to have made a golf jacket for Edward, the Prince of Wales with a specialised zip that wowed the trade.
Under Thierry’s grandsons Adolphe and Émile-Maurice, the company entered the unchartered waters of retail.
By the 1930s that essential connection with aristocracy had imprinted its name on the collective desires of society, and Hermes had digressed into watches with movements from Geneva, bags, country clothing, ladies wear for country pursuits, ties and carrés (scarves).
The very first Hermès scarf appeared in 1937 and featured a group of ladies playing a parlour game, ‘Jeu des Omnibus et Dames blanches’, designed in-house by Robert Dumas a member of the Hermès dynasty.
The recognition of the branding was crucial from an early stage — the Duc carriage drawn by a hackney horse and the wrapping — that flat, orange box used for the scarves.
The idea for scarves may have come from the equestrian roots of the company, as the material was, and still is, used for searingly bright jockey’s silks and was also used for its thermal properties to line riding jackets of every kind. Silk is not only 100% natural, but for its light weight, texture, warmth and cachet, is unmatched by any synthetic fibre.
The scarf adds a perfect dash of personable colour to any outfit, and has the added practicality of protecting the hair — atrophied in the mid-century with hours of work and a pint of lacquer.
When Queen Elizabeth was drawn in profile for a postage stamp released in 1950, she is seen in silhouette wearing a Hermès scarf, and she always used one as an implied riding helmet — the naughty rebel.
In 1956, the impossibly tasteful movie star Grace Kelly, was photographed carrying a Hermès Sac à dépêches, rebranded shortly thereafter, the Kelly Bag.
When Kelly broke her arm the same year, she rigged up a Hermes as a sling. When Sharon Stone tied up her victims in Basic Instinct, she was tasteful enough to at least use Hermès scarves.
Hermès scarves are made in France, and the company’s resolve to home produce and to stick with this expensive, rarefied textile was said to have endangered its very survival by the 1970s.
The hemming by nuns, and the use of pear blocks may have been superseded by more modern techniques, but the attention to detail, including hand-rolled edges and the intricate repetition of pattern, remains the same.
The silk itself is the best mulberry grown on the Hermès farm in Brazil, and it takes 250-300 cocoons to make a single 36in square.
Original concepts, from a commission to a renowned artist, are engraved on a plate for the screen printing.
Only 20 designs make it through the rigorous 18-month cycle of production each year at the company’s plant at Lyon, established by Robert Dumas-Hermès in the 30s.
The company even has an in-house museum referencing suitable topics for its annual themes (set since 1987 as an ingenious ploy to spur collectors on).
Astronomy, antiques, weapons, fireworks, flora and fauna, the recipes are whimsical, exotic, sometimes surreal and rendered in stunning colour combinations. Each scarf can demand as many as 45 individual silk-screens in its production.
Digital printing and the superb skills of craftsmen in the Far East have led inevitably to wide spread forgery of this high-end product.
There are numerous tip sheets online to educate the new collector in what to look for, from the lie of the jacquard (Hermès are never simply 100% silk) to the wording of the labels.
Hermes also has an app to show you how to knot your scarf in multiple ways and its website is a feminine fairyland.
For identification, try this tenderly maintained online catalogue of the latest collections: facebook.com/Hermes.Scarf.Guides/photos
www.Hermes.com (La Maison des Carrés). Carrés from €270, Silk Twilly from €135.
http://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyl...
October 6, 2015
The Secret to Hermès’ Success
For two decades, Hermès has managed to make its luxury goods both impossibly exclusive and widely available, driving strong profits and growth. PARIS, France — For consumers and investors alike, Hermès is the quintessential luxury brand, seen as having the most exclusive and desirable goods on the market. But real exclusivity is not much of a business model — Leonardo da Vinci paintings are exclusive, but trading in his artwork offers little scope for growth or profit. And yet, among the major luxury goods companies I monitor, including LVMH and Kering, Hermès has reported the highest return on invested capital and the best operating profit after tax in 13 of the past 15 years. Sure, Hermès sells exquisitely made products, but so do many other companies. So what makes Hermès unique?
The convenient explanation is capacity constraints. Hermès frustrates demand and makes it difficult for people to buy its most coveted products. But here, too, Hermès is not alone, even if it does push things to the extreme. In today’s personal luxury goods sector, blending craftsmanship and customisation and with modern industry and technology has created the paradox of selling exclusivity by the million. And Hermès is the world champion in the art of leading people to believe its products are exclusive and unique. Indeed, Hermès has managed to appear exclusive and to maintain that appearance for years, all whilst selling a trainload of products every day with high margins.
The fact that people consider the Birkin handbag to be exclusive is an astonishing feat. I calculate there must be more than a million Birkin bags in circulation. Very few handbag brands can claim such significant volume on any of their models and even fewer can claim to have a luxury product with the exclusive reputation of the Birkin.
Better still is Hermès’ skill at creating a halo of exclusivity around each product it sells, no matter how trivial: ties for €150, scarves for €350, perfume for €85, fashion bracelets for €450. Consumers can buy any of these products and leave the Hermès store feeling like a million dollars. To achieve this, Hermès has implemented one of the most effective stratagems for reconciling high sales volumes with a reputation for exclusivity: category segregation. This involves confining iconic, core category products to high-end price ranges only, while focusing other product categories with lower price points on aspirational consumers.
Other companies have tried this approach, but none come close to Hermès’ level of success. Cartier segregates its product categories when it comes to advertising, featuring only exclusive pieces of jewellery in its campaigns. Similarly, several large soft luxury brands are attempting to segregate leather handbags, but the jury is still out on whether they will stick to this strategy, given the fierce attack by accessible luxury players such as Michael Kors.
The recent launch of Apple Watch Hermès is the nth example of the luxury brand’s extraordinary ability to appear both impossibly exclusive and widely available. For Apple, the partnership rescues the “cool factor” of the Apple Watch, which was drawing perilously close to appearing geeky despite the company’s attempts to build coolness around its luxury-level gold model. For Hermès, it attracts attention back to a category with which the brand has been struggling and offers an easier entry point for aspirational consumers. It sells a little piece of the brand — a Hermès leather band — at a very significant premium and, I assume, a considerable margin.
That said, the future for the luxury market’s master of seduction looks decidedly less assured. Over the past twenty years, Hermès has achieved both high organic growth and very significant margin expansion. Going forward, neither of the two is likely to continue, as the company seems to be set on a course of mid to high single-digit organic growth and is probably close to peak margins.
The convenient explanation is capacity constraints. Hermès frustrates demand and makes it difficult for people to buy its most coveted products. But here, too, Hermès is not alone, even if it does push things to the extreme. In today’s personal luxury goods sector, blending craftsmanship and customisation and with modern industry and technology has created the paradox of selling exclusivity by the million. And Hermès is the world champion in the art of leading people to believe its products are exclusive and unique. Indeed, Hermès has managed to appear exclusive and to maintain that appearance for years, all whilst selling a trainload of products every day with high margins.
The fact that people consider the Birkin handbag to be exclusive is an astonishing feat. I calculate there must be more than a million Birkin bags in circulation. Very few handbag brands can claim such significant volume on any of their models and even fewer can claim to have a luxury product with the exclusive reputation of the Birkin.
Better still is Hermès’ skill at creating a halo of exclusivity around each product it sells, no matter how trivial: ties for €150, scarves for €350, perfume for €85, fashion bracelets for €450. Consumers can buy any of these products and leave the Hermès store feeling like a million dollars. To achieve this, Hermès has implemented one of the most effective stratagems for reconciling high sales volumes with a reputation for exclusivity: category segregation. This involves confining iconic, core category products to high-end price ranges only, while focusing other product categories with lower price points on aspirational consumers.
Other companies have tried this approach, but none come close to Hermès’ level of success. Cartier segregates its product categories when it comes to advertising, featuring only exclusive pieces of jewellery in its campaigns. Similarly, several large soft luxury brands are attempting to segregate leather handbags, but the jury is still out on whether they will stick to this strategy, given the fierce attack by accessible luxury players such as Michael Kors.
The recent launch of Apple Watch Hermès is the nth example of the luxury brand’s extraordinary ability to appear both impossibly exclusive and widely available. For Apple, the partnership rescues the “cool factor” of the Apple Watch, which was drawing perilously close to appearing geeky despite the company’s attempts to build coolness around its luxury-level gold model. For Hermès, it attracts attention back to a category with which the brand has been struggling and offers an easier entry point for aspirational consumers. It sells a little piece of the brand — a Hermès leather band — at a very significant premium and, I assume, a considerable margin.
That said, the future for the luxury market’s master of seduction looks decidedly less assured. Over the past twenty years, Hermès has achieved both high organic growth and very significant margin expansion. Going forward, neither of the two is likely to continue, as the company seems to be set on a course of mid to high single-digit organic growth and is probably close to peak margins.
October 2, 2015
Man who stole HK$400,000 Hermes handbag hunted by Hong Kong police
Police have launched a manhunt for a man who fled with a luxury handbag worth about HK$400,000 from a store in Tsim Sha Tsui.Police said a man asked for a HK$398,000 Hermes Birkin crocodile-skin handbag at an outlet of the luxury second-hand chain Brand Off on Peking Road at about 9pm on Wednesday.Staff gave chase after the man took the bag, but he escaped in a taxi.Police launched a fruitless search for the suspect, who is said to be slim, aged 20 to 30 and a Cantonese speaker without an accent.A Yau Tsim police district investigation team is probing the case.A nearby outlet in the Holiday Inn Golden Mile lost 30 handbags worth HK$1.8 million in June when a four-member gang broke into the store, smashed the closet with a hammer and grabbed the bags.
September 13, 2015
Jane Birkin drops request to have her name removed from Hermès handbag
Actress and singer Jane Birkin is now satisfied with how luxury group Hermes treats crocodiles and has dropped her request to have her name removed from its iconic handbags, the French company said on Friday.
Hermes said it had identified an "isolated irregularity" in the slaughter process at a crocodile farm in Texas and had warned the farm it would cease any relations should it continue to neglect its recommended procedures.
"Jane Birkin has advised us that she is satisfied by the measures taken by Hermes," Hermes said in a statement. Birkin could not immediately be reached for comment.
Birkin said in July she had asked Hermes to rename its Birkin Croco bag until the firm adopted what she said were practices that meet international standards for the production of the bag.
Actress and singer Jane Birkin is now satisfied with how luxury group Hermes treats crocodiles and has dropped her request to have her name removed from its iconic handbags, the French company said on Friday.
Hermes said it had identified an "isolated irregularity" in the slaughter process at a crocodile farm in Texas and had warned the farm it would cease any relations should it continue to neglect its recommended procedures.
"Jane Birkin has advised us that she is satisfied by the measures taken by Hermes," Hermes said in a statement. Birkin could not immediately be reached for comment.
Birkin said in July she had asked Hermes to rename its Birkin Croco bag until the firm adopted what she said were practices that meet international standards for the production of the bag.
Hermes said it had identified an "isolated irregularity" in the slaughter process at a crocodile farm in Texas and had warned the farm it would cease any relations should it continue to neglect its recommended procedures.
"Jane Birkin has advised us that she is satisfied by the measures taken by Hermes," Hermes said in a statement. Birkin could not immediately be reached for comment.
Birkin said in July she had asked Hermes to rename its Birkin Croco bag until the firm adopted what she said were practices that meet international standards for the production of the bag.
Actress and singer Jane Birkin is now satisfied with how luxury group Hermes treats crocodiles and has dropped her request to have her name removed from its iconic handbags, the French company said on Friday.
Hermes said it had identified an "isolated irregularity" in the slaughter process at a crocodile farm in Texas and had warned the farm it would cease any relations should it continue to neglect its recommended procedures.
"Jane Birkin has advised us that she is satisfied by the measures taken by Hermes," Hermes said in a statement. Birkin could not immediately be reached for comment.
Birkin said in July she had asked Hermes to rename its Birkin Croco bag until the firm adopted what she said were practices that meet international standards for the production of the bag.
