Author : Hande Bilsel
Type : Özgün Makale
Printing Year : Temmuz 2017
Doi Number : http://dx.doi.org/10.29228/ijiia.2.15
Number : 2
Term : HAZİRAN-TEMMUZ/ YAZ
Date : 2017-06-10 22:22:12

ABSTRACT


The luxury fashion industry is a global multi-billion dollar industry including a wide array of brands with massive halo effect, brand heritage and high consumer relevance such as Fendi, Prada, Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Hermes which are also among the most valuable and influential brands in the world. The established traditional methods of luxury marketing mostly focused on product innovation and exclusive brand advertising practices. With a perspective to built up a synergy between its historical heritage and the requirements of (post)modern business, the global luxury branding industry is at present facing an important challenge in consumer behavior and also going through several managerial shifts such as use of business concepts like brand equity, to e-business; and the evolution of the concepts of sustainability, recycling, provenance and fair trade applications on luxury brands. Expansion of the luxury consumer market toward a broader mass market; competition from accessible fashion brands; the redefinition of the luxury concept of the consumer society; the emergent luxury markets like China, Russia and India; and the increase and fluctuations in the world’s affluent markets and finally changing attitudes and consumption patterns in luxury pose a challenge for luxury fashion brand management. This study exemplifies this shift through an accessible luxury brand discovered on a business trip made to Rome in April 2016 by the author to study established Italian luxury brands. The new Renaissance in luxury branding idea dawned on the author through a brand named RE(f)USE founded by one of the daughters of Anna Fendi, Ilaria Venturini Fendi, the Italian luxury brand artisan. RE(f)USE is a luxury brand concept in accessories based upon the three R’s: Reduce, reuse and recycle. The three R’s have been making their way into the fashion world with new force in recent years. The story of this new off-Roman iconoclastic Italian brand as a strong and valid example that uses recycled and upcycled materials to keep waste to a minimum while creating beautifully unique luxury products the consumers find extremely inspiring and relevant will be depicted in the study. The evolution and redefinition of luxury idea from high-fashion looks to eco-conscious downshifting with upcycled stuff, made from recycled materials will be pinpointed. As a result in response to affluenza, we also see a new luxury consumer, the post-luxury consumer, willing to participate in the voluntary simplicity movement as socially conscious affluent people expressing a variety of concerns about environment, overconsumption, abuse of developing nations and extensive advertising and this deserves further analysis.

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