Women Wear Their Wealth on Their Arms
By Bernice Hurst, Managing Director, Fine Food Network
High tickets apparently indicate high fashion, at least where bags are concerned among the mega-rich on both sides of the Atlantic. Whether or not the fad has reached its peak, this season's must-haves include a couple of bags that are ordered at select parties attended only by invitation. Heaven forbid retailers should expect customers prepared to spend five or more figures to just wander into a store for a browse.
The newest example of the expensive bag genre is one by Burberry, made of alligator skin and selling for £13,000. It's not as expensive as the Chanel bag with the diamond studded clasp that costs in the region of £100,000 or last year's Louis Vuitton version that sold out in spite of (or because of?) being priced at £23,484.
According to Susie Rushton, writing in The Independent about the British market for these flashy "IT" bags, there are economic reasons for designers and retailers to be featuring accessories as well as clothes. The bottom line, literal and figurative, according to Ms Rushton, is that bags "are very profitable. They are the fastest-growing sector of the fashion market, they take up little space in stock rooms, and clients need to replace them each season."
For all the show-offs who take pride in owning something that so few other people can afford, there are far more women who are happy to have a large wardrobe of bags that each cost a mere fraction of what their wealthy sisters are flaunting.
A Mintel survey found that 55 percent of women in Britain have bought a handbag in the past 12 months while sales in the UK have gone up by 146 percent in the last five years. The explanation, says Pamela Danziger, author of Why People Buy Things They Don't Need and founder of the research company Unity Marketing, is that bags "convey status both financial and fashionable, do not require a size four figure, and are utterly frivolous."
There is plenty going on at the less expensive end of the market, however. Whether it be copies sold for pence rather than pounds or eco-friendly bags like those designed by Anya Hindmarch and Stella McCartney, most women can decide what kind of a statement they want to make without taking out an additional mortgage to cover the cost.
Discussion questions: What do you think is driving the trend toward ultra-expensive handbags? Do aspirational purchases represent a bigger opportunity for retailers today than the past? Do you think consumers will back off these types of purchases in light of the current economic climate?