Louis Vuitton is the most valuable luxury brand in the world according to a study released by market research company Millward Brown Optimor. The research says the French fashion house has a value of almost $19.8 billion.
Louis Vuitton took the top spot from Hermes, with a value of $8.45 billion, Gucci ($7.58 billion), and Chanel ($5.54 billion).
Millward Brown evaluated each brand’s ability to generate demand. The values reflect the total of future earnings a label should make, discounted to current value.
“The big takeaway is that brands that focused on heritage are the ones that topped the list,” says Lauren Sherman, editor of fashion website Fashionista, a fashion news website. “Louis Vuitton, Hermes and Gucci all focused this year on heritage.“
Just as fascinating as the labels which performed are the big names that didn’t. Burberry did not rank highly, and Prada was knocked off the top ten altogether. While it did quite well with a top five finish, Chanel’s ranking also dropped this year with the French label losing 11% of its value.
“Chanel will always sell perfume and leather goods which are classic products, but compared to Gucci and Louis Vuitton, they are more associated with high fashion,” explained Sherman. “Any brand where the runway is more important than the boutique, suffered a bit.“
The results are definitely a sign of the times. In the face of global recession, we all tightened our belts. Now we’re spending again we prefer to invest in classic pieces rather than trendy It bags. No doubt the It bag will have its day again, but for now fashion is all about timeless design, and these results reflect that.
[Source: Luxist]
[Image Source: KhayaL/Flickr]
