Luxury Brand Management: A World of Privilege, 2nd Edition

CHAPTER 3

Major Luxury Sectors

We are so used to the idea of luxury brands that we tend to forget that this is a relatively new concept. For many years, businesses that we now include in the luxury sector were considered completely separate and were represented by different federations: the Federation of Ready to Wear, the Federation of Leather Goods, the Federation of Perfumes and Cosmetics, and so on. On the face of it, in the manufacturing and sales processes, a bottle of champagne and a lady’s dress have very little in common. The champagne is produced through an automated system using very modern machinery. It is then sold in wine stores, but also in supermarkets and hypermarkets. However, a lady’s dress is often made by hand and in very limited numbers, and sold in exclusive luxury stores around the world.

The French were probably the first to understand the fact that a bottle of champagne and a sophisticated dress do have something in common, and this is why in 1954 they created the Comité Colbert, an association to promote the concept of luxury.

The stated values of Comité Colbert could be an introduction to the global luxury concept—its members, it informs us, “share the same ideas of a contemporary art de vivre, and constantly develop and enrich this through their diversity. They have a common vision of the importance of international ambition, of authentic know-how and high standards, of design and creativity, and of professional ethics.” Its members are drawn from the ...