FRENEMIES: Luxury And Vintage
Image Sourced From @TheRealReal on Instagram
From mainstream youtubers taking us on a treasure hunt across LA to find the most coveted thrift and consignment shops to celebrities walking the red carpet in designer archives, vintage fashion seems to be the new luxury. Youth generations are known to romanticize the casual chic of the ‘90s and the glitter of the 2000s. Shops like Net a Porter, Farfetch, TheRealReal, Depop, and Vestiaire Collective are the x that marks the spot with shining pieces from the past. Consumers can shop the archives on the sites to find one of a kind exclusive pieces while Kim Kardashian partners with Thierry Mugler to shop his personal archive closet. Both are finding exclusive designer pieces in a sustainable fashion and status does not bar the consumer from taking part in this treasure hunt.
The Rise and Rise of Vintage
Kim Kardashian wearing Thierry Mugler at the MET BALL 2019, Photo Sourced from @kimkardashian on Instagram
While we recognize that the fashion adventures of Kim Kardashian are not at all the same as those of a regular consumer, there are parallels that are important for understanding our current luxury landscape. Rachel Tashjian for GQ articulates this difference as she writes “Archival, a notch above vintage, is distinguished by the piece’s place in fashion history--it appeared on the runway, started a trend, or has been highly influential. And most importantly, it was created by a historically significant designer.” She also notes, however, that the magic in vintage shopping is in that treasure hunt we mentioned; “Finding a killer Isseey Miyake flight jacket is a demonstration of connoisseurship, rather than the mere ability to stand in a line.” From our average consumer to Kim Kardashian, all feel like connoisseurs in their own right and this is something we call “democratized exclusivity,” which seems like an oxymoron but demonstrates the pull between traditional luxury and accessibility in the fashion industry.
The Battle Between Old Luxury, New Items and New Luxury, Old Items
Photo Sourced from @TheRealReal on Instagram
This democratization is viewed by many as the antithesis of traditional luxury. Many luxury companies feel that vintage shops piggyback off of years of reputational branding efforts. In an ongoing legal battle between TheRealReal and Chanel, Chanel claims that TheRealReal is deceiving consumers to steal their built up goodwill, while TheRealReal argues that Chanel’s lawsuit is an attempt to prevent discounted luxury shopping to stop the circular economy. This circularity poses a threat to many luxury companies like Chanel who fear that consumers will no longer want to purchase new items at a higher price and will instead shop vintage elsewhere. A consumer, for example, who cannot afford new Chanel items can log onto Farfetch and find vintage Chanel pieces at discounted prices, however the sale goes to Farfetch rather than Chanel which exemplifies the main monetary threat felt by Chanel and luxury companies alike.
Keep Your Enemies Closer
Gucci X TheRealReal, Photos Sourced from @TheRealReal on Instagram
Other luxury companies, however, seem to realize that they are being left with two options- either swim with the tide or struggle against it and risk sinking. Vintage shopping is not set to end any time soon, in fact, it is growing at an exponential rate, especially given the environmental friendly elements of shopping secondhand. According to a McKinsey Report, “There is somewhere between half a trillion and a trillion dollars’ worth of luxury goods in people’s closets, and probably half of it is unworn. Resale is a fundamental solution to the enormous environmental challenges that we face.” With the growth of the resale market, luxury companies are looking to gain a piece of their own pie by partnering with resale sites. This is essentially a “keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer” strategy; Even though we do not believe luxury brands and resale sites should be considered enemies, this is the traditional view that is still widely held. By partnering with resale sites, brands can maintain control over the sale of their own archived goods while also reaping the benefits of this new luxury model.
A Piece of the Pie
Burberry x TheRealReal, Photo Sourced from TheRealReal.com
Luxury brands that we have seen partner with vintage sites are Gucci, Burberry, Dolce and Gabbana, Anna Sui, Rodarte, and Christian Siriano among many others. In TheRealReal’s press release for their Gucci partnership, they write, “The inherent longevity of luxury products supports a circular economy and, by joining forces with The RealReal, Gucci is promoting this avenue to extend the life of its products even further. To date, consignment of women’s and men’s Gucci clothing on The RealReal has saved 230 metric tons of carbon and 10+ million liters of water, as compared to the environmental costs of manufacturing those items for the first time.” This sustainability focused partnership also leverages the value of a growing circular economy and is a strategy employed by Burberry and Christian Siriano alike. Burberry’s partnership with TheRealReal also boasts sustainable metrics and offers an incentive for consumers to visit Burberry owned stores for a personal shopping experience when a sale is completed on TheRealReal. Christian Siriano’s partnership with ThredUp involved altering thrifted Siriano looks from ThredUp to present on the runway; Siriano similarly notes the importance of buying into a growing circular economy as he states to Good Morning America that he “chose to put thrifted looks from thredUP on the runway, because reuse will define the future of our industry.”
Christian Siriano x ThredUp, Photo Sourced from ThredUp.com
Other luxury brands utilize more audience focused strategies through their vintage partnerships. Dolce and Gabbana’s Farfetch partnership wherein recent collections have been presented and made exclusively available on the platform, represents a strategy to target a younger and broader audience. Rodarte’s Depop partnership seeks to do the same; According to CRFashionBook, “The new Rodarte shop serves as both a departure from the brand’s traditional pieces and an alternative means to provide the same ‘California-cool’ sense of style to a younger, cost-conscious audience.” Anna Sui, similarly notes in an interview with Glossy Magazine, that “This [partnership] helps reach a new audience, who [can be] excited about the clothes and the history of the brand.” These luxury brands view their partnerships as a longevity strategy that is not quite the Judas-like betrayal on traditional luxury that it seemed to be; consumers who begin buying into luxury companies at a discounted level on these resale sites can be led by the brand to become a loyal consumer in the future when their purchase power increases or they can become a repeat consumer of a single brand in the circular economy.
Image Sourced From @TheRealReal on Instagram
This circularity lends itself to the conception of a new fashion cycle that is much longer with a greater payoff. What luxury fashion companies make today can be bought as vintage later. In other words, today’s luxury is the future’s vintage in an ever revolving cycle of “democratized exclusivity.” This promotes a shift that is not as dramatic as eliminating the production of new fashion lines, but rather promotes a much slower fashion cycle that is as luxurious as ever!
Article by Tessa Swantek, Contributor, PhotoBook Magazine
Tearsheets by Destina Marotta, Contributor, PhotoBook Magazine
