What's luxury got to do with it?
Mansfield (MA) The Cheeky Post Luggage purveyor Samsonite is still spinning after short seller Blue Orca dropped a report last week that sent its stock price tumbling. Blue Orca accused Samsonite of performing accounting tricks, having a CEO that masquerades as a doctor, and, worst of all, trying to pass off Samsonite as a luxury brand with a luxurious price-earnings multiple. Even Tumi, the upscale brand under the Samsonite umbrella, got tossed around: Orca called Tumi the choice of bleary-eyed McKinsey consultants, and not true jet-setters. Ouch!
Not a luxury brand? How can Samsonite not be a luxury brand when its celebrity spokesman is none other than Ronaldo?
Oops! Ronaldo prefers Louis Vuitton for his Instagram posts.
But help may be on the way...
This week luxury brand Balenciaga unveiled its t-shirt shirt and, just as it hoped, social media lost its mind. Balenciaga's creative director Demna Gvasalia did it again. After reworking a 99-cent IKEA bag and selling it for $2,145, and putting Crocs on a platform and selling them for $850, Gvasalia has given Samsonite hope.
According to luxury theorists, to become a luxury brand, a traditional brand must move beyond communicating a value statement to creating a myth. Its retail stores must be temples, its consumer segments parishes, its value statements beliefs and its logo elevated to the status of icon. In other words a luxury brand must become a religion.
Only when you become a true religion can you test the credulity of your parishioners with a t-shirt shirt.
Ironically, Samsonite is the only luggage brand that can claim ties to an actual religion. Founder of the Samsonite brand over 100 years ago was Jesse Shwayder, a devout Christian who named his luggage after the mythical strength of Samson.
Word is out that Demna Gvasalia has been secretly working on a new line of Samson suitcases for Samsonite that harken back to the Biblical birth of the brand. Inspired by Samsonite’s origin story, and adding his unique aesthetic, Demna has created something truly bizarre, a postmodern pastiche of high and low, ugly and pretty, past and present that would give the Samsonite brand some much-needed cachet. The Cheeky Post has been given a sneak peek at the prototype for the new Gvasalia Samson line...
Ditching the angular, adding cushioning so the suitcase bounces happily along the carousel, and replacing handles with Samson’s hair, Demna’s case is expected to retail for $15,000.
According to Samsonite CEO Dr Ramesh Tainwala, “The Samson will make Samsonite a player the global US$954.7-billion luxury market forecasted to grow 5.2 percent annually between 2017 and 2022, and 10.2 percent in China. A Delilah case is also in the works.”
Unfortunately shortly after the announcement, Samsonite CEO Dr. Ramesh Tainwala suddenly packed it in—only luxury brands can turn bogus into buzz—and won’t be around to experience the success of the Samson. He said that Dr. was a joke nickname his friends and colleagues gave him because he signed up for a PhD and never bothered to show up.
It's okay, Ramesh. We all have our baggage.
Dear Reader, what do you consider to be a true luxury brand? A luxurious prize goes to the best comment as judged by a panel of judges decked out in Balenciaga t-shirt shirts and matching platform Crocs.
Director - Center For Career and Professional Development | Adjunct Professor of Marketing | Lyon College
6yNow that I have gotten over my glibness, lets talk about the Delilah travel case. In keeping with the biblical story, your luxurious Delilah travel case will come with built-in female pheromone transmitters that will enable any female traveller to quickly and quietly disable any annoying male traveller. There could also be an ultra-exclusive Delilah that comes with a neurotransmitter that could enable the frustrated female traveler to enact biblical justice (gouged eyes, stoning, and the popular self-emolulation) to anyone who makes her travel experience less than satisfactory.
Director - Center For Career and Professional Development | Adjunct Professor of Marketing | Lyon College
6yNot to sound too glib but one of the biggest luxury items I can think of is time. It is scarce, you cannot create anymore of it, and some fortunate people have more of it than others.
Engineering Manager at Red Hawk Fire & Security
6yWith baggage fees on the rise, Neiman Marcus of Dallas, Texas introduces Amarillo by Mornin. Inspired by George Strait, the AM is a stacked and layered complete wardrobe suit. Forget the case, wear the suit! Now cue the theme song - “Amarillo by mornin' Up from San Antone Everything that I got Is just what I've got on”
Marketing Consultant | Fashion - Luxury - Retail
6yIt’s rather “this has nothing to do with luxury”