Porter !

Lancel celebrates its 134 years of existence. The brand, initially a parisian shop retailing accessories for smokers in the Opera district, started to sell much needed purses as make up, cigarettes etc were to be carried during the walks on the Grands Boulevards.

It is only a decade later, under the impulsion of Albert, the son of Alphonse and Adèle, that the shop would sell products  such as the "Umbrella-Bag" and the trunk "Aviona"under its own brand name.  The opening of the shop Place de L'Opera achieved to give Lancel a status of prestige and established LeatherGoods maker.

In the 50s, incorporating synthetic materials in their line, Lncel became more affordable and reached the masses, paradoxically keeping the image of an upper standard brand. The "Kangourou" suitcase, the "Trotteur" handbag, red luggage and the Bucket Bag- a best seller since its creation by Elsa Lancel in 1987 - are emblematic items of the Brand that became sold to the Richemont Group in 1997.

Yet, the 90s marked a breakthrough of the luxury landscape. After years of uninterrupted success with the Bucket Bag, Lancel handbags suddenly lost their appeal to the profit of the likes of Louis Vuitton, Gucci and YSL. These brands took marketing to a whole new level and the new popularity of luxury was to be a battle of the Titans fighting to get the best and most promising brands in their portfolio, LVMH and PPR being at the top of the fight.

As an in-between, Lancel became non descript brand but worked on its luggage range but the money certainly is in the IT-Bag industry. So, Lancel's challenge was to appeal to younger crowd with a fresh new look. Despite all its marketing effort,  they never managed to position themselves as a luxury brand. Not luxurious enough yet rather expensive, without the glittz and glam that appeals to that young clientele, Lancel is is trying  too hard to get to the level of prestige it never really had. Using pseudo stars/celebrities didn't help. The poor choice in the matter certainly grounded the brand onto this provincial old France.

The challenge for Lancel is to give a prestigious and international image while exuding of youthful elegance and sense of zeitgeist. But they like many other brands, they have a hard time to re-create themselves and leverage their historical prestige: Stephane Kelian, Robert Clergerie, Charles Jourdan, Swiss brand Bally...

They all have in common a typical lack of "edge".  If they have know-how they don't have any know-Wow which gives Lancel  and their likes an image of "Has-been".

To my humble opinion, luggage is the way to go for Lancel. Not only does the brand excels at it but it also corresponds to the new globalised era where travelling is common and comfortable enough to travel in style while the products should be elegantly and intelligently functional. They should retract from the race of the IT-Bag for now and should invest marketing in what will secure their establishment status on the long run to bring money in the short term, leveraging a very positive image in this segment. The declinaison of their red canvas luggage in gold/ bronze tones with well-thought interior management / organisation will provide them a similar popular prestige among travelers, position themselves higher than Samsonite and just below Louis Vuitton - which suitcases are too expensive to risk airports manhandling.

Louis Vuitton reached this level that way. For Lancel, it would just take another 20 years to celebrate their 150th anniversary in full bloom.

I am looking forward to see what will be the next strategical move for the brand.

Iris van Herpen for United Nude

A few months back, I published a post on my other blog Fashion-Essentials where I mentioned the new designer to watch Iris Van Herpen.

It is with great pleasure that I discovered at MICAM in Milan that a company I admire very much for their bold style allied to great comfort, United Nude  has recognised her talent and decided to develop her footwear line. So far, they came up with one model only declined in off white and black,  a fabulous ankle boot which is not dissimilar to the Aqua model by McQueen (see on the right).

Like a match made in heaven, United Nude was created by the nephew of Rem Koolhas the famous Dutch architect and Designer , Rem D Koolhas and Galahad Clarks, son of the famous British shoemaker Clarks. What they could come up with could only be extraordinarily normal, or normal extraordinaire.
Both expressions fit as their footwear just feels as natural as it feels strange.

We are looking forward to discovering the new collaborations they will offer us with.

If I were you, I would run to the first shop around ( notably Terra Plana in Covent GArden's Neal's street) or Westfield for London but any other online outlet.
United Nude, soon on http://www.spartoo.com/

Vintage

The other day, on the train to Saarbrucken, the region of German Shoe manufacturers, the guy next to me started to chat up. Despite being an executive from L'Oreal (one would expect them to care about Fashion), he said he didn't like to buy shoes. However, he did mention he'd been looking for ages - to no avail - for the low All Stars Chuck Taylor by Converse in leather with the old logo ( see picture). For someone who claimed not to be into fashion , this level of detail and specificity intrigued me. He said he liked the "Vintage" feeling of it.
I realised this was to become more of a trend. In times of crisis, people tend to revert to what they perceive to be real values. No wonder that we see the Fashion trends to evolve around the 50's and 60's styles,  times of great growth and where everything was possible. The eras of hope.

These past decades have evolved quicker than we even fathom: with the development of new technologies, it has been a tremendous economical development where everything goes fast, too fast maybe. No wonder that the values that are searched for are the ones that provide the sensation of security.

The brands that have a status of staples should really cash in. Lifestyle is all the craze and people seek to find recomfort in those values.

I would bet that the next big sales in Mens footwear would be for brands vehiculating a sense of Identity of the golden Era: GH Bass, Sebago, Ben Sherman, etc.

UGG versus EMU

Deckers has begun legal proceedings against sheepskin footwear brand Emu Australia, claiming infringement of its Ugg trademark. It is seeking a court order to prevent Emu from using its trademarks allegeing that Emu has intentionally misled customers into believing they are buying an Ugg product.

Dave Porter, Emu Australia's CEO played down the lawsuit: "In Australia [...] “Ugg” is a generic word and there are over 70 registered trademarks in Australia and New Zealand that include the word “Ugg”.".

Ugg met with  unexpected success and reinforced their position and cash in on the brand's recognition thanks to an agressive marketing. Emulations - don't see a bad play on word - are of course expected.

However, very much like the Crocs phenomenon, (and it should come as no surprise that Crocs is in financial distress), such products usually have a short lifecycle as their success is based on a popularity finding its roots on their adoption by actresses and celebrities on sets or on the incongruity of their shape. It is totally new, refreshing and the world has a tendency to wildly follow a trend until the leading authorities - never clearly identified to this day - move on to the next product.

Ugg's is arriving to its maturity level and the brand is dealing with high competition; they need to maintain a client loyalty and remind their clients of their legitimity as the original brand if not to simply remind them of the brand. The terrible weather in Europe is the perfect occasion to remind the client of the utility of their products in a time when they have to be in a very agressive promotional period.

In reality, from a practical perspective, UGG boots'style is not recommendable: the boots have very thin soles and the top layer is not waterproof. There is no proper welting and on top of that, the material will keep the feed in humidity which makes people sick and will create a favourable environment for bacterias to develop with the ugg-ly consequences we know.

In the past, legal actions have proven an excellent way of getting good publicity. Not only the filing of a trademark infringement suit is not expensive compared to a marketing campaign but also, the effect on the press provides with tremendous repercussions benefitting brands posionned as leaders. 

Personally, I don't think much of UGG. Those boots are UGG-LY and not built for the cold and snowy weather.Deckers has tried to establish the label as a strong footwear brand but, very much like Crocs, it was a short term phenomenon. The success was meant to be rapidly outlived. People grew tired of the UGG style which will continue to sell in its original habitat, among the surfers as the market is waiting for refreshing new styles to adopt.

As a shoe buyer, I would say we might jump directly from primitive to Barocco. We already see  brands such as EJECT, NEOSENSE, TIGGERS emerging ... Pretty much as the word Barocco, meaning "pearl of irregular shape", the new styles come from Spain and Portugal and the shapes are very unusual and unexpected. I am telling you people, be prepared to be surprised...

Tiggers collection 2011: soon on http://www.spartoo.com/