Consumers are shifting from larger luxury brands to smaller fashion brands
The intensity of brand competition is measured on a quarterly basis.
Fashion search engine Lyst recently released the list of the most popular brands for the third quarter of 2024, with Miu Miu rising one position from the second quarter to reclaim the top spot, attracting widespread market attention.
Loewe slipped to second place, with Prada in third, followed by Saint Laurent, Alaïa, Bottega Veneta, and Jacquemus. In the close competition between Loewe and Miu Miu, Miu Miu continues to maintain the lead.
However, outside the spotlight on Miu Miu, the latest rankings actually conceal a new round of market changes. There are many new brands in Lyst’s third-quarter rankings, the most notable being Alaïa, which moved up 12 places, surpassing Bottega Veneta to land in fifth place.
Alaïa’s flat shoes also topped the list of hottest items in the third quarter.
Since its debut on the list in the second quarter of 2023, Alaïa’s popular flat shoes have been well-received. The Baguette bag Teckel and the heart-shaped bag Le Coeur have also driven demand globally. Additionally, the brand’s fashion show held in New York in September was widely praised.
Lyst’s review states that consumers’ desire for Alaïa is deepening, with demand surging by 51% this quarter, and there is enthusiastic response to creative director Pieter Mulier’s sexy image and exquisite craftsmanship.
Apart from Alaïa, Chloé, under the Richemont Group, also made its debut on the list. Under the leadership of creative director Chemena Kamali, the brand has returned to the classic Chloé feminine image, and the two released collections have received positive reviews from the industry.
Chloé, which belongs to the Richemont Group along with Alaïa, also entered the list for the first time
According to data from Fashion Business News, for the first quarter of fiscal year 2025 ending June 30, sales in Richemont Group’s other business segments, which include fashion and accessories brands, grew by 6% to 701 million euros, surpassing the 4% growth in the jewelry segment, while sales in the specialist watchmaking segment fell by 14%.
Although the fashion brands under the Richemont Group are much smaller in scale compared to competitors LVMH and Kering, the inclusion of two brands on the list this time is undoubtedly a key milestone for this group, which primarily focuses on high-end jewelry and watch businesses, in expanding its fashion business.
This also reveals the structural changes taking place in the fashion industry.
The Row squeezed into the top ten from 16th place, ranking ninth. Ralph Lauren, Totême, Victoria Beckham, and Chloé all made the list for the first time.
A large number of new brands have entered the top twenty and even the top ten list for the first time, indirectly confirming that consumers are shifting from larger luxury brands to smaller fashion brands.
List of popular brands in the third quarter
Lyst analysis states that there has been a major reshuffle in the list of popular brands this season, with luxury brands possibly losing ground on the Lyst list, while mid-range and contemporary brands are starting to gain a foothold in the arena.
The September fashion show season is usually a peak period for fashion consumers to burst with inspiration, but in the face of rising prices and global economic uncertainty, the fashion show season has failed to stimulate consumer demand. Data from this quarter indicates that aspirational fashion enthusiasts are still shopping, but they have become thoughtful when discovering or rediscovering brands worth investing in and remain open to new brands.
A careful inventory reveals that among the top ten brands, only half have annual revenues exceeding 1 billion euros, including Gucci, Prada, Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta, and Valentino.
Miu Miu and Loewe are expected to join the 1 billion euro club this year, while Alaïa’s disclosed revenue in 2017 was only around 50 million euros, and the company claims current revenue is higher than this figure. The market estimates The Row’s annual revenue to be around 200 to 300 million dollars, while Jacquemus disclosed its revenue reached 200 million euros in 2022.
At least from the perspective of quarterly brand popularity, small and medium-sized brands have already taken half of the market, subtly stealing consumers’ attention and spending budgets from large luxury brands, which is enough to make luxury giants wary.
The picture shows Alaïa’s Teckel handbag
To a large extent, the growth of these small and medium-sized brands has benefited from capturing the market share that luxury brands have actively abandoned or overlooked.
According to the analysis of “Celine’s Return to Minimalism, Is It Too Late?”, in 2017, then Creative Director Phoebe Philo left Celine, and the brand appointed Hedi Slimane as the new Creative Director, initiating a series of radical reforms.
Under the leadership of Hedi Slimane, Celine abandoned the brand’s minimalism from the Phoebe Philo era, first shifting to bohemian and rock styles, and then in 2020, driving Celine’s transformation towards high-end basics favored by young people, helping Celine achieve a leap from less than 500 million euros in annual sales to 2.5 billion euros in five years.
However, at the same time, Celine actively abandoned the minimalist style, giving market space to new brands, first fattening up Bottega Veneta, and then allowing the high-end American minimalist luxury brand The Row, as well as the mid-range Totême, to grow. Even another Phoebe Philo imitator, Victoria Beckham, who has struggled for years, finally saw a spring, with performance boosted.
At the same time, the maximalism that Gucci voluntarily abandoned is now allowing Valentino to reap the benefits. With former Gucci creative director Alessandro Michele releasing his first collection for Valentino in September, his latest designs have already attracted market attention.
Although some consumers claim to feel aesthetic fatigue with Alessandro Michele’s designs, compared to the currently unfocused Gucci, Valentino has gained a distinct label. No one can deny that Alessandro Michele is deeply tied to the maximalist aesthetic, which is bringing Valentino a group of loyal consumers who love this style.
During the window period when large luxury brands are under pressure and feeling confused, small and medium-sized brands are taking advantage of the situation. However, observers familiar with the fashion industry know well that fashion trends come and go quickly, and small and medium-sized brands without capital support find it difficult to establish themselves in the long-term amidst fierce competition.
After two years of rapid growth following the pandemic, Jacquemus has reportedly faced financial difficulties this year. Due to the sluggish fashion wholesale business that designer brands rely on, Jacquemus is planning to open stores, but this requires more funds. According to Miss Tweed, Jacquemus has commissioned Rothschild to find investors and sell a minority stake in the brand.
The Row also experienced financial difficulties after the pandemic, affected by wholesale partners, and faced a temporary cash shortage.
Until last month, sources revealed that the Chanel owner Wertheimer family and L’Oréal heiress Francoise Bettencourt Meyers acquired minority stakes in the American designer brand The Row through their family offices Mousse Partners and family business Tethys Invest, respectively. Additionally, Imaginary Ventures, co-founded by Net-a-Porter founder Natalie Massenet, also invested in the brand.
From this perspective, Alaïa, backed by the Richemont Group, has greater potential for commercial scale. Although the brand is still small, it deserves more attention from the industry.
Alaïa was founded in 1981 by legendary fashion designer Azzedine Alaïa, leading the 1980s “super tight sexy” trend with highly recognizable extensive cut-out and carved designs. Azzedine Alaïa’s pursuit of perfection and chic is deeply embedded in the brand’s DNA, and the dresses he created are praised as women’s “second skin.”
Azzedine Alaïa has always remained low-key and mysterious, focused on design, intentionally staying away from the commercial games of the fashion industry
In 1992, Alaïa, unwilling to be constrained by the system, held his last show at Paris Fashion Week, and then announced his withdrawal from the Paris Fashion Week schedule, opting instead to release new ready-to-wear collections to VIP consumers on a regular basis.
Alaïa received investment from the Prada Group in 2000, initiating a strategy for commercialization and globalization. In 2007, the brand was officially taken over by the Richemont Group.
In the following decade, perhaps due to Azzedine Alaïa’s low-key style or possibly because Richemont Group did not focus much on the fashion business, Alaïa never made a significant splash in the industry until 2017, when he reappeared at Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week at the urging of shareholders, ultimately making this show Azzedine Alaïa’s final work.
On November 19 of the same year, Azzedine Alaïa passed away in Paris at the age of 77. Interestingly, it was around 2017 that Richemont Group decided to revitalize its fashion business, selling off Shanghai Tang and luxury handbag brand Lancel, and replacing the management and creative team at Chloé, while also formulating a new expansion plan for Alaïa.
More than three years after Azzedine Alaïa’s passing, Richemont appointed a new creative director, Pieter Mulier, for Alaïa in 2020. Pieter Mulier is from Belgium and has worked for Raf Simons and Jil Sander. He was also a key assistant to Raf Simons during his tenure at Dior and Calvin Klein, possessing extensive industry experience.
The picture shows Alaïa’s current creative director Pieter Mulier
Pieter Mulier’s first collection after taking office was released in Paris in July 2020, marking the brand’s first fashion show since July 2017. The debut was attended by numerous fashion editors, critics, designers such as Raf Simons, Pierpaolo Piccioli, as well as architectural master Jean Nouvel, and LVMH veteran Sidney Toledano, all of whom have high expectations for him.
From the debut, Pieter Mulier at Alaïa also employed a first-class team, with Chanel muse Mica Argañaraz, Dutch supermodel Rianne Von Rompaey, and Ethiopian supermodel Liya Kebede all being debut models, thanks to the strong financial backing of the Richemont Group and the support of experienced CEO Myriam Serrano.
At that time, many industry insiders had already affirmed Pieter Mulier’s debut at Alaïa, and even stated that with the strong financial backing of the Richemont Group and the support of experienced CEO Myriam Serrano, Alaïa is expected to return to its peak.
In the following four years, Pieter Mulier’s fashion shows consistently maintained a high standard, establishing a new image for Alaïa.
The new Alaïa fashion collection continues the brand’s DNA while injecting fresh blood from Pieter Mulier, including a redefinition of the female body silhouette and creative use of leather and feather materials, echoing the North African cultural background of the brand’s founder. While many haute couture houses are turning to commercialization, Alaïa has rarely maintained exquisite and innovative design ingenuity and haute couture quality.
The brand’s choice of show venues also reflects Pieter Mulier’s love for architecture. This year, Alaïa turned to New York Fashion Week to hold a show at the Guggenheim Museum, while the fall-winter collection show released in January 2023 was held at his home in Antwerp, sparking much discussion in the industry.
Pieter Mulier’s university major was architecture, and Raf Simons, whom he followed into the industry, also did not have a professional background in fashion design. Therefore, their perspectives are usually not constrained by stereotypes in the fashion industry, allowing them to draw inspiration from fields such as architecture and art, which ensures Alaïa’s high-end positioning.
Alaïa continues the founder’s DNA and makes innovative exquisite craftsmanship
From the cost-no-object fashion show production, it is evident that Alaïa’s commitment to brand positioning over the past four years clearly outweighs the desire for commercial expansion.
Pieter Mulier previously admitted in an interview with the Financial Times that when he ended his work with Calvin Klein in 2020, he was completely tired of everything in the fashion industry. He was tired of sales figures, unwilling to interact with people, rejected large teams, and no longer wanted to be a creative clown. Previously, Raf Simons parted ways with Calvin Klein in 2018 due to unsatisfactory sales figures.
And his task at Alaïa is simply to protect the brand. “There are no sales targets, no marketing personnel, nothing. They just said, you must maintain the brand’s high reputation, and the group hopes this name can become more widely known.”
At present, it seems that only part of this task has been completed. Alaïa has gained industry reputation through its ready-to-wear collection, although this is quite difficult in the highly competitive fashion industry today.
In the mass market, Alaïa’s actions are actually not many, as the brand currently has only 170 sales points worldwide. Due to Alaïa’s high pricing strategy, the brand’s ready-to-wear sales conversion has not been significant in the past four years. This may, to some extent, continue Alaïa’s brand DNA, as Azzedine Alaïa has always maintained a low-key and mysterious approach, focusing on design and intentionally staying away from the commercial games of the fashion industry.
However, the accessories series became the key to Alaïa’s breakthrough this time. The fishnet ballet shoes and the baguette handbag Teckel have been gaining traction on social media, but this seems more like a natural outcome rather than active marketing promotion by the brand. Apart from professionals, there is still significant room for improvement in the general consumer’s awareness of Alaïa.
Whether Alaïa can truly unleash its commercial potential still depends on Richemont’s determination to invest in the fashion business. Although the group had high hopes for the fashion business in 2017, there have been many fluctuations in recent years, especially when facing LVMH’s ambitious moves in the hard luxury sector, Richemont has focused more on its core high-end jewelry business.
Apart from this, the conservative marketing style of the hard luxury business also extends to Richemont Group’s strategy for its fashion business, which is also the reason why Alaïa, Chloé, and Delvaux under its umbrella are lukewarm. Although Alaïa is generous in fashion shows, it falls far short of LVMH and Kering Group’s fashion brands in large-scale systematic marketing and channel expansion, which may hinder the brand from converting the natural popularity of individual items into the comprehensive influence of the brand.
Bottega Veneta, which also adheres to art and exquisite craftsmanship under the Kering Group, is considered to be in direct competition with Alaïa. If Alaïa wishes to strengthen its differentiated image in the competition, more investment is essential.
The little black horse is starting to gain a foothold, but the road ahead is not without resistance.