FT Report- Business of Luxury- Mass production meets quality control- MANUFACTURING IN CHINA: Alexandra Harney on the implications of the growing expertise of mainland factories in producing goods to increasingly high standards-"In Italians factories, all the workers- tailors, seamstresses, even those who do the ironing and steaming- they all contribute to the quality of the final product. China still lacks the final piece in terms of refinement, how things are going to be treated with tender loving care."
Hypothesis:
If the luxury goods market became more socially conscious with their designs and processes, would it's wealthy consumer become more educated and continue to purchase high-end products that would benefit others? How far can these brands be pushed to consider different crafting communities through out the world and can they work together to create beautiful crafted pieces while combining each others heritage?
Stakeholders:
Luxury Brand Companies:
These brands have strong promenence within the fashion, lifestlye & travel industry. Globally, people are aware of their existence and their products appeal or are afforded by a wealthy market. They pride themselves of their hertiage, manufacturing processes, quality of materials and design. Over the last few years, luxury brands have been viewed as unnessecary and excessive design.
Craftspeople or Tribes:
These groups of people specialize in specific types of crafts or techniques that are unique to their location or materials. These are age old practices that are in jeopardy of fading out or they're not economically viable for the tribe to survive.
Consumers:
Looking at the people who can consume the luxury goods and those who are solely aware of their exsistence the goal is to have both groups be affect. The consumer of the goods would develop an awareness of what makes luxury brands who they are and their ability to work with other craftsmen and aid community in needs. For the people who cannot necessarily afford or would rather not purchase these goods, their strong feels like luxury goods are not necessary would hopefully shift or change completely.
Research Methods:
For this project to be successful, I'll need to contact luxury brands, consumers and craftspeople.
This week I had a chance to come up with several proposals to submit to luxury brands in order to see if my idea of re-thinking luxury and it's social power is valid direction.
Below are the two proposals I had reviewed carefully with Ketty and Michal, these were submitted to Severine the Accessories Director of Louis Vuitton:
Proposal 1- Canvas Bags for Charity: This concept would take iconic silhouettes from the Louis Vuitton collection and translate them into a less-expensive medium, such as canvas, with the logo silk screened onto the surface. These bags would then be sold at the same price to match the cost of the leather version of it. Since the bag will be produced in a less-expensive medium, all the profits from making the bag would be donated to a selected charity or community in need.
EXAMPLE: Slow and Steady Wins The Race Canvas Handbags:
Proposal 2- Awareness of Craft: Throughout the world, crafts are becoming less appreciated and in some cases extinct. This project would work with craftsmen in various regions and countries to develop new products or to incorporate them into existing products. These bags, scarves, etc. would be integrated into the existing collection (like Murakami, Prince, or Sprouse) and sold for a limited time. These products would not only be beautiful, but bring awareness globally to a unique practice and a community in need. An example of a community that would be an excellent candidate to work with would be Tibetan women and then Bangdian/Kadian Weaving technique. Their technique uses vegetable dyed wool to create carpets and aprons, these weaving techniques could be translated into handles for purses, scarves, or an aspect of a shoe. Since the wools are vegetable dyed, they colors could be specified and more acclimated into the LV aesthetic.
Louis Vuitton would work with craftsmen from various tribes in Africa or Asia, and sell their unique work as art more than products. Hermes has been doing that for years, and basically the entire proceeds go to these villages / tribes. Hermes craftsmen are also sent to these remote places to learn the tribes’ trades, and see how they can learn from them. The difference with Louis Vuitton (since they are much more well-known by the mass market) would create these products that would reach global markets. Consumers and other brands would be aware of these techniques leading to either the purchasing of the goods or using the particular craftsmen for other projects.
Since these proposals were sent out just before the weekend, I have not heard a response back from Severine. Hopefully, I'll receive something by Monday or Tuesday.
It is also crucial for this project to consider market research and conduct surveys. Looking at the market- who's purchasing luxury goods? What qualifies as a luxury good? Where are luxury goods made? What are the values of the companies and where do they predominatly design?
Surveys are crucial to determine if the products are worth creating in the first place. Questions such as, what are consumers looking for when purchasing luxury goods? How often to they purchase luxury goods? What is their main concern when purchasing something? Cost? Quality? Country of Origin? Aesthetics?
Tools:
I think material samples of products would be great tools for people to learn from. Samples of fabrics, stitches, weaving techniques, etc are all intergral parts of what makes up a luxury good. To see these items in their raw elements might spark a new interest into what it takes to create luxury goods.
Hypothesis:
If the luxury goods market became more socially conscious with their designs and processes, would it's wealthy consumer become more educated and continue to purchase high-end products that would benefit others? How far can these brands be pushed to consider different crafting communities through out the world and can they work together to create beautiful crafted pieces while combining each others heritage?
Stakeholders:
Luxury Brand Companies:
These brands have strong promenence within the fashion, lifestlye & travel industry. Globally, people are aware of their existence and their products appeal or are afforded by a wealthy market. They pride themselves of their hertiage, manufacturing processes, quality of materials and design. Over the last few years, luxury brands have been viewed as unnessecary and excessive design.
Craftspeople or Tribes:
These groups of people specialize in specific types of crafts or techniques that are unique to their location or materials. These are age old practices that are in jeopardy of fading out or they're not economically viable for the tribe to survive.
Consumers:
Looking at the people who can consume the luxury goods and those who are solely aware of their exsistence the goal is to have both groups be affect. The consumer of the goods would develop an awareness of what makes luxury brands who they are and their ability to work with other craftsmen and aid community in needs. For the people who cannot necessarily afford or would rather not purchase these goods, their strong feels like luxury goods are not necessary would hopefully shift or change completely.
Research Methods:
For this project to be successful, I'll need to contact luxury brands, consumers and craftspeople.
This week I had a chance to come up with several proposals to submit to luxury brands in order to see if my idea of re-thinking luxury and it's social power is valid direction.
Below are the two proposals I had reviewed carefully with Ketty and Michal, these were submitted to Severine the Accessories Director of Louis Vuitton:
Proposal 1- Canvas Bags for Charity: This concept would take iconic silhouettes from the Louis Vuitton collection and translate them into a less-expensive medium, such as canvas, with the logo silk screened onto the surface. These bags would then be sold at the same price to match the cost of the leather version of it. Since the bag will be produced in a less-expensive medium, all the profits from making the bag would be donated to a selected charity or community in need.
EXAMPLE: Slow and Steady Wins The Race Canvas Handbags:
Proposal 2- Awareness of Craft: Throughout the world, crafts are becoming less appreciated and in some cases extinct. This project would work with craftsmen in various regions and countries to develop new products or to incorporate them into existing products. These bags, scarves, etc. would be integrated into the existing collection (like Murakami, Prince, or Sprouse) and sold for a limited time. These products would not only be beautiful, but bring awareness globally to a unique practice and a community in need. An example of a community that would be an excellent candidate to work with would be Tibetan women and then Bangdian/Kadian Weaving technique. Their technique uses vegetable dyed wool to create carpets and aprons, these weaving techniques could be translated into handles for purses, scarves, or an aspect of a shoe. Since the wools are vegetable dyed, they colors could be specified and more acclimated into the LV aesthetic.
Louis Vuitton would work with craftsmen from various tribes in Africa or Asia, and sell their unique work as art more than products. Hermes has been doing that for years, and basically the entire proceeds go to these villages / tribes. Hermes craftsmen are also sent to these remote places to learn the tribes’ trades, and see how they can learn from them. The difference with Louis Vuitton (since they are much more well-known by the mass market) would create these products that would reach global markets. Consumers and other brands would be aware of these techniques leading to either the purchasing of the goods or using the particular craftsmen for other projects.
Since these proposals were sent out just before the weekend, I have not heard a response back from Severine. Hopefully, I'll receive something by Monday or Tuesday.
It is also crucial for this project to consider market research and conduct surveys. Looking at the market- who's purchasing luxury goods? What qualifies as a luxury good? Where are luxury goods made? What are the values of the companies and where do they predominatly design?
Surveys are crucial to determine if the products are worth creating in the first place. Questions such as, what are consumers looking for when purchasing luxury goods? How often to they purchase luxury goods? What is their main concern when purchasing something? Cost? Quality? Country of Origin? Aesthetics?
Tools:
I think material samples of products would be great tools for people to learn from. Samples of fabrics, stitches, weaving techniques, etc are all intergral parts of what makes up a luxury good. To see these items in their raw elements might spark a new interest into what it takes to create luxury goods.
3 comments:
Patricia, I am very supportive of your goal of exploring the next conception of luxury products. I think that this is a potentially fascinating topic, partly because it requires you to really try to see into the future, which is very hard to at the moment. But something will come out the other end of the current downturn (hopefully soon) and a new era of prosperity will come, but maybe tempered by the ethical implications and lessons of the great recession of 2008. What will a fancy scarf or other object that is expensive because it is unnecessarily well-made look like? How can we, as designers contemplating the next thing, rearrange our own thinking to accommodate various futures.
Having said that, I feel that your thesis is much too broad. Also, it should be phrased in the form a statement that you will test the validity of. Your thesis is stated in the form of a question.
I want to know more about your intentions. I assumed that your intention was to rethink how to make products made rich materials, fabricated with expensive techniques and processes, but as I read about the handbag project, it seems more of a social commentary and spoof about high end products rather than an homage to or reconfiguration of them.
steven
Hi Steven,
My thesis is not meant to be about social commentary or a spoof through hangbags. I'm very passionate about the craftsmanship and the materials that go into luxury goods and I realize a concept such as creating canvas bags is slightly contradicting to what I believe in. I'm presenting these proposals to Louis Vuitton to see what they're potentially interested in and what they'd pursue. The idea of my project is to rethink luxury goods- how can the people who consume these products somehow give back through their purchases? I'm still trying to word my hypothesis, and I'll continue to develop it from a question into statement.
Thank you,
Patricia
Steven, and Patricia:
I think (Patricia, correct if I'm wrong) that the handbag project would be a quick study (as opposed to THE thesis project) that would assess some luxury brands' attitudes towards their own iconic status and inflated prices (despite high standard of materials and craft, I think we all agree the costs are driven by the status)-- I was excited about it because it would be almost immediately realizable -- Patricia has access to these brands -- and if not accepted the rejection and conversation w/ the brands would be very informative. It's like a parallel project that could take on a real life, but does not take the place of the larger thesis proposal. I say push it forward (not much effort required) as you define you project.
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