How To Create A Luxury Brand

Luxury brands average 150% more margin and 200% more operating profits than mid-market brands. It’s easier – and cheaper! – than ever to create a luxury brand, so why wait? 

Here’s my product playbook – with factory links – to make your own luxury goods. You can also read this thread on Twitter:

 

Luxury begins with quality

The key differentiator between a high-end good and a value counterpart is the quality. This narrows down to:

• material (how long it lasts, how good it feels)
• construction (how well its stitched, printed etc)

To achieve a real luxury brand, quality is just one cornerstone, you also need

• Aesthetic
• Performance
• Usability
• Desirability
• Consistency

The last one is the hardest, because you need to execute all the others for extended periods to achieve a true luxury regard for your product. 

 

Differences between high-end brands

There are 3 types of high-end brands:

• Performance – A brand whose emphasis is on quality first and foremost
• Designer – A brand whose aesthetics and function differentiate if from the standard
• Luxury – Quality and aesthetics with high desirability and consistent performance over time

 

Best locations for luxury goods producers

Major fashion houses were housed out of Italy forever, but due to changes in global positioning and various other factors, Portugal now produces a large amount of luxury goods. And they’re the perfect place to go if you want true luxury quality at a reasonable price. 

 

 

Here are 4 premium factory options in Portugal to get you started:

• Martiape Shoes – http://www.martiape.com
• Becri Group – http://www.becrigroup.com
• Anglotex Clothes – http://www.anglotex.pt
• Malhinter- http://www.malhinter.com/

I also highly recommend subscribing to Business of Fashion and following them on Twitter @BoF. They have classes and just tons of resources behind the paywall.

 

How to approach a factory

You don’t approach a factory without a plan, so here’s where to begin:

• Designs of your line
• Projected quantities
• A budget for production
• A concrete plan for brand and marketing
• A customs broker or logistics partner
• A business entity and trademark

A good partner

• Can help you with materials and choices on your design
• Can work with you on budgets for production
• Will work on minimums, options and sampling to help you be successful

But don’t expect all this before you’ve done a few transactions and proven legitimacy. 

 

 

Factors to consider when creating a luxury brand

The goods themselves are just step one. Creating a premium or luxury brand requires a premium experience.

To charge a premium, your ethos from inception must be to:

• never skimp on customer service
• don’t cut corners
• choose quality and user experience over price reduction

Desirability is the x-factor in luxury. You can create amazing products, but how do you get customers to truly desire it?

Great tactics to consider include:

• Association, placing stores adjacent to other luxury
• Influence, pay the price for big name endorsement
• Collaboration, show your quality in context

In addition, design is paramount:

• You can never have a website that isn’t best-in-class
• Photography needs to always be differentiated from the standard
• Advertisements need to resonate with your target demographic and not ever come across as “middle of the mall”.

 

 

Want to know more? Here’s the perfect tool…

 

Have any questions? Drop me a comment below.

– Oren

 

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