This Week's Obsession: Making Luxury Affordable
One mantra of sustainability advocates is, "Buy better, buy less" but for many that's can be a big reach.
How does one go from buying ultra-fast or fast fashion to investing in higher quality pieces? This movement, now called slow fashion movement, is all about buying less, but better quality items that will last longer. But how do you know which items are better quality and will last longer? For that reason many start to look at luxury brands which are believed to be of higher quality but for most the financial hurdle is too high. Then add recessionary pressures in many parts of the world so people have less to spend.
Ninety five percent of luxury customers are actually aspirational, where 5% are high net worth individuals (HNWIs) but they account for 40% of the sales. Luxury brands have been focusing on that segment with what they refer to as "elevation" strategies. This means price hikes which are making higher quality pieces even less affordable.
Whether you are trying to buy higher quality goods or are interested in luxury goods as a status symbol, shifting your mindset from traditional ownership to sharing, means you can have access to luxury goods in an affordable way. We think rental is a great model if you only are going to wear an item once. If that's the case, it's obviously less expensive, however, if you want to wear the item often, it quickly doesn't make economic sense.
Enter More Luxury Club
There are so many reasons we started More Luxury Club and top of our list was to make luxury goods more affordable for people. Imagine you save for a whole year to buy a designer bag and then you worry about wearing it because you don't want to have anything happen to it. So it ends up spending most of its time in the closet. So the money is spent, but the value is not being received.
With More, you have access to your piece 10 weeks a year every year, forever, or until you sell your share on our marketplace. Even better, you never have to worry about your expensive bag because we insure her, clean her, maintain her, repair her (if needed) and deliver her. So you can enjoy your time with her hassle free. And when she's not with you, your fellow co-owners are enjoying her or she's in the bag "spa" having her semi-annual rejuvenation.
What we love about sharing is that beyond the joy of having this bag, your bag is kept in pristine condition extending her lifespan and retaining her value. This model is not only more affordable but it's more sustainable.
The financials make so much sense as well. You pay 20% of the retail price plus a monthly service fee which covers all the services including insurance and delivery. And you can sell your share after one year on our marketplace - where our commission is only 10% of your share price vs. 30% of the full retail if you owned the bag and wanted to sell it. Let's look at an example.
Let's say you wanted to purchase a Bottega Veneta Andiamo Small Tote below. It retails for £3,500. You purchase your share for £770, which is 20% of the price plus a 2% sourcing fee.
You have your share 10 weeks per year, up to 4 weeks at a time. She is kept in pristine condition by our concierge team and she's insured for damage or loss. The monthly service fee is £25 per month.
If you purchased her outright and insured her, you would pay the £3,500 per year and approximately £25 per month for insurance covering damage and loss.
If you sell your share on our marketplace after 3 years, your share will be in pristine condition, so you will receive the top price in the secondary market. Which could be equal to what you paid £770 - 10% commission - you receive back £693.
However, you may sell your bag on the secondary market and not receive top dollar because you haven't maintained the bag to the same level. So you may only get805 of the value or £2,0000 for her minus the 30% commission =£1,960
Owning the bag cost you £1,540
Co-owing cost you £77
If you add in the cost of capital for the money you tied up in the bag. Take the retail price of £3,500 - the share price of £770 = £2,730
You take the £2,730 *.07 per year x 3 years = £614.37
So owning the bag cost you £2154.37 vs. co-owning.
Co-owning the bag saves you £2077.37.
To see more of how co-owing save you money visit our More Math blog. Or if you are thinking about expanding your designer bag collection, More makes even more sense. See how Designer Bag Collecting meets More Math.
Vote for Me!
Finally, as part of the More community you get to choose the bags you want us to sell shares in! Visit our voting page every month to see our curated selection. The top 5 most voted become next's months Fab5, which we sell shares in. Up this month:
The summer season is so very short, but the summer styles this year have been plentiful. Don't miss the opportunity to vote for your favourite bag of the season so that you can buy your share August 1st. We love breaking out our summer bags during a winter break to the sun. It's so enjoyable to see them again in the middle of our bleaker season.
Vying for the all the attention this month is the Miu Miu Crochet Tote Bag not only is' it colourful, it's very large. So if you love to carry all your summer essentials to the beach - this bag is for you. Close runner up, The Alaïa Medium Raffia bag, we love the size and the shape. Another cool competitor is from Ferragamo, the Hug, medium raffia tote is a great bag for the office or for drinks on the rooftop.
And so much more from Valentino, Loewe, YSL and Fendi to choose from. Vote today so you can make sure your share is available for purchase come August.
Love it or Hate it -The Prada Cahier
The Prada Cahier was introduced in Fall 2016 . Cahier is French for notebook, which explains closure and golden edges. Turn it to the side and it magically turns into an old-style book! Inspired by valuable ancient books, the Prada Cahier bag is made of soft calf leather. The metal hardware gives it an unmistakable look, & it comes with a removable shoulder strap.
The Cahier definitely had a moment in the late 2010's and there were additional version of the bag including the constellation and embroidered versions. Later a "soft" version of the Cahier was brought out for those who didn't care for the structured version. You can still find a Cahier on Farfetch but most of them are found on resale sites. Recently a purse blogger wrote about being re-obsessed with the bag. We weren't sure about it and thought we see what the community thinks.
Let us know if you're a fan of the Cahier or if you'd rather pass on this one.
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