The world of fashion is about to get its report card. LVMH, the biggest luxury group in the world, shares its summer sales figures on Monday evening, Paris time. Kering, the owner of Gucci, follows on 22 October.
Who are LVMH and Kering?
LVMH owns a huge list of famous brands, including Louis Vuitton, Dior, Loro Piana and Berluti, alongside champagne, perfume and jewellery houses. Kering is smaller but still a giant, with Gucci, Saint Laurent and Bottega Veneta among its labels.
Between them, these two groups have a say in much of what is sold in luxury shops around the world, from handbags to suits.
Why everyone watches the numbers
The figures cover the summer months, from July to September. They show whether wealthy shoppers in Europe, America, China and the Middle East are still spending on luxury goods, or starting to hold back.
The results are watched closely by investors, by the rest of the fashion industry and by the cloth mills and workshops that supply these brands. When luxury sales are strong, the whole chain does well. When they are weak, brands cut back on orders, and the effect is felt from Italian mills to British weavers.
What to look out for
Several questions will matter this time. Are shoppers in China spending again? Are American customers still strong? Are people buying fewer logo-heavy items and more quiet, well-made classics?
Kering’s figures will be watched with extra interest. Gucci has been working to win back customers, and Saint Laurent has just announced that its creative director, Anthony Vaccarello, is leaving.
The bigger picture
Over the past few years, many customers have moved away from loud logos towards quality you can feel rather than see. Brands like Loro Piana, known for its fine cloth rather than its branding, have done well from that change.
It is a shift that suits bespoke tailoring. A made-to-measure suit carries no logo at all. Its value is in the cloth, the cut and the fit, which is exactly what more and more customers are looking for.
