Managing Fashion and Luxury Companies is intended to be one of the first European and Italian contributions to international students, researchers and managers interested in the fashion and luxury industry. To reach this aim, Erica Corbellini and Stefania Saviolo present an overview of all the management issues and business processes that are most significant to companies competing in this field.
Erica Corbellini and Stefania Saviolo are both affiliated with Bocconi University and School of Management (SDA) in Milan, Italy. Together, their areas of expertise cover communications, customer service, brand management and international business in fashion and luxury companies. Although in its first edition, this book is grounded in debates initiated in precedent works. In addition, the content is updated by merging the concepts of fashion and luxury, and accounting for the latest changes in consumer behaviour and management practices.
To support and illustrate their ideas, the authors present numerous examples drawn from almost 15 years of experience in teaching, research and consulting. On their long list of collaborators are some of the leading organisations in the fashion and luxury industry, namely Fondazione Altagamma, Bain & Company (Italy), Bottega Veneta, Cotonificio Albini, Diesel, Ermenegildo Zegna, Giorgio Armani, Gucci, L'Oréal – Luxury Divison, Louis Vuitton, Luxottica Group, Salvatore Ferragamo, Swarovski, Tod's, Valentino and Versace.
The book counts two forewords: the first written by Renzo Rosso, President and Founder of Diesel, and the second signed by Federico Marchetti, Founder and CEO of YOOX Group. The book is then divided into four parts, for a total of 14 chapters. Part one (chapters 1‐2) is a logic foundation for the rest of the book since it deals with defining fashion and luxury. What is fashion? In order to answer this question, the authors refer to etymology and other disciplines of social sciences and find out that fashion is linked, among others, to a system of meanings, taste, time, context and change. An explanation for the concept of fashion cycle and the rise of fast fashion is offered, along with a comprehensive view on the multiple steps of the fashion pipeline (fibre to yarn, yarn to fabric, fabric to garment and retailing). What is luxury? Defining this concept does not prove much easier, but again the authors offer a structured summary of various perspectives, then reflect on the similarities and distinctions between fashion and luxury, and propose their own definition of a luxury brand as “coherent system of excellence” (p. 26) sharing a set of unique characteristics.
Part two, entitled “Country Models”, is composed of three chapters. Starting from a discussion on the concepts of nation branding and country of origin, chapter 3 depicts the historical evolution of fashion development in various countries. The models are highly detailed and supported with numerous examples. For instance, the evolution of the French model (from haute couture to luxury conglomerates) includes narratives on Chanel, Pierre Cardin, LVMH and PPR. The American model (from workwear to vertically integrated chains) is enriched with stories on Levi Strauss, Gap, Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren. The Italian model (from designers to vertical integration), accompanied with facts on Dolce & Gabbana and Tod's, and the Asian model (from outsourcing to integrated production networks and vertical retailers) are also fully described. In chapters 4 (written in collaboration with Léandré D'Souza) and 5, the authors take a distance from the past to explore opportunities for fashion and luxury brands in India and China. Both chapters follow a similar structure: introduction to the local culture, characteristics of luxury consumption in context, and current initiatives and opportunities for brand building.
Part three is made up of three chapters. In chapter 6, Corbellini and Saviolo present segmentation models for both fashion and luxury. For the fashion industry, they characterise three segmentation criteria (product end‐uses, clients, price) and describe five segments of a pyramid‐like model based on price, i.e. couture, ready‐to‐wear/designer, diffusion, bridge, and mass. For the luxury industry, they proceed with a similar analysis and draw another pyramid‐like model with, from top to bottom, supreme luxury, lifestyle luxury, accessible luxury, and “masstige” (i.e. a mass business logic that takes on prestige connotations). In chapter 7, the authors discuss in depth the value proposition and characteristics of four business models specific to the fashion and luxury industry: fashion griffe/designers, luxury brands, premium brands and fast fashion retailers. In chapter 8, the authors write about the rationale for consumer segmentation and the various methods for categorising customers based on descriptive (e.g. geographical, socio‐demographical, age) and behavioural (i.e. psychographic) criteria. They conclude this section with a sampling from some of the most recent literature on luxury goods consumption, i.e. conspicuous consumption, selective extravagance, fractional ownership, self‐treating, early adopters, conspicuous austerity, snob‐slob paradox.
Part four covers several aspects of brand management. In chapter 9, the authors introduce the concept and meaning of brand, as well as approaches and models for developing brand equity and managing brand identity. In chapter 10, Corbellini and Saviolo focus on the significant role of brand heritage and storytelling, especially for fashion and luxury companies. The authors provide a conceptualisation of heritage based on four building blocks: place (e.g. Paris for Hermès), people (e.g. the founder, the family), brand legend (e.g. the art of travel for Louis Vuitton) and products (e.g. the trench for Burberry). In chapter 11, a discussion tackles decisions regarding product offering, stylistic identity and seasonal collection architecture. An understanding of the processes underlying trend development is also supplied. In chapter 12, the topics of retail identity and distribution process are covered. Specifically, the authors compare two business logics, i.e. make‐to‐order and make‐to‐stock, present the sales process according to each strategy, introduce the traditional retail structures and strategies, and the possibilities offered by customer relationship management. In chapter 13, Corbellini and Saviolo explain various aspects and characteristics of communication processes followed by fashion and luxury companies. Finally, chapter 14 identifies growth strategies available to companies in the field. Strategies of brand extension and licensing management are also portrayed.
This book confirms a recent interest of management academics for the luxury industry. One of its main contributions lies in its attempt to combine the literatures on luxury and fashion. Such an exercise is well worthy, although not perfectly harmonised, but sometimes prevents the authors from analysing topics with sufficient depth. Yet, unlike few other recent publications in the field, this book does not claim to innovate with brand new terminologies or original conceptual frameworks, nor does it criticise other perspectives harshly. Instead, it proves an easy‐to‐read and valuable resource on fashion and luxury management based on an up‐to‐date review and analysis of important issues in the field. In doing so, the authors easily reach their goal of being relevant to a broad audience. Their simple approach based on examples appears especially useful to undergraduate and postgraduate students about to embark on a career in fashion and luxury management or current managers looking to reinforce their decision‐making capabilities. Yet, academics are not left aside, with a handful of new concept definitions (if only for the definition of luxury), industry segmentation and business models, which could act as the basis for further research. Adding an index would certainly make the book easier to glance through.
