Good or Bad?

So why shouldn't these people be able to buy luxury goods if they have the money?

Why should predominately "western" countries be the only ones able to obtain Hermes products?

Sure, we don't want to see the quality decrease but refusing others from obtaining something that they've probably worked really hard to obtain is selfish and arrogant.

Hermes is a company and as such is there to make money..pure and simple. It makes economical sense for a company to expand into new markets if there are buyers willing to spend. What if Hermes decided "actually we should only sell our bags in France and close all the other stores to make our products more exclusive" Would everybody be as "positive" about that?

Furthermore, do you honestly think that Mercedes Benz and Rolls Royce will refuse to sell their luxury vehicles in the new and expanding markets of India and China? I doubt it, and neither will Hermes...
 
In addition, the CEO of Hermes would be failing in his duty not to expand into these markets.

Best to watch the wording of some of the posts as they could be construed as being racist as well...:tdown:
 
^^ I think we are just concerned about quality as I've seen the quality of Chanel and Louis Vuitton change drastically when they started producing more and more items. Also it stands to reason that the more items out there the longer the wait for cleaning/repair services will be, which for long term Hermes customers may be unbearable. If I see Hermes products being mass produced and the quality shifts, I won't be waiting in line to buy it.
 
Fair enough, no one wants to see the quality drop in their favourite product but the CEO of Hermes would and should forward plan for the expansion by recruiting and training new craftspeople to produce the goods [for example, by opening a training school for staff to learn]. The quality need not drop if the expansion is handled efficiently.
 
Thanks for posting that - very interesting. I think I have to admit part of my fascination is that the bags and goods aren't everywhere. In fact I hardly see them and certain items I've never seen anyone where (well outside of NYC's UES).

I think the point the posters were making were more about exclusivity and quality clearly nothing was racist - in fact I think that's a pretty ugly accusation to just throw out there. Hermes has also been rapidly expanding in the US market - as posters have commented about before.

Personally I'm facinated by the "poaching of luxury goods by the middle class comment" - I've seen this written about before and how wealthier people are spending more to get something exclusive because of it. Also about people buying certain luxury items, i.e. shoes or a car, but not everything because they can't afford the whole lifestyle.

I'm sort of curious by what 'middle class' is and how many middle class members have Hermes goods. I don't imagine that many - but I do think (as an example) that Louis Vuitton is no longer a signifier of wealth or status - at least in my opinion that brand has been so diluted by counterfeits and real bags are owned by a broad range of individuals in the socio-economic spectrum. I'm not making a quality judgment about this - this is merely my observation. For example you might have someone who makes 30k a year buy a LV bag or someone who makes 200k or Angelina Jolie who makes much, much more. The bag itself no longer signifies wealth or social status - you can still like it for its style and some people still percive it as a signifier of wealth but I just don't see that anymore.

Frankly, of course Hermes should expand into those markets because there is going to be alot of demand for their products there. What I wonder is if the ultra wealthy will ever start moving towards custom bags and fashion when even Hermes bags start showing up a little too often?
 
it's the quality, not the exclusivity, that i love about hermes. as long as the quality standards do not suffer, i say hooray!

i see no reason why excellence should not be universally available. other retailers would do well to note how the masses appreciate -- and will pay for -- fine quality.
 
My concern is more with luxury goods companies that are constantly instituting price increase while moving 95% of their production to 3rd world countries where an 11 yr. girl produces materials for 20 cents an hour that are then shipped to Italy or France to be stitched together by the 11 yr. girl's Eastern European counterpart for 50 cents an hour, the end result product being a $2000 plus tax canvas bag that I buy thinking Claude hand stitched by candlelight....I would be a bit miffed....

I'm just not sure how any company that is known for hand made fine articles can find that many fine hands to meet that much demand...they must have some business model to accomplish this, right?
 
IMO, what should be address is...will H can cope up with additional customer services (spa et al) requirements for the expansion and will be able to maintain the strict standard of quality used in creating its product.

I think H needs the expansion to cope up with the change of times...H is an epitome of quality with all of its product items, they dont only sell Birkin's. Economics dictates...quality should be available to everyone who wants it whether they can afford it or not:P

Ive read somewhere...House of H is not making good money.
 
My concern is more with luxury goods companies that are constantly instituting price increase while moving 95% of their production to 3rd world countries where an 11 yr. girl produces materials for 20 cents an hour that are then shipped to Italy or France to be stitched together by the 11 yr. girl's Eastern European counterpart for 50 cents an hour, the end result product being a $2000 plus tax canvas bag that I buy thinking Claude hand stitched by candlelight....I would be a bit miffed....

I'm just not sure how any company that is known for hand made fine articles can find that many fine hands to meet that much demand...they must have some business model to accomplish this, right?

lol! olive, you are funny! but so true!
 
it's the quality, not the exclusivity, that i love about hermes. as long as the quality standards do not suffer, i say hooray!

other retailers would do well to note how the masses appreciate -- and will pay for -- fine quality.


ITA especially with "i see no reason why excellence should not be universally available."
 
ITA.

I do hope they can keep up the quality.

As to the stock, You know, I saw PILES AND PILES or orange boxes at my store, up on the mezzanine. Stacked to the ceiling, I am not kidding. Some were big boxes, too, shrinkwrapped, etc.

Plus, there are warehouses as well, perhaps the situation will be that the stores just have fewer bags on site?? Rather than quality diminishing as production increases....after all there are shortages of several leathers already....:sad:

Perhaps we will see emptier warehouses and fewer orange boxes in the drawers, but the same excellent quality inside them...just a hopeful thought.....

it's the quality, not the exclusivity, that i love about hermes. as long as the quality standards do not suffer, i say hooray!

i see no reason why excellence should not be universally available. other retailers would do well to note how the masses appreciate -- and will pay for -- fine quality.
 
Although by that article's definition, I suppose I am a "poacher" -- wait, why should I accept that definition of me? I am just a person who admires lovely things and has come to truly appreciate Hermes.

Rather than be a person OF a certain class, I try to be a person WITH class.

Speaking of which, there's an interesting thread over in the Shopping forum about how people are treated by Hermes SAs based on their "perceived class":

http://forum.purseblog.com/../hermes-shopping/are-all-hermes-sas-super-rude-141794.html

It does make me think a bit about the whole issue of who is "entitled" to own things. There are often comments in this forum that fakes and lower quality bags are made by workers earning low wages in poor conditions in other countries. I hope Hermes sets an example as a manufacturer of items that may indeed be very high-priced, but that come with an equally high level of decency in wages and living conditions for its employees.
 
IMO even if H becomes more accessible to "mall rats," the price is still prohibitive for most people, and the style of their items still has a somewhat limited appeal, i.e., timeless, not trendy. Instead of expanding H, maybe they should come up with a completely different label that cuts into a piece of the Chanel & LV pie (this is not a dig at Chanel nor LV--I love my Chanel & LV bags, but they're just not Hermes).
 
i have a feeling their expansion plans (specifically in the US) has the potential to hurt the company tremendously and possibly force the the family into selling their privately-held shares, to what degree (and what control they can retain) i do not know. on the other hand, they have people more informed in this area than i consulting with them, so perhaps they know what they're doing. however whenever you work in a foreign market (the co. is french, and they are adding stores to the US) there is a great potential to misinterpret your customer/the market. it's amazing to watch big companies screw up in such a simple way - know your customer!

WSJ article this morning talked about hermes stock. when they promoted non-family member patrick thomas to chief executive, investors took it as a sign that the family was going to loosen its grip so stock went up in anticipation of a sale. never materialized and stock is going down down down (to be fair, it will go down to what it ought to be - it had simply been articificially inflated due to rumors and speculation). co. insists there will be no sale (further hurting the stock), so that suggests their motivation is not fast/cheap profit (for the time being) - their posted 8.7% profit increase last year "was among the lowest in the luxury-goods sector" and the discontinuation of the "best-selling canvas fourre-tout bag - which accounted for more than 10% of overall accessories sales" caused "sales growth in the high-margin accessories category" to dip to "4.6% between january and june last year."
so they seem to be focussing on something other than $$$, so i'm not too worried, yet.