D&G Will Die; Long Live Dolce & Gabbana

[barebones]

so i'm reading the article below and asking myself the question can brands go with mainlines and diffusion lines or do they need to pick their placement and stick with it?

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When Dolce & Gabbana said recently that it is folding its younger, less expensive D&G brand into its high-end line, many retailers were bewildered. D&G's success has at times overshadowed the more deluxe Dolce & Gabbana. And the prevailing wisdom is that a luxury brand loses cachet when it offers cheaper wares.

The danger, this theory goes, is that $300 Dolce & Gabbana dresses hanging beside $3,000 dresses with the same label will leave shoppers confused about what the brand stands for. "The Dolce super-label has sublime value," which could be diminished in consumers' minds, says luxury-consumption consultant Jim Taylor.

But there's another way to look at this wager: Consumers—savvier and more confident than ever about fashion—no longer pay as much attention to narrow tiers of brands. They've been mixing and matching expensive and cheap clothes for years. Meanwhile, luxury brands can seem cluttered with different lines when what consumers really care about is the designers who stand behind them.

Indeed, Mr. Taylor this week advised a roomful of luxury-company executives that they are annoying high-end customers by creating tiers of brands. "Nothing upsets affluent consumers more than finding there are multibrand models for multiple levels of quality," he said at the American Express Luxury Summit in Park City, Utah. In other words, maybe Dolce & Gabbana has already been devalued simply by the existence of D&G.

Mr. Taylor argues that companies must choose between two strategies. Either they must go the way of Michael Kors and Ralph Lauren and "paint the earth" with multiple brand levels or they must "simply be sublime" and cater to the roughly 20% of luxury consumers who shop without regard to price.

In fact, another luxury magnate recently narrowed his focus to one luxury brand. Brunello Cucinelli, chairman and chief executive of Brunello Cucinelli SpA, last year folded his two lower-level fashion lines—Gunex and Rivamonti—so quietly that almost no one noticed.

[justin2]

i can see the argument for brands focusing on just one price point. on the other hand providing they make a clear distinction they should be able to offer a cheaper diffusion line.

The problem with "D&G" and Dolce & Gabbana" there is no clear distinction.

[Dunnymonster]

Originally Posted by justin2

i can see the argument for brands focusing on just one price point. on the other hand providing they make a clear distinction they should be able to offer a cheaper diffusion line.

The problem with "D&G" and Dolce & Gabbana" there is no clear distinction.

100% agree, I admit myself up until a couple of years ago I didnt know there was any difference between D&G or Dolce & Gabbana, I thought it was just simply different labels used, the D&G simply being an abreviated version of the name only. I mean I see Red Monkey Company and RMC as identical despite the similar use of words or letters and that is the case in this brands case.
Diffusion lines can be beneficial in some cases, allowing people into the brand who previously were priced out. The negative of course is it can reduce the kudos in owning the main brand when its hard to differenciate between the two.

[altitude]

yep so what about giorgio armani, armani collezioni, armani jeans, emporio armani and ajx armani exchange. how do we explain armani's success with multi-lines?

[harrypothead]

i could never understand moshino's mainline being cheap & chic. part of franco's irony i suspect.

[getcaned]

i'm always confused by paul smith's lines with red ear and all that stuff.