Where Does Accessible Luxury Go From Here?

In recent weeks, luxury fashion’s biggest players, including LVMH and Kering, sounded the alarm about slowing global demand and an uncertain outlook for the remainder for the year.

Macro-economics and shifting consumer preferences are mostly to blame. China’s economy remains in the doldrums — with real estate values depressed and youth unemployment high — while Americans and Europeans, especially more aspirational shoppers, are still struggling to recover economic enthusiasm amid the lingering effects of post-Covid inflation. Meanwhile, travel, restaurants, concert tickets, wellness and cosmetic procedures feel like more tempting purchases than expensive handbags — particularly in the light of dramatic price hikes for luxury fashion goods.

Where does that leave the accessible luxury segment, and its leading player Tapestry — the Coach, Kate Spade and Stuart Weitzman owner — which Thursday reports quarterly sales as well as results for its full fiscal year?

Investors will be watching closely to see if the group’s long-term drive to curb markdowns is on track in a softening US economy (slower-than-expected growth numbers sparked a market panic last week) as well as updates on a takeover bid for rival Capri, which was challenged this spring by US competition authorities.

They’ll also be watching to see whether customers who are forgoing purchases from top luxury brands might still be in the market for a decent looking bag if the price is right. Conversely, accessible luxury brands’ reliance on lower-income, aspirational customers could pose a problem: in recent weeks, luxury groups pinpointed falling demand from that cluster as the principal issue in the United States.

Sales at Michael Kors owner Capri fell 12 percent excluding currency shifts last quarter, the company reported Thursday in a gloomy sign for the segment. But Ralph Lauren’s business held steady, with 1 percent sales growth and higher-than-expected profits.

Meanwhile, in Europe, the ubiquity of Polene and Sézane shopping bags on the Paris street suggests that hunger for new accessible luxury concepts persists.

Where will Tapestry fall?

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