"The Cult of the Luxury Brand" is the first book to explore how and why an amazing "luxeplosion" is rocking Asia, sweeping up not just the glitzy upper crust, but secretaries toting their Burberry bags, junior executives sporting Rolex watches, and university students in Ferragamo shoes. Hong Kong boasts more Gucci and Hermes stores than New York or Paris. China's luxury market is growing with such gusto that it will single-handedly be the biggest by 2014. Even India, the new kid on the luxury block, has three-month waiting lists for hot items, while in Tokyo, the epicenter of the cult, 94 per cent of women in their 20s own a Louis Vuitton bag. The cult of the luxury brand is so powerful that Asian consumers account for as much as half of the $80 billion global luxe industry. Radha Chadha and Paul Husband explain the paradox of simultaneously pumping up your product's status while pumping it out to the masses. They crack the code of the cult, offering a tried-and-tested approach to creating an explosive following for your brand. They outline a powerful model that explains the spread of luxury in developed markets such as Japan and Hong Kong, while predicting the future course for emerging markets such as China and India. They also examine the phenomenon of "geniune fakes", impossible to tell from the real thing but detracting from its sales. Written by world-leading experts in a highly accessible style, the book draws on over 150 interviews with industry experts, market studies in 10 countries, and the authors' collective experience across Asia. It offers a glimpse of the thriving retail scene, from glorious flagship stores in Tokyo to bustling local markets in Seoul, and compares the various consumer segments to understand the inner motives for their obsession. It demonstrates how the continent's massive economic and social transformation is dismantling centuries-old ways of defining your place in society, and how your spot on today's social totem pole is marked by your Chanel suit and your Cartier watch. Whether you are a business professional targeting the Asian consumer, a marketer interested in trend spotting, or a shopper fascinated by luxury brands, this book opens the door to success.

Once luxury was available only to the rarefied and aristocratic world of old money and royalty. It offered a history of tradition, superior quality, and a pampered buying experience. Today, however, luxury is simply a product packaged and sold by multibillion-dollar global corporations focused on growth, visibility, brand awareness, advertising, and, above all, profits. Award-winning journalist Dana Thomas digs deep into the dark side of the luxury industry to uncover all the secrets that Prada, Gucci, and Burberry don?t want us to know. Deluxe is an uncompromising look behind the glossy façade that will enthrall anyone interested in fashion, finance, or culture.

Luxury Fashion Branding - Trends, Tactics, Techniques, is the groundbreaking pioneer text that addresses the business of luxury from a strategic viewpoint. It critically analyses the essential aspects of the luxury fashion sector through tracing its origins, analysing its current state, assessing its consumer behaviour, retailing tactics, branding and marketing strategies, e-business techniques, new luxury definitions and their implications, environmental analysis, customisation methods, business modelling and case study analysis. For the first time, the luxury industry is provided with advanced strategies, tools and techniques required for modern business management, through sound research and ongoing practice. These are sources of new approaches towards the business of smartly bringing objects of desire into the marketplace. Luxury Fashion Branding has been described as the text that will re-define the business practices of the luxury industry. The book is imperative for anyone connected with the luxury industry; those aspiring towards luxury; those seeking transferable skills; and those who simply want an insight into this intriguing business.