Do you still remember the seasonal items released by Chanel and their friends during the past SS16, SS17, 18, etc? Perhaps, vaguely at best. But how about the classic bags from the 1955, and kept released until this very moment? Yup, me too. It’s not without any reason why classic luxuries, at the end of the day triumphs over seasonal items. Here are why.
1. Long history
People with “fat” wallet have penchant, not only luxury items, but also one with history. Prominent brands like Hermes, Dior, Chanel, Patek Phillipe, Vacheron Constantine etc have deep roots of history, which rich people love to associate themselves to. Those high-end brands keep their image and reputation in order to stay on top from time to time. Take Hermes Kelly for example, one most-sought-after model of bag from the House of Hermes. It was first designed in 1923, and went through few revisions until in 1956, this bag was used by Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco, to cover her pregnant stomach from Paparazzi. This bag got popular overnight, and became one of the must-have bags in the world up to now.
2. Everybody wants it
Not everybody have unlimited money. There is a lot of people who likes to splurge their money on high brands once or twice a year. For these people, choosing classic items is much safer than buying seasonal items. If they want to resell the bag in the future (along with other fashion branded items in the marketplace), classic items have much higher chance to sell. If they don’t want to sell it and prefer to keep it instead, classic items will keep being popular in the upcoming years. Also, you can pass classic items as family heirloom. Take Patek Phillipe for example, one of its brand value is “You never actually own a Patek Phillipe,you merely look after it for the next generation.” This might sound cliche to you, but if you see Patek Phillipe now, especially their Nautilus and Aquanaut, you’ll be surprised how hard it is just to get one, and you’ll be even more surprised on how much money are to be spent on those.
3. Values keep rising, so does resell price
Picture and statistic are taken from Yoogi’s Closet
Why do luxury brands keep increasing prices on a regular basis? Because it’s seen as a way to control their brand images and ensure that perception of prestige remains. Particularly for classic items, the increase of price are much higher than other non-classic items. For a brand like Hermes, Chanel, Dior, the increase of classic items prices could be more than once per year, what a way to attract future buyers to make their purchase as soon as possible. Take Chanel’s classic flap for example. The price for this classic novelty has been increased by ANOTHER 15% this July 2021. By another, I meant it had a 10-15% price increase as well back in 2020. Ironically, this is considered good news for some people who has bought this bag for a very long time. When they’re about to sell their bag, the price has inflated way higher than the money spent for their initial purchase. If we also calculate inflations, at least they have used the bag for quite a while, and are still able to sell it for pretty much the same amount when they bought it.
Surprised? Well there’s still more. Hermes Birkin and Kelly also had a spectacular price increase in 2020-2021. Hermes themselves announced that the quantity of bags made would be fewer due to lockdown, as well as limitation of materials, which in the end caused a heavy surge of price in secondary markets. In other words, resellers nowadays can sell their Birkins and Kellies in a fantastic price, yet people are queueing to get them. This is because Hermes specifically caters upper class people, who have thick wallets, and financially unaffected (apparently) during this pandemy.