Looking to make a major purchase this summer? Good for you!
Classic pieces like a Gucci belt or a Chanel bag can be a great addition to your closet. But, aside from the wow factor, buying luxury products may also benefit the planet. Today’s fast fashion industry contributes to about 101 million tonnes of waste yearly.
Why Should You Buy Luxury Brands?
As manufacturers rush to produce cheap, easily replaceable items, this rate will reach 134 million tonnes by 2030. Investing in luxury items helps you counter the wasteful effects of fast fashion. For example, you can choose a little black dress from the French brand Givenchy rather than buying several low-quality frocks.
This Givenchy item will be wardrobe stable as the label is behind Audrey Heburn’s iconic look from Breakfast at Tiffany’s. The high-grade materials and craftsmanship also ensure that your dress will last long. For best results, you need to choose brands with their own manufacturing.
Where Do Luxury Brands Manufacture Their Goods?
Luxury fashion houses like Gucci, Versace, Prada, and Givenchy source most of their goods from Italian factories. These brands are very particular about their craftsmanship and product quality. Many of these labels also have deep roots and relationships with their Italian suppliers.
Moreover, many of these brands have identities rooted in their location. For example, Versace is a label operated by the Italian Versace family. Chanel, meanwhile, is a French brand synonymous with the Parisian look. As a result, the labels often maintain their images by choosing manufacturing locations that align with these personas.
Unlike fast fashion companies, luxury brands are dedicated to creating long-lasting pieces. So, instead of churning out thousands of articles each hour, they tend to focus on quality. For example, a single Gucci jacket can reportedly take 40 hours to be completed from start to finish.
How Does Luxury Manufacturing Work?
Many luxury brands send representatives to their respective manufacturing factories. These experts visit the locations before producing any batch of clothing/accessories/footwear. They will evaluate the materials used, whether leather, silk, or fur. The goods will enter the production phase only after the items have been approved.
Custom Luxury Production
Moreover, almost all luxury fashion houses will use their-house team when creating custom pieces. Designing a one-of-a-kind item requires days and even weeks of coordination between multiple teams. Everyone from the leading designer to the fit model must coordinate to create the piece in time.
For example, the designer will work with their team to create a concept. Next, they will pass the sketch to their in-house seamstresses to see if the design is feasible. Finally, the design team will tirelessly bring the vision to life.
So, in a way, most luxury brands gave their own manufacturing for custom pieces. For example, the Givenchy team reportedly took 5 months to create the dress for the wedding of Megan Markle and Prince Harry. Such dedication to quality helps create a bespoke experience for buyers as well.
How Do Luxury Brands Produce Goods on a Large Scale?
However, these brands need to be more practical when producing luxury items on a larger scale. Moreover, they must also consider factors like shipping/customs, vendor contract, manufacturing transparency, and more.
In these cases, luxury labels turn to reliable manufacturing companies. They typically choose reputable local businesses to source their items. These fashion houses often work long-term with the same people. Sometimes they even hire entire factories and manufacturing units solely to produce their goods.
However, these companies often have non-disclosure contracts in place. These precautions help protect the items from being replicated by fast fashion manufacturers. NDA also keep their sources and craftspeople from being poached by other companies.
This secrecy around their production process makes it difficult to estimate which fashion brands have their own manufacturing units. But if any brand sources their goods from within their vicinity, you guess they have their own production system.
Which Luxury Brands Have Their Own Manufacturing?
Fast fashion giants outsource their manufacturing to countries like China or Bangladesh. The cheap labor and easy availability of raw materials make these units very cost-effective. However, luxury brands are concerned with producing high-quality products.
So, instead of looking for ways to minimize production costs, they focus on getting the materials and craftsmanship perfect. To keep a close eye on production, these luxury brands thus use skilled craftspeople and businesses. For example,
Prada
Prada produces almost 100% of their clothing exclusively in Italian manufacturing houses. As the founder, Miuccia Prada, is from Italy, the brand’s identity is deeply rooted in the place. The luxury brand is known to hire skilled local craftspeople to create their garments.
Even Prada’s sub-labels, like Jill Sander, are manufactured in Italy. The brand only outsources its embroidery work to artisans in India, known for their superior craftsmanship.
Gucci
If Prada is almost entirely, then Gucci items are 100% Italian-made. The iconic luxury label uses some of the most skilled Italian manufacturers to create its coveted range of leather goods. All Gucci items are sourced and made locally, from wallets to belts and shoes.
Ferragamo
If you like luxury leather items, then you are no stranger to Salvatore Ferragamo. Like Gucci, the brand produces its whole line, including its trademark leather loafers in Italy. The Florence-based label takes pride in its Italian heritage, working exclusively with local manufacturing businesses.
Ferragamo has several long-term contracts to source its clothing line. The factories produce the goods for the label before forwarding them for further examination. The staff at Florence checks these items for defects before approving them for distribution.
Conclusion
Aside from these, brands like Versace, Givenchy, and Valentino also have their own manufacturing. Only certain essential goods like linen or denim may sometimes be sourced from outside Italy.
Moreover, these luxury fashion houses work closely with manufacturing contracts to create their shoes, bags, clothing, accessories, and more range. These relationships are often long-term, ensuring that quality is uniform across the line.
