Posted on 10/13/2013 2:25:22 PM PDT by nickcarraway
All is not well in the luxury world. Stalwart luxury buyers in China are cutting back, according to recent statements from Burberry and Richemont, among others. New data from research firm Euromonitor International confirms that the industry is in a bit of a slump. Global luxury sales are on track to grow by 3% this year, the slowest rate in four years.
Euromonitor reckons that growth will pick up next year, though, driven by its strongest segment in recent years: accessories, specifically men’s accessories. The luxury goods industry has been “manning up” of late, says Fflur Roberts of Euromonitor. A host of luxury brands are opening men’s only stores, tapping a less saturated market undergoing significant shifts in tastes.
In part, the focus on men’s luxury lines reflects the push into fast-growing emerging markets, where the disparity in purchasing power between men and women is wider than in the West, Roberts says. Chinese men are famously keen luxury shoppers, for example.
But one of the hottest luxury items with global appeal is the men’s handbag—the “man bag,” “man purse,” or, simply, “murse“. Euromonitor dug into its data for Quartz to help quantify the murse’s meteoric rise.
Once a source of mockery, over the past five years men’s handbags have seen sales grow at nearly twice the rate of the overall luxury industry. The man-bag market in Asia has doubled since 2008, with murses in the Middle East growing by two-thirds over the same period. The global market for men’s luxury bags will reach just under $9 billion this year, according to Euromonitor.
Handbag-growth-forecast-2012-to-2018-Growth-2008-13-Sales-2013-bn-_chartbuilder The factors driving men’s handbag sales are also fueling luxury accessory sales more generally; accessories have been the fastest-growing luxury segment over the past five years, worth some $50 billion this year. “You might not be able to buy a Zegna coat, but you can have a Zegna bag,” says Roberts. “It’s got the brand but you are not parting with thousands and thousands. Accessories are big because they are a stepping stone into luxury.”
The propensity of men to sport flashier purses is down to changing trends. “Years ago, your average man wouldn’t be caught dead walking down the street with a Mulberry bag,” says Roberts. “It’s becoming a more accepted trend.” Indeed, in explaining its recent industry-bucking jump in sales, the boss of Longchamp noted that the brand benefited from its broader range of men’s bags as they “become part of a gentleman’s outfit.”
Euromonitor expects sales of men’s handbags to moderate in the next five years. This doesn’t mean that blokes won’t still bling it up: Luxury man-bags will continue to grow faster than women’s purses in many parts of the world.
I never mentioned CCW. You’re right, the fact your estrogen is running high today, is not my business.
Well, it’s not really a purse. It’s a small bag with a strap, sort of like a map case, but apparently even that is not manly enough for the freeper fashion police. It’s a tight squeeze on the train and anything else bigger just because a hassle.
eggg zellent !
I carry a dispatch bag because if I wear my Steyr M9, expandable baton, and two spare magazines on my belt, my sciatica flairs up and cops look at you funny if you wear load bearing gear to Walmart.
LOL!!!
200 years ago most men carried a “possibles” bag when out.
In 1966, the USAF issued us a shoulder bag to carry our books in during maintenance training on B-52 Bombers.
These “man-purses” are best described as “tactical diaper bags.” I have one, and they’re handy.
http://www.maxpedition.com/store/pc/Versipacks-c4.htm
9 billion, they must be including brief cases and lunch pails. Why do they haveFTP fag everything up.
What’s wrong with a backpack?
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
I am 74 and not quite into back packs, baggy pants, backward ball caps - hell, I NEVER wore shorts unless playing basketball - possibly as a very young child, but not in my memory bank, and since I started ‘picking out my own clothes’, I have never worn them.
Ye Royal Fannypack
Agreed, how better to carry a 45 with 2 spare mags, fighting knife, flashlight, multi-tool, small baton, offensive pen, and other items I deem inappropriate to list at this time. Oh, and ,of course a BUG.
That's a line right out of the progressive's playbook, and a huge crock of sh!t. I'm a raging heterosexual, and I don't want anyone thinking otherwise (one good reason I will NEVER own a man purse). Just like I'm a conservative and would never want anyone thinking I'm a libtard. That said, go ahead and carry your purse if you're comfortable with it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.