In Pursuit of Luxury

Behind the scenes with the panelists and organizers as LIM College hosts a conference on luxury in partnership with Brooklyn College and The University of Hertfordshire. In Pursuit of Luxury is an academic and industry crossover conference, focused on the luxury products market.

Part One includes Christopher Ferree, the Lanvin brand manager at Bergdorf Goodman; Veronica Manlow of Brooklyn College; and Travis Haglin, former Ralph Lauren executive and General Manager for Burberry.

Part Two includes Shaun Borstrock, Associate Dean of The School of Creative Arts at The University of Hertfordshire in England; Veronica Manlow of Brooklyn College; and Jacqui Jenkins, Dean of Graduate Studies at LIM College.

Highlights:

• “From a market standpoint, we’re going to shift to the brick and mortar being where the entertainment happens, where the emotion and excitement can continue to happen. E-commerce will be able to be kind of for that utility, that quick easy pickup. Something that, ‘I know I want this, but I’ve experienced it in the store. I’m going to make my purchase now.’ It’s allowing for that ability for an aspirational person to go in, have fun, connect with the brand. They might not be ready to purchase then, but they’ll go, whatever time they need to save up for that item, and then they’ll order online because it’s convenient. And then they’ll go back.” – Travis Haglin (7:42)
• “They actually want, whether it’s a young latin guy, young black guy, young Asian kid who’s studying in the States, he wants to come to the store. He looks online. He shops online. They’ve told me that they want to come into the store. They want to buy it in the store. Buying into that dream, buying into that idea of ‘I can go to the boutique, and find it, and have that experience.’ Rather than just the transaction of being online.” -Christopher Ferree (9:13)
• “What I’m hearing is the commodification of luxury has happened, and we’re starting to see the rejection of that in going back to the individual, almost a bespoke process, speaking to the artisanal, the craftsman who put the essence into what made luxury really what it was. Due to our business demands, we’ve, in essence, commodified it.” Travis Haglin (22:15)
• “LIM will be launching a luxury program next year, and for us this was an opportunity to develop really the conversation: luxury from an academic and industry perspective. But more importantly, to identify partners to work with as we go forward in building out our program.” – Jacqui Jenkins (37:16)

References:

• Goods of Conscience
• John Elliott