Hey loved one…
Today's article is not about politics. It is a study on the Luxury economic status based on the color of your skin since 1441.
Here’s why…
The systematic trafficking and enslavement of Africans to Europe began in 1441 when European explorers kidnapped twelve Africans.
This was the beginning of the slave trade.
Now why am I bringing this up? As a luxury handbag artist, I recognize that systemic change starts from looking at imbalances in luxury market.
Today, Black-Owned Luxury does not exist in the same realm as the Luxury conglomerates.
Every time a Luxury Black-Owned Brand get to the heights- it didn’t make it.
Vigil Abloh’s Off-White. Sold.
Rihanna’s Fenty. Paused.
Today's article is a deep dive into why
and what you can do to make luxury history.
Enjoy -💋LK
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Black American Culture has an Un-Used Advantage on the Luxury Industry.
The Future of Luxury May Not Be European Anymore.
Black culture fuels luxury, but why don't Black-owned luxury brands survive? Explore the $1.8T buying power imbalance and the future of heirloom luxury.
Entire sectors of luxury spending are being heavily fueled by a culturally influential group of discerning clientele at which the luxury industry has ignored as a leader in luxury spending.
I’m bring this up because, this is the real conversation
nobody in fashion wants to have.
Remember I mentioned in my youtube video here, that conglomerates due to their size, must appeal to the masses to stay large.
Because of this, they can no longer can rely on their 100 year old heritage alone.
For most conglomerate brands, it also now runs on the backs of black culture.
Black Culture.
Luxury fashion studies them.
Copies them.
Markets to them.
Profits from them.
But when it comes time to building a Black luxury handbag brand with the same price point as a Chanel, Hermès, or Louis Vuitton…
I come across a particular sentiment where
the room suddenly gets quiet.
At times I come across someone who gets very angry
that I dared to even try to price my made-to-order handbags that way.
Even when their conglomerate bag is not made to order, and instead produced in the thousands, stored away in a drawer or a shelf, still priced at or above a Liselle Kiss.
The idea of a Black Luxury, American Heirloom Handbag can exist at a level of a conglomerate can make a lady who loves luxury without meaning, spill her coffee.
I have a theory that if Black Luxury can exist as confidently with European luxury brands it can topple a worldwide structure of racism created since the colonial era.
The spending power that Black Americans have on not just in America , but the world is impossible to ignore.
You see, Black Americans currently hold over $1.8 trillion in buying power according to McKinsey Research.
By 2030, that number is projected to surpass $2 trillion.
That alone would make this “minority” one of the most financially powerful demographic groups in the world.
But it gets even more interesting. Something that a luxury conglomerate cannot ignore.
Black Americans are reportedly 31% more likely than the average American to spend $500 or more on a single handbag purchase.
Not sneakers.
Not fast fashion.
Luxury handbags.
The very category all fashion houses protect like crown jewels.
As I mentioned prior in my last article, Why High Luxury Women Are Leaving Big Brands for Designers and Artists, handbags are the nucleus of a fashion house. Think of it as the motherboard to a fashion brand.
And according to Wharton School research, Black and Hispanic patrons spend up to 30% more on visible luxury goods than others within similar income brackets.
Luxury watches.
Designer apparel.
Jewelry.
Handbags.
You get it.
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FINISH THIS ARTICLE AT THE LISELLE KISS & FLY CLUB HERE.