Hermes sales plunge 42 per cent amid global coronavirus store closures

I weep for them truly

I think luxury brands will revert to where they were before reality TV and influencers exaggerated what an average person should expect to be within financial reach.

All these luxury handbag companies should be closed down. They're just big scam operations that charge nitwits with plenty of money outrageous prices for their goods.

Watch this video. This guy makes a $9500 Hermes Kelly bag for $175, and it's probably as good or better quality that the bags that come from the Hermes workrooms.

Ha. Ha.

I know a shop bottom who works for Hermes in fragrance via the Hudson Bay Company. He is very worried that he is going to lose his job. Sales are way down although he did do $8k on Black Friday, which really isn't much. I was hoping this pandemic would give us all a chance to reprioritize but sadly, it doesn't seem to be doing that. On the other hand, I hate to see anyone lose their job.

I prayed to my dear, departed friend and colleague, DAWKTOR MAYA ANGELOU, and she promised me that GAWD would have vengeance on them.

R4 and R6: You beat me to the punch! Here's to Ms. Winfrey.

Cackling at R4, R6, and R7. Lmao

Can you imagine the vying for attention in heaven (or hell) if Okra Winfrey and Dr. Angelou were both there together?

The Hermes story always make me sympathetic to Oprah for two reasons. One because she desperately believe she needed to give Tina Turner an expensive gift and two in spite of her billion dollars she was treated just like undesirable patron probably based on her race.

The second and important part to that Oprah story is that, IIRC, she did end up buying their products (after the apology). The moral to her story, as she communicated it, was: beware - a black person may be rich and you may lose sales. Rather than a basic tale of how we should just treat each other with decency & dignity.

I don't want to disparage Hermes as I know they make a quality product, and I feel for any business losing sales. While Hermes is definitely over-hyped, I do feel they are one of a few luxury brands that still do deliver on their promise of quality. With that said, the video in R3 really does show the dichotomy between the craftsmanship of luxury good (which is undoubtedly very high) and the insane prices these brands demand. Hermes may be quality, but quality in any fashion good does not require the amount of money that's spent, nor does it really require any significant amount of time manufacturing the item. I used to frequent an art show that had one vendor who made handmade replicas of higher-end bags, particularly Ralph Lauren and Hermes. She didn't charge much beyond $500 for any of her goods, and easily made a good profit on them all. Globally speaking, I have no doubt these niche brands will be fine. However, whether these goods continue to sell in America, at the levels they once did, remains to be seen. I do know that most economic reports indicate that luxury sales (not just fashion) have been declining in America over the last decade. So one does wonder if Hermes and other similar vendors will have as much success in American markets in the future post-covid.

[quote] Hermes may be quality, but quality in any fashion good does not require the amount of money that's spent, nor does it really require any significant amount of time manufacturing the item.

Disagree with this part. Some things do take a while to make or manufacture, esp. items that are hand-made. Hermes handbags are supposed to be handmade, at least the Kelly bag is. I’m not saying it’s not overpriced.

Those crocodile Hermes bags they charge over $100 thousand dollars for could not cost them more than $1500.00 tops to make. Even if it cost them $10,000.00 to make one, charging 10 or more times the manufacturing price is simply criminal.

R14 And you base this proclamation on your knowledge of making handbags or being a crocodile?

Nobody's forcing anyone to pay 5 or 6 figures for a handbag. If it's what the market will bear, I don't see a huge problem. I would not call it "criminal."