In the post-pandemic years, the phenomenon of luxury handbags as safe-haven assets appeared to be a sign of strength for the luxury market. It was mentioned every time a rare Hermès bag fetched an increasingly exorbitant price at auction, or when private collections of leather goods became collateral to present at the bank. The perceived value of handbags seemed so solid, it was practically tangible. And yet, in hindsight, it’s become clear that turning items of high craftsmanship from expressions of personal style into financial assets has accelerated market saturation. Speculative movements don’t add to a brand’s desirability—they diminish it.
The handbag-as-investment phenomenon
This is the view of Susanna Nicoletti, a brand management expert, writing in the April edition of La Conceria. “Shops were emptied out while certain models became subject to speculative investment—she explains.—There was a rush to buy accessories with no intention of wearing them, but purely to resell them, as if they were barrels of oil. It hasn’t done the sector any good, and consumers have turned their attention to other brands”. Marzio Morgante, managing partner at ATA (Asian Tax Advisory), echoes this sentiment in Moneta, the finance supplement of Il Giornale.
Caught between the hammer of designer price hikes and the anvil of aggressive Chinese dupes, consumers are beginning to question the system. “In recent years, price increases have turned bags and accessories into safe-haven assets rather than fashion items. This approach risks alienating even loyal customers—particularly among younger generations who are more attuned to the real value of what they buy”. Morgante hopes the industry will “find a balance—maintaining exclusivity without becoming purely speculative, investing instead in genuine craftsmanship and innovation rather than speculative strategies alone”. After all, speculative markets usually turn into bubbles. And, as we all know, bubbles burst.
Image generated with Shutterstock AI
Read also:
