Of course, Remo Ruffini preaches foresight: “Never look to the quarter”. China is a big problem for luxury brands at the current juncture, but not for that reason a place to abandon. On the contrary. Even the upper echelons of Chanel preach similar caution. Perhaps. But in the meantime, reality is confirmed: the sluggishness of the market in the People’s Republic translates into the “fatigue” of the entire high-end sector.
China is a big problem
Frederic Grangie, who heads the Jewellery and Watches division for Chanel, expects that “2025 and 2026 will be complicated for luxury”. It has to do with China, we said, where the brand (which enjoys the prospect of a family-run business) has relatively little exposure. But according to him, the Chinese problems, however much the industry is trained to overcome crises, will exacerbate “luxury fatigue”. What is this? “There is a feeling that affects mature markets”, Grangie explains to Le Temps. “Clients are starting to wonder what the point of the sector is: our customers are tired of being clubbed by luxury”.
Tomorrow will be a better day
Remo Ruffini, patron of the Moncler group, is currently busy in Shanghai with the mega-event The City of Genius (pictured, left). Speaking to MFF, he does not hide how important the country is for the company (“it represents one third of our sales”). Nor does he deny the difficulties encountered there. “There is definitely slowdown and volatility”, are his words. “It’s not like it was three years ago”.
But Ruffini prefers to deploy the optimism of an entrepreneur and think in perspective. For himself: “It is a market where they know us, but it is so big that relatively few know us”. And for the system: “Our sector is the least in crisis in China”, he concludes. “The real crisis is in real estate, which has taken the tertiary sector with it. China will certainly be a region with great potential in the future and we can only think in the medium to long term”.
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