But one can not definitively say something is or isn’t luxury, it is very subjective.
Is an Omega a luxury watch?
What about Tag?
Longines?
Grand Seiko?
Seiko?
You can only bring your own perception when answering the above. Luxury is all about perception, and that can change over time, and status and wealth.
Forgive me in advance if this was previously covered but 67 pages is ALOT of pages.
I don't have the data readily available, but I believe from an economic perspective, the luxury watch segment and associated market cap includes brands like Citizen, Fossil, Seiko. Rolex is at or near the top of that segment.
The idea of Rolex or Omega as a working man's non-luxury watch is very much dead, regardless of how much they cost or were perceived 60 plus years ago. Your Subbie or Speedie is not an everyman's watch, they are lavish.
Rolex turned itself into a luxury brand after decades of rebranding and product improvements. Nike's are just expensive shoes...nothing luxury about the brand or product.
You can only bring your own perception when answering the above. Luxury is all about perception, and that can change over time, and status and wealth.
I take the point that the term “luxury” alone is an over-simplification, and was being used here in a non-definitionally strict sort of way. And no doubt the concepts of “hype” vs luxury are in some ways separate and in other ways synonymous.
But I think only a casual understanding of “Nike” as a brand would ignore how it straddles markets through role it plays in modern sports and pop (especially hip hop) culture, as well as its collaborations. Basically, the lines between of Parisian “Luxury” fashion and U.S. urban high-end street wear are blurring.
Here’s Nike X LV being worn in Louis Vuitton’s SS22 debut
Here’s Nike X Dior being worn in Dior’s 2020 runway shows
Nike has lines of high-priced, un-gettable, pieces that are worn in outfits alongside every brand you might more naturally consider straight-forwardly “luxury.” So much so the two worlds are at this point increasingly intertwining.
Designer Virgil Abloh, who made most of his mark in high-profile design collaborations with Nike and his own streetwear brand, was in 2021 named the global artistic director for Louis Vuitton (before passing away this year in his mid-40s).
Recorded a documentary on the Beanie baby craze last night - haven't watched it yet but it will be interesting to see if there are any parallels. Not everything that is hyped, in high demand, and has premium pricing on the secondary market, is luxury. Personally, I would never put Nike shoes in the luxury product category.
Z ZanzibarWhen in doubt, check the Cambridge 😀
Think its also a matter of insane inflation and not enough places to park assets.
As I said, to me they are not a luxury brand. If they are to you, that’s fair.
Unlike sports (I watch a lot of them, where luxury isn’t really a thing for clothing for the most part) I can’t say that runway shows are a thing I pay a lot of attention to, so if that makes my understanding of Nike “casual” in that context then so be it.
It seems that ugly is also heavily associated with luxury, based on the examples shown.
So when you say as if objectively clear that Nike isn’t “luxury” (whatever that means) I thought it interesting to point out how Nike is - for what it’s worth - on the runways of Dior and Louis Vuitton, and having their creatives become the global creative directors for brands like LV. If *those* brands also aren’t “luxury” to you either, then we’re prob just talking past each other.
Recorded a documentary on the Beanie baby craze last night - haven't watched it yet but it will be interesting to see if there are any parallels. Not everything that is hyped, in high demand, and has premium pricing on the secondary market, is luxury. Personally, I would never put Nike shoes in the luxury product category.
