Luxury Fashion Brands Shifting Focus to Male Shoppers

Source: Bidness Etc

Today when I walked up in to my office, I gave stealing looks to my crush, a guy from the other department. Bald, average heighted and dark complexion guy, I wonder what it is which makes him so handsome and breathtaking. I probed in to my thoughts and finally concluded that it is his perfect sense of dressing, attracting fragrance and cool accessories which enhances his personality and make him so attractive. This led me to other thought that now young urban men are now more conscious about their looks and styling than back in 90’s. Gone are the days when only women used to pamper themselves with shopping spree, men of this era also enjoy wearing brands with good cuts, cosmetics to shield complexion and luxurious accessorize to distinguish themselves with others.  

Fashion industry is currently foreseeing a shift in demand from woman to man. Fashion industry used to be women-centered with only little attention to male shoppers. However, now all the big names like Prada, Gucci, Michael Kors, have shifted their focus towards the menswear.They have strategic change to move in to the men clothing line with separate stores devoted men considering the shift in male demographics and change in style preference. According to research, “Henry”- High earnings, not rich yet, type men prefer marrying later in their lives which leaves them with ample amount of money to spend on themselves. These are the men who would cover the loss posted due to decrease in demand of female products. It is reported that the man share in global luxury market is 40% which is expected to grow in future, this motivated Prada to expand its man stores from 30 to 80 stores to target the emerging male target market. Michael Kors has also split its fragrance segment in to half to cater both male and female. It also expects to increase its revenues from men’s section to $1 billion. Coach however has reached the target by increase in revenues from men section from $100 million in 2010 to $700 now.  

Male fashion industry is on its way to uphill and most of the big luxurious brands would benefit from it as most of the male demographics is changing, except for China, where female still remain to be dominant in shopping.