I always wanted to be different. I always wanted to be first. These quotation from Miuccia Prada perfectly synthesizes the meaning of a fashion designer. It is about anticipating and creating new trends. It is about fashionability. That's why at the core of the fashion design offer, there is clothing. And this is a strong difference from luxury brands. For luxury brands, most of the time, clothing is the occasion of the fashion show and therefore refreshed every six months. But then most of the revenue comes from accessories, beauty, and other businesses. For a fashion designer, clothing is still one of the most important sources of revenue. And the role of the designer is key for assuring the brand has a consistent positioning in the marketplace. Therefore, designers are not only involved in the process of creating a new collection. But they are as well, the ultimate decision maker as far as communication is concerned. They are the one giving the feedback for the layout of the store. They take care of every single aspect in which the brand is conveyed. And this is the reason why today, they are refers to as artistic directors or creative directors. Because they are really the soul and identity of the company. So, fashion design brands business models compete in the high-end of the market segment from upper bridge to haute couture always conveying the idea of seasonality. At the beginning they all start as fashion houses. So small a maison is more a kind of laboratory in which the designer was involved in the creativity. But then was relying on external partners the so-called licenses for the manufacturing and the distribution of the collection. But as soon as the size of the business gets bigger, the designers decide to step away from the license agreement and to take direct control of their clothing lines. This is what happened with Giorgio Armani, Dolce Gabbana, Versace, and many other cases. So, licensing is still important, but for business that have sectors other than apparel, like eyewear or fragrances. In which the rules of the games are completely different and therefore different level of expertise are needed. But as far as apparel is concerned, most of the designers, as soon as they have the financial resources and the managerial confidences, they prefer to take direct control. In the business of fashion designer brands, most of the time we find both ready-to-wear lines. So the highest in terms of price positioning and as well as seasonal creativity and diffusion lines. So the lines that are more affordable and more casual in their value composition. In the past these lines used to be a major source of revenues for fashion designers. And some of them are still very successful. However, something happened. On the one hand, these brands were challenged by the increasing competition of fast fashion retailers offering more and more sophisticated and fashionable products, with the price that was definitely more affordable. On the other hand, fashion designers understood that in order to stay competitive in a marketplace in which the mantra is, the bigger the better, they need to focus. What I mean is that if in, if you have two brands in spite of one, so if you have both Dolce Gabbana and D&G. In spite of Chanel only you have to duplicate all the investments you are doing. So you need to have two fashion shows, you need to have two showrooms, two different sets of campaigns. You need to have, you need to open different stores. Somehow you need to dilute the resources that you could invest in your master brand. And in the meantime, the fact that most of those lines have similar names to the master brand was helping the brand in the past because it was making the customer buying the affordable brands, thinking that they were buying into the luxury world of the master brand. But today is also confusing, is also diluting or run the risk of diluting a little the bit positioning of the brands. And this is the reason why, for example, Dolce & Gabbana decided to shut down the D&G label in spite of the success of this brand. And at same time, this is also the reason why Prada decided to reposition Miu Miu. So, today Miu Miu is not anymore the young, more affordable line of Prada. Today, Miu Miu is the brand with a very strong and autonomous personality. It is a brand showing in Paris. It is a brand where prices can be compared to the ones of Prada. So, what is today the future for second lines, somehow is not to be second anymore. If they want to survive, they need to have a value proposition as strong as the master brands.
