Raw Luxury

Stripped of the elements that add value after the design process begins, true connoisseurs know that at the root of luxury is the finest of raw materials.

LONDON – This month we explore RAW LUXURY, delving into the raw materials, processes and ideas that go into the creation of truly luxurious products. Stripped of all the heritage, marketing and big billboards that add value after the design process begins, real connoisseurs know that at the root of luxury is the finest of raw materials. An ingot of 24-carat gold, a herd of pedigree alpaca, aerodynamic nano-plastics and ancient sandalwood oil — they all have intrinsic value based on their special properties.

Luxury goods makers are constantly on the look-out for the most comfortable, durable, dazzling, innovative, rare or precious materials to improve their products and impress their clientele. And in today’s quest for reinvention and novelty, they experiment even more. Some materials like gems, metals and spices hark back to mankind’s earliest flirtations with luxury while others are borne from the latest developments in science and technology.

Some small firms that became synonymous with a single material like crystal, diamonds or cashmere made global brands out of them. Complex networks formed that gave some suppliers a monopoly on particular materials but, as brands grew, the balance of power soon shifted. Recently, the biggest brands have begun to put pressure on suppliers for exclusive deals or simply absorbed them under strategies of vertical integration to serve the corporate bottom line. Meanwhile, as luxury became more democratic and ubiquitous, other brands began to cut corners and lost their cache for superior materials.

As the luxury industry struggles to redefine itself after the shock of the crisis, could a renewed focus on luxurious materials in design reassure nervous customers? After all, they are what makes luxury both tangible and tactile.

We begin with a classic Luxury Society story — with threads of globalisation, innovation and entrepreneurship running through — from managing editor Robb Young. Robb documents how a natural fibre from a Canadian company started by Peruvian entrepreneur and LS member Fernando Alvarez has caught the attention of luxury brands around the world. Sourced from rare muscox grazing the Canadian arctic tundra, Qiviuq is the latest in a long line of exotic fibres from the far, hard-to-reach corners of the globe, including alpaca, vicuna and guanaco.

And what about leather goods, that fast-growing and all important category for fashion houses ranging all the way from haute Hermès to commercial Coach? Guy Salter gets under the skin of this, one of the most profitable categories from the luxury boom of the past decade, and finds that for some brands, healthy margins are in part achieved by sub-standard raw materials that have undergone the luxury equivalent of botox and plastic surgery. Are consumers being duped?

Or, do synthetic materials and chemical processes have a place in the luxury design lexicon after all? Indeed, Philippa Wagner explores the rise of “supernaturals”, bio-mimetics and hybrids, and posits that the unique functional properties they enable make it difficult for the mass market to copy, thereby offering the potential for raising the standards of luxury altogether.

Luxury Society guest contributor Suzanne Denbow, editor-in-chief of Ridelust, an automotive blog, draws a line between real luxury automobiles and also-rans, by highlighting the ways in which raw materials are selected and used in the design and manufacturing process. For her part, Helene Le Blanc also looks inside, chronicling a dramatic rise in the purchasing of sumptuous textiles for luxurious interiors, even with the Great Recession as a backdrop.

And this month I interviewed Claire Hose, Chief Operating Officer of Garrard and Stephen Webster, to understand how commodity price volatility impacts the sourcing of precious raw materials such as gold and diamonds. Claire reveals that strong relationships and transparency are essential for navigating through the current climate of commodity market acrobatics.

Finally, I am pleased to announce that Luxury Society has achieved a critical milestone in the development of our community. In less than a year, more than 5,000 of you have joined our movement for change in the luxury space. What’s more, as I bump into many of you at luxury events and conferences around the world, it’s clear that real business opportunities, collaborations and new relationships are blossoming here. This is exactly what we hoped to achieve.

Thank you for your continued support.

Imran Amed
Editor-in-Chief