^ random thought, but many brands today have done a disservice by discontinuing their diffusion or “younger” lines. McQ, Versus, Marc by Marc Jacobs, D&G, Cavalli… Not saying they were the greatest, but they provided a different offering/alternative where at the time they were still in line with the ethos but were for a different price point.
Some melded them into the mainline, which made the RTW more confusing and out of touch. Others got rid of them altogether and lost a notable clientele. They’re not a necessity for all, but for most of them they were a great outlet for other ideas and pieces that would have been a bit odd to present in the mainline division. Now there’s the reliance on pre-collections, shop floor collections and diffused mainline that creates a huge disconnect between what’s presented and what is actually sold. It’s a shame. It emphasised both niche and audience outreach. Some of these brands are hemorrhaging money because they’re trying to make the mainline do what the diffusion did at a different cost whilst also not being truthful to what’s being presented.
But it was already the case before no?
I mean the diffusion lines were made at first to appeal to a younger generation, essentially mine. They were at lower prices but the rythmn of production was essentially the same as the businesses grew.
Dolce & Gabbana discontinuing or rather merging D&G and the mainline all together made sense. In terms of price point, D&G was going toe to toe with the mainline.
And let’s not forget that it happened around the crisis and what created even more confusion were the licenses lines of the diffusion lines.
Versace had Versus which was in all fairness only a great brand in the 90’s and when Kane became CD. But they had Versace Collection for the department stores, Versace Jeans Couture. Cavalli had Just Cavalli but also Class Cavalli.
Those diffusion lines created more confusion than the system we have today.
I mean look at Marc Jacobs. The diffusion line became more, much more important than the mainline. And again, they still streamlined some of the business.
I remember that he had Marc Jacobs, Marc by Marc, Stinky Rabbit, a bunch of other stuff.
Even Valentino had Red Valentino. The distribution was larger than the mainline but they were clever to close it when the brand started to really have a great success with the mainline.
The problem was that those diffusion lines in many cases were indeed cash-grabs, created as licences in an economy that wasn’t as globalized. Burberry on top of the many lines in the western world had a bunch of lines in Japan if I remember well.
So there were compromises, teams weren’t that involved and things like that.
It’s a real casse-tête to deal with those diffusion lines. See Armani, Versace today.
Diffusion lines are most of the time business decision that may hurt on the long run the creative side and overall the integrity of the brands.
