Prada Expands Manufacturing in China

[Street_a_Licious]

i think Miuccia made some bad investments (which is why she had to sell most of the brands Prada used to own) from which the brand still needs to recover. that together with some seasons that were not exactly commercial might have brought forth that debt, but i'm not 100% sure. i bet mikeijames or Squizz will have more comprehensive info on that.

in a bid to move more merchandise, Prada also agreed to lower their prices when the financial crisis started in addition to Miuccia designing VERY commercial collections these days.

 

[thejarc]

i think Miuccia made some bad investments (which is why she had to sell most of the brands Prada used to own) from which the brand still needs to recover. that together with some seasons that were not exactly commercial might have brought forth that debt, but i'm not 100% sure. i bet mikeijames or Squizz will have more comprehensive info on that.

in a bid to move more merchandise, Prada also agreed to lower their prices when the financial crisis started in addition to Miuccia designing VERY commercial collections these days.

Well, I've read that it's all debt from the Helmut Lang/Jil Sander/Fendi-distasters. And they even owned a stake in Gucci which they later sold to LVMH which later sold it to PPR.

And the correct sum is even 1.2 Billion€.

Thanks to Tortoisie for the picture. I've also found a Louis Vuitton picture, which emphasizes the french artisan-image. But they seem to be rather new.

lvmh.com
It even caused some trouble

Days after opening a grand, multi-level London flagship store on New Bond Street (the London equivalent to Rodeo Drive or 5th Avenue) with a private shopping area for VIP guests, the UK’s Advertising Standards Agency banned Louis Vuitton from using two of their ads on Wednesday. The agency, which investigates reports from the public, said the images mislead consumers to believe the label’s products are handmade, though the bags, wallets and other accessories LV is famous for are crafted by machine.

the cut

But I hope we'll always have Hermes.

 

[tigerrouge]

And there was another Vuitton one with a blonde female model who was pretending to craft a handbag... I remember these ads running in Vanity Fair a while ago, as if to persuade that segment of the market that they're investing in high quality values when buying these brands, getting the human touch, from a factory that only permits good-looking people to touch the products during the manufacturing process.

 

[rayoflight]

But I hope we'll always have Hermes.

And Balmain. All their clothes are Made in France. Even boys line. Italy for footwear. More or less same for Balenciaga and Lanvin, but their outsourcing is kinda diverse and never seen Lanvin menswear to be Made in France.
Dunno if it means A to Z Made in France or just parts of process though, I guess that is reflected partially in price for those brands.

 

[shanhuq]

For Prada I'm 100% sure it's only going to be the Linea Rossa items are being made in China. I highly doubt runway pieces will be made anywhere other than Italy. Miu Miu's classic bags and runway bags are still made in Italy, but the seasonal trendy bags are made in Turkey.
Posted via Mobile Device

 

[Phuel]

^^^Not true-- at least for the men's collections under the Prada black label: Some of the shirts are "Made in Romania" as far back as 2007 (maybe even earlier).

Quite a few I know have complained that Prada's current quality is not as it was back in the 90s.

 

[Squizree]

How did Prada fall so badly in debt? 1 billion euros? Is it some curse of the free champagne? Oh... Geez! By the looks of their always-super-crowded stores, I would have never guessed.

If they are really manufacturing in China, I hope they offer a real program with good training to ensure the workers are all skilled and that they do get paid decently.

Anyways, it's true, mainstream Chinese customers don't like to buy "made in China" goods from luxury stores, so maybe they'll ship the "made in China" stuff to Europe and the "made in Europe" stuff back to the Asia Pacific?

Up until a couple of years ago Prada was nearly completely family owned by the Pradas. But during the recession's worst years they really had a hard time closing debts and cutting costs so they tried to sell 30% of the company (and I think an Emirates based group was very close to buying it) but at the end no one was interested because the luxury industry was just so unstable at the time. So now they're stuck with this giant debt.

 

[lucy92]

it seems like prada might be trying to avoid high tarrifs by producing in China.....its rumoured that the high tarrifs might be decreased by the chinese government soon however. so i'm not sure how much money prada would save...

China's luxury tariffs tack on an extra 10% to 30% for imported products like handbags, wine, watches, and cosmetics. As a result, Chinese luxury consumers do much of their buying in Hong Kong and in foreign countries. More than 50% of luxury purchases made by Chinese shoppers in 2010 were made overseas, according to consulting firm Bain & Co. (wsj.com)


Prada has lagged some other companies in terms of expansion in mainland China. But about half of its 319 outlets around the world are in the Asia-Pacific region, more than a dozen of them in Hong Kong.
Prada, whose handbags and Miu Miu dresses can cost more than $1,000, plans to open dozens more stores, using some of the proceeds from the $2.1 billion it raised in its initial stock offering.(nytimes.com)​

 

[vetements]

Prada is not the only one,

Hermes also has a line made in China, known as 'Shang Xia', but i believe it is only available in China, and it IS of good, luxe quality and they do announced it is made in China (it is nothing cheaper than the made in france hermes), but at least what hermes has got it right is that they marketed it as 'proudly made in china, with chinese materials and chinese craftsmanship), and to me, it is in a way helping to change (Chinese esp.) consumers' mindset that made in China is of inferior quality.
on the same note, hermes also has made in vietnam houseware (like bamboo crates) that is also of very high quality.
i do believe hermes dont pay their chinese or vietnames artisans peanuts.

prada, on the other hand, seems to be trying to confuse (or fool?) their customers by having customers confusing the made in italy and made in china stuff (not necessarily which is better or worse) are of the same quality and hence deserves the same price.

having said that, i love prada's designs and do buy them, made in china or not, just hope they can come cleaner to consumers

 

[Eterna]

^^ I read that were a third part of the stores, but if it's half, then there are more reasons to have production there.
In addition to taxes on imports of luxury goods, there is transport and storage cost. If a large part is going to be sold in China, better transport from China instead of Italy.

I don't think that is a dramatic change, until now there were lots of Prada products "made in Italy" that were:
1) fake products made by chinese
2) almost all "Made in China" and then brought to Italy to put zippers and the label "made ​​in Italy"
3) made ​​in Italy by legal chinese immigrants.
(Here if you want to read more)
Italian television RAI-3, aired "Schiavi del lusso" a special feature in 2007 which was seen how illegal chinese workers in Italy produced a Prada bag for 26€ that in shops cost 440€.

 

[Dkammern]

And when I read Made in China on someone's Prada bag, exactly how do I know it's a real bag? Usually Made in China labels are sewn on fakes selling on the streets. Just sayin'

Easy! A fake made-in-china bag would never "admit" to be manufactured there!

 

[tctra]

you don't think luxury when you see 'made in china'

 

[Street_a_Licious]

which is funny, since China exports a lot of cashmere and silk. even high quality leather, China both exports and imports it. i talked to a small leather worker here and he said that it's hard to find good quality leather in Europe now cause most of it gets shipped off to China for processing.