No Fit for Luxury Lifestyle in Tokyo Costs Versace Customers

[marmar]

No Fit for Luxury Lifestyle in Tokyo Costs Versace Customers
By Naoko Fujimura


Nov. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Akiko Sayama re-examined her spending habits when the Tokyo staffing agency where she works cut its overtime budget. She lost more than $13,000 in annual pay, so one of the first things she did was curb her tastes for Louis Vuitton and PPR SA’s Gucci.

“I need to cut back where I can,” said Sayama, 41, who lives in Saitama prefecture outside of Tokyo. “It’s not like I lost my interest in luxury brands. I can’t afford them.”

Sayama is embracing a frugality that, along with a shrinking population and falling wages, is causing Japan’s economy to contract by 5.7 percent this year, according to the median estimate of 17 economists compiled by Bloomberg. Luxury spending in the country could fall 14 percent to 19 billion euros ($28.1 billion) this year from a peak of 22 billion euros in 2005 and 2006, Boston-based consultant Bain & Co. said.

The worldwide luxury market is expected to shrink 8 percent to 153 billion euros this year, including a 16 percent decline in the Americas and an 8 percent drop in Europe. Yet spending in China, the world’s most populous country, may grow 12 percent to 6.6 billion euros this year, compared with 5.9 billion euros last year, Bain said Oct. 19.

“Given the pace of economic growth, luxury-goods makers are starting to give up on Tokyo, as they shift their focus to other Asian markets like China and Singapore,” said Naoki Iizuka, a senior economist at Mizuho Securities Co. in Tokyo. ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601093&sid=aCJUGnjX.dDA

[Cleita]

1. All that fashion is overpriced for a working class person anyway.

I sometimes find a lot of nice designer brands in thrift shops and places like Ross. The rich ladies who buy those clothes from Rodeo Drive, often don't wear them more that once or twice and then they give them to the Goodwill. Since they are used, they are considerably marked down. Maybe the Japanese need to look into the thrift shop business.