We all know that markups in luxury fashion can be ridiculously high. The journey from the factory to floor, gets items to be priced at higher than they cost.

Now E-commerce site Italic is betting that removing the branding and the mark-up will prove a hit with consumers. A big bet indeed!

The start-up’s members-only marketplace, which launched last Thursday, allows manufacturers that create products for luxury brands to sell directly to consumers without the LOGOs adding markups. Shoppers who pay a $120 annual membership fee can choose from a selection of unbranded luxury goods, from bags and wallets to prescription eyewear and leather jackets, produced by the same factories that count names like Prada, Givenchy, Celine and Burberry among their clients.

The company has raised $13 million in funding, from various top end investors. Over 100,000 people joined a waiting list to be notified when membership opens, with signups initially limited to the US, said company founder Jeremy Cai.

Upon launching, the platform will have nearly 60 styles live on the site, with a view to double this number by the end of the year. However, customers won’t find unbranded versions of the Gucci Dionysus bag or any of the latest Celine creations. All products sold on Italic will be unique and exclusive to the platform to avoid infringing on brands’ intellectual property / copyrighted designs.

The start-up joins a growing number of brands, including Everlane and Warby Parker, which provide a premium-feeling, minimally branded product at relatively affordable prices. Within the luxury sector, high-end retailers, including Mr Porter, Joseph and MatchesFashion, are expanding their private label collections, which tend to be priced below standard luxury fare.

Italic goes one step further, selling items that lack even the private label branding. The marketplace will instead focus on providing the infrastructure — from marketing, design and warehousing to customer support — to enable manufacturers to sell products directly. The company will take a commission on sales.

“We essentially do everything that brands do and more, but we do it for the manufacturers,” Cai said.

For example, Italic’s merchandising team will work with factories that have product and pattern libraries to tweak existing designs so they don’t mimic products already on the market. Italic also has two designers, alumni of Armani and Calvin Klein, to work with manufacturers that don’t have in-house creative teams.

“We are very careful about every single product that we sell being originally designed, you won’t find an exact product like it in the market,” Cai said. “We want breadth and coverage of a lot of different styles.”

Branding can be a powerful tool, especially in a sector like luxury, where purchases are emotional rather than practical. That’s especially true for “statement” products, like handbags.

“People buy branded products to be reassured of the quality and style of the item and also for their projected image: they somehow communicate to other people the style, sophistication and preferences of their owner,” said Mario Ortelli, managing partner of luxury advisors Ortelli & Co. “You want to feel and show that you are part of the brand story.”

But Cai doesn’t anticipate the manufacturers on Italic’s marketplace competing head to head with luxury brands.

“For a person who is going to buy a Gucci bag, we are never going to win them over with unbranded product,” he said. “That doesn’t mean in some avenue of their life, they wouldn’t be open to switching up their sheets or maybe a shirt, or a leather jacket, where they actually don’t like a logo on there.”

As well as geographical expansion and international shipping, the platform’s short term goals include expanding into product categories like activewear and beauty. The focus will remain on luxury, Cai said.

“The reason we want to start in luxury is because we can say to the customer: we can make premium product effectively and replace a lot of your aspirational shopping,” he said.

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The series of shots, that are inspired by Kim & Kanye's tabloid images, have a real and wild feel at times. The campaign's fresh and raw approach has helped its trending online.

Luxury conglomerate LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE has reached a $16.2 billion deal to buy American jewellery giant Tiffany & Co.

The companies announced that they had entered an agreement for LVMH to acquire Tiffany for $135 a share.

“We strongly believe that LVMH is not only an ideal owner for Tiffany but also that this iconic brand is a perfect addition to our portfolio and perfect complement to our existing model,” LVMH Chief Financial Officer Jean-Jacques Guiony.

The all-cash acquisition is one of the largest ever for the French conglomerate known for its hard-charging deal making and surpasses its $13 billion deal for Christian Dior in 2017.

The storied American brand has resisted acquisition for years, but as one of the few independent global jewellery houses remaining in the market, analysts had long speculated that it would make an attractive, if expensive, target.

But Tiffany has had a difficult time lately. In the first half of 2019, worldwide net sales at Tiffany decreased 3 percent to $2.1 billion. The American jeweller is facing weak demand at home and abroad, and will likely need heavy investment to re-energise its brand and business.

The deal will bring LVMH’s substantial financial and market clout to help support Tiffany’s ongoing transformation efforts. At the same time, it boosts the French company’s presence in the US market.

The deal also allows LVMH to gain further ground on Swiss conglomerate Richemont, which has long dominated hard luxury with its ownership of Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels. Jewellery was one of the best-performing luxury categories in 2018, according to Bain & Co, which predicts that the global $20 billion market will grow 7 percent this year.

Tiffany employs more than 5,000 artisans to cut diamonds and craft its jewellery, rather than buying from middlemen.

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The two top editors of Vogue, Phyllis Posnick, the executive fashion editor of Vogue stepped down alongside fashion director Tonne Goodman last week. They are considered the two most recognisable faces at any fashion show in New York.

It was announced by Anna Wintour, the editor of Vogue, that both Phyllis and Tonne will leave their staff positions and become contributing editors.

The position of fashion director will be taken up by Virginia Smith.

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