In my almost decade-long career covering high-end brands, I’ve never believed of Louis Vuitton bags as scarce. To a specific extent, that’s a concern of scale: Louis Vuitton has been the biggest high-end brand in the world for all of recent history. If your business is that big, you’re going to be satisfying the majority of consumer demand as a matter of course, since the business wouldn’t have grown to that size if it didn’t have producing capabilities that outpaced its competitors, which makes true scarcity far less likely than it would be for a smaller brand.
Louis Vuitton does many things other brands do to shore up a sense of exclusivity around its products, like needing shoppers to buy directly from the brand as well as never putting accessories on sale. disallowing an It Bag circumstance or special circumstances (such as the incredible, sustained demand for the Hermès Birkin as well as Kelly), though, it’s quite simple to buy even the most prominent designer bags from almost any type of brand. however lately, Louis Vuitton bags, wallets, as well as little accessories can feel downright scarce. For example, right now, two of the four sizes of Vuitton’s most famous bag, the Speedy, are offered out in monogram canvas, both in the traditional as well as bandouliere models. I can’t keep in mind that happening any type of other time in the past decade.
Louis Vuitton Speedy
via Fashionphile
$430+
The speedy isn’t a bag whose scarcity makes sense—it’s positioned as a purse gateway drug, the type of bag that inures new clients to the concept of being high-end shoppers. Its purchase should feel like an event since it’s an private first, not since the bag itself was difficult to track down. The Birkin, on the other hand, is the type of bag whose scarcity moves it to the top of the buying listing for women who have long been buying whatever they want; gaining their interest needs different tactics than for those very first entering the ranks of high-end shoppers. since introductory-tier bags like the speedy are impacted by Louis Vuitton’s stock issues, in addition to many wallets as well as little leather products that are generally meant to be sold at high volume, it seems as though Vuitton’s out-of-stock issue is at least partially authentic rather than totally manipulated by LV in order to stoke client demand. So what’s triggering it?
The cause of the Out-Of-Stock Problem?
We reached out to Louis Vuitton for comment, however the brand declined to take part in this story. That’s generally exactly how high-end brands approach queries to their stock methods as well as manufacturing, which are full of tightly guarded secrets. What we do know, though, is that consumer rate of interest in Louis Vuitton, as well as particularly in its monogram bags, has rebounded in a big method under the leadership of innovative director Nicolas Ghesquiere. At the exact same time, the brand’s purse as well as accessories lines have been in growth mode, adding new styles frequently, which logically spreads LV’s existing producing capability thinner to cover a wider set of bags.
And we understand that Louis Vuitton is actively looking to broaden its purse manufacturing: In October 2017, the brand revealed it would be building a new bag as well as luggage producing center in Keene, Texas, which will open in 2019 as well as utilize 500 people. By all indications, the bags are selling out since people are buying them. Louis Vuitton may likewise be shifting its producing capability to boost production of other bags in its lineup, thereby making fewer of the super-popular styles than it has in the past, however it’s difficult to picture extensive stock issues as well as investment in increased producing capability happening simultaneously without significantly increased consumer rate of interest playing a role. It seems like a perfect storm of factors: demand is increasing just as Louis Vuitton has selected to reallocate its resources in a method that constrains the supply of specific bags.
Louis Vuitton Pochette Metis
via Fashionphile
$1,700+
Our forum members speculate that Louis Vuitton is shifting a few of its focus to its more costly all-leather bags, as well as at least on the surface, this theory seems plausible—stock levels of the prominent leather bags we inspected are doing notably much better than their monogram counterparts, although there are likewise stock issues to be discovered among them. For instance, the just-launched Epi leather version of the Louis Vuitton Neonoe Bag is completely offered out online, although all colors were offered at introduce as well as a couple of them were still in stock as of last week. Forum members have been floating rumors as well as theories, a few of them heard from in-store LV associates, about looming discontinuations of prominent bags as well as tighter stock restrictions coming up. based on whatever I’ve checked out as well as seen, though, the easiest explanation is most likely the right one: The bags have ended up being notably more popular, so there are fewer of them available, as well as that will most likely be true up until Vuitton expands its producing capability in a meaningful way.
On our PurseForum, members have been documenting their issues discovering general Louis Vuitton stock since early November. The bag that’s been impacted for the longest—its thread goes back over a year—is the Pochette Metis, which is currently one of the brand’s most prominent designs. Both monogram versions as well as three of the five colors of the bag’s leather design are currently offered out. Megs has been trying to get her hands on one in monogram for weeks as well as has had no luck so far, however between her experience as well as those of our forum members, we’ve been able to compile some tips, tricks, as well as finest methods for getting your hands on the hard-to-find LV bag of your dreams.
Louis Vuitton NéoNoé
via Fashionphile
$1,900+
First, you’ll understand a bag is offered out on the internet since when you choose it, it’ll state “call for availability,” where the button to location it in your cart would normally be. That’s prompting shoppers to get in touch with the brand’s central client service number, which can double-check website stock numbers for any type of customer. In order for that client service line to assist you discover the bag in a store as well as arrange for a charge-send purchase, though, you’ll have to have made a purchase with Louis Vuitton in the past year. My comprehending is that this purchase demand wasn’t always the case, to ensure that limitation suggests many shoppers are seeking assist discovering bags to have shipped from stores, as well as LV wishes to ensure there will still be bags left for shoppers to buy when they come into their regional boutique. Some products on the Louis Vuitton website will state “out of stock” instead of “call for availability,” as well as in those cases, it’s most likely finest to begin buying for something else.
When Megs contacted Louis Vuitton’s worldwide client service line to inquire about the Pochette Metis, she was advised that there weren’t any type of currently offered to be shipped from stores in the us as well as that her best option would be to inspect in with the Louis Vuitton site in the evenings when a handful of bags (seriously, like two or three) are sometimes released for purchase as they ended up being available. When you see one, you have to act quickly.
Louis Vuitton Neverfull MM
via Fashionphile
$1,300+
If you online near a Louis Vuitton store, your luck may be a bit better, particularly if you have an existing connection with a sales associate. In-store shoppers are provided very first dibs on bags that show up in-store stock, as well as store associates are the ones who choose who gets on-call listings as well as exactly how that stock is allocated. just like any type of hard-to-get piece in fashion, it always pays to be a kind as well as loyal customer.
As with all sought-after high-end goods, though, the most expedient path to getting your hands on a sold-out Louis Vuitton bag is most likely to buy from a third celebration as well as pay over retail. websites like Fashionphile as well as The RealReal have instant availability of Louis Vuitton’s most prominent bags, however in a remove testament to exactly how sought-after many of them are right now, the choices in like-new condition will run you well over retail prices.