Thursday, September 1, 2011
Ukraine’s male luxury fashion grows stronger
He is tall, fit and young. He works as a senior manager, in a top government post or runs his father’s business.
Apart from having strong business instincts, he can also spot the difference between a Zegna-canvassed suit and its Corneliani competitor at 10 paces. Meet a member of Ukraine’s emerging male fashion class.
The financial events of 2008 hit Ukraine’s luxury industry hard, which shrank on average by 30 to 40 percent, according to industry analysts.
The impact was clearly felt among the small clique of the estimated 0.3 to 0.5 percent of Ukrainians who are “hard consumers of luxury goods and services.”
Nonetheless, the market is getting its confidence back. Young and wealthy Ukrainian males are contributing to the luxury industry’s renewed vim and vigor.
With a swath of luxury hotels such as Hilton and Swissotel ready for opening, and with fashion magazine-reading Ukrainians returning from Milan and Paris with exacting demands, Ukraine’s male luxury fashion businesses are hoping the country’s men will capitalize.
The good Ukrainian is a bad Italian.
- Manager of Passage 15 Man luxury store Vadym Medvedev
After years of financial uncertainty, the mood of the male fashion shopper “is more relaxed and they are ready to rumble,” says Vadym Medvedev, the manager of Helen Marlen Group’s Passage 15 Man, who expects his store’s annual revenue to increase by 10 to 15 percent in coming years.
“The good Ukrainian is a bad Italian,” ironizes Medvedev, who believes that Ukraine’s new fleet of fashion-conscious men will soon “show Europe we are not a laughing stock anymore.”
It’s true that the Soviet-era borsetki – Ukraine’s small, black leather “purses” – are still a regular feature on Khreshchatyk Street. It’s also true that many Ukrainian men continue to don a tie with a short-sleeve shirt.
But such fashion sins are increasingly under attack from younger Ukrainian men who prefer European and North American styles.
“As I see it,” says Ihor Kretov, the starch-suited communications director of Kyiv-based luxury store Sanahunt and self-appointed ambassador for men’s luxury in Ukraine, “this new generation of young businessmen spends more and more attention on how to dress well.”
According to Kretov, the typical “he” starts to think of his appearance, “not just his dress. He is getting manicures and thinking of his skin. He wants the ‘total look.’’’
Sanahunt’s strict confidentiality policy means that it’s difficult to know just what kind of man is part of this trend.
Yet Luxor Management, a Ukrainian consulting and communication firm researching the luxury market, finds that “the majority of luxury consumers [in Ukraine] is made up of politicians, state authorities and their environment,” according to managing partner Oleksandr Chetchikov.
At Helen Marlen’s Passage 15, fashionable high-end Tom Ford suits start from Hr 30,000, shirts from Hr 4,000 and ties from Hr 1,800.
Harrod’s in London, for its part, sells Tom Ford two-piece suits from Hr 26,000, while its shirt and tie prices exactly match those of Passage 15.
In Chetchikov’s opinion, Ukraine represents a particular male luxury demographic. “The average age of a luxury consumer in Ukraine is between 35 and 50 years old,” he says, “whereas in Europe the same refers to males aged between 45 to 60 years old.”
The relative youth of the market is music to the ears of Sanahunt’s Kretov. “Men are the most loyal customers of all,” enthuses Kretov, who does his best to keep his male clientele pleased with a live DJ in the foyer and refreshing glasses of wheatgrass upon arrival.
The youthful demographic rings true for Medvedev’s Passage 15 Man. Its clients are usually between 30 and 45 and are businessmen from Kyiv and other major cities.
Footballer Andriy Shevchenko is one of the trendiest men in Ukraine.
The store has around 500 regular clients on its books, defined as those who shop at the store at least three to four times per year. The average shopper spends around $500 per visit, he says.
Men are the most loyal customers of all.
- Ihor Kretov, communications director of Kyiv-based luxury store Sanahunt and self-appointed ambassador for men’s luxury in Ukraine
When it comes to identifying Ukraine’s leaders of the fashion pack, footballer Andriy Shevchenko’s close friendship and modelling engagements with fashion designerGiorgio Armani spring to mind.
However, industry commentators put other names forward: Ukrainian restaurateur Serhiy Gusovsky, Vice Prime Minister Serhiy Tigipko, and soccer player Oleksandr Shovkovsky.
Ukraine’s emerging male luxury market matches global trends. The 2011 World Wealth Report, an annual study of trends concerning the world’s best-heeled compiled by Paris-based consulting firm Capgemini and investment giant Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management, records the changing demographics of wealth.
In its annual barometer that measures what it calls High Net Wealth Individuals (HNWI), defined as those who earn more than $1 million per year, men represent 73 percent of HNWI and a younger generation is emerging.
In 2010, HNWI under 45 made up 17 percent, up from 13 percent in 2008.
Luxor Management’s Chetchikov also sees a positive trend reemerging but warns that full recovery won’t happen until 2014-2015.
But what is certain is that a happy few male fashionistas are changing their beige cotton socks and sandals for silk windowpane leggings and Santoni leather shoes.
Or, if Sanahunt’s Kretov is to be believed, next year they won’t be wearing socks at all.
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