The Hilfiger Factor and the Flexible Commercial World of Coutureof the reverse process. He has not been able to upmarket his mid-market
image and that seems to have been his downfall – so far.
Thus, Hilfiger and his peers have not yet destroyed the couture world after
all. Instead, by totally transforming its business activities since the last war,
theindustrie de luxe may be ‘seeing off’ the upstart rivalry of Hilfiger et al.
These leisure/sportswear companies will, without doubt, continue to expand
and flourish but it does not look as if they will overwhelm the elitist ‘magic’
of the couture product. It is true, however, that increasingly the ‘success’ of
a design house is judged not only on its catwalk collections but on the sales
figures of its franchised products and the billions of dollars of shares attached
to its parent company.
The Globalized Product?Exactly the same ‘designer’ products are now sold all around the entire world.
The press is full of terms such as the ‘globalisation’ of style, ‘global retailing’
and ‘global consumption’. International editions of Vogue and Elleverify
that you can buy exactly the same Chanel watch, bag, lipstick or sunglasses
Figure 8.7.Two young Chakma women crossing a river on a ferry boat,
Rangamati, the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh, February 2000,
with one wearing a Tommy Hilfiger T-shirt. With thanks to Polly Jones.