Is the luxury sector recession-proof?

奢侈品行業(yè)能扛得住經(jīng)濟(jì)衰退嗎？

Not all high-end brands will lose their shine

? 不是所有高端品牌都會(huì)失去光芒 = 有些高端品牌仍能保持良好的表現(xiàn)

①Hermès（愛馬仕） is a byword for exclusivity. ②Its signature Birkin bag, one of which sold for $450,000 last year, cannot be bought from the luxury firm’s website or by simply walking into a store. ③There are neither ads in fashion magazines nor glossy campaigns on Instagram.④ For the not-so-famous, owning a Birkin can involve a years-long waiting list.

①byword 代名詞 exclusivity 獨(dú)特性

愛馬仕是獨(dú)特性的代名詞

②signature a.標(biāo)志性的

（愛馬仕）它（的）標(biāo)志性的鉑金包，去年能賣45萬美元一個(gè)，不能從奢侈品官網(wǎng)店或線下店輕易買到。

③glossy a.虛有其表的

鉑金包既不在時(shí)尚雜志上做廣告，也不在Ins上做推廣。

④對(duì)于那些沒那么有名的人來說，想要擁有一個(gè)鉑金包需要等待數(shù)年之久

①Part of the reason for the wait is constrained supply, which Hermès manages with the precision worthy of its stitching. ②But another part is booming demand for all manner of luxury goodies. ③Last year net profits of Kering, which owns fashion labels such as Gucci and Balenciaga, rose by 14%. ④Those at lvmh, owner of Tiffany and Louis Vuitton, among other brands, grew by nearly a quarter. ⑤Hermès and Richemont, which owns Cartier, among other baubles, each saw theirs surge by more than a third. ⑥Together, the four groups raked in over €33bn ($35bn) in profits, on combined revenues of around $130bn.

①constrain v.限制

be worthy of...有...的特征 stitching n.針腳

需要等這么久的部分原因在于愛馬仕 用以細(xì)密針腳為特征的精確度 來限量供應(yīng)（饑餓營(yíng)銷）

= 愛馬仕的準(zhǔn)確度像包的針腳那么密

= 需要等這么久的部分原因在于愛馬仕精確管理的限量供應(yīng)，其精確度像包的針腳那么密

②boom vi.激增

all manner of 各種各樣的

goody infol.吸引人的東西

另一部分原因是（人們）對(duì)于各種各樣的奢侈品需求陡然增多。

③去年，擁有諸如Gucci和巴黎世家這樣時(shí)尚品牌的開云集團(tuán)，凈產(chǎn)值上漲了14%；

④among other things 除...以外

除了別的品牌以外，擁有蒂凡尼和路易威登的路威酩軒集團(tuán)則增長(zhǎng)了約25%；

⑤擁有卡地亞和其他飾品品牌的厲蜂集團(tuán)與愛馬仕共同增長(zhǎng)約33%

⑥make profits of A on revenues of B 從（B）的營(yíng)收里獲得...利潤(rùn)（A）

rake in 大撈特?fù)?/span>

?這四個(gè)集團(tuán)從約1300億美元的營(yíng)收中總共撈到了超過350億美元的利潤(rùn)

①That, though, was before persistent inflation and rising interest rates to combat it fanned fears of a global recession. ②Now, as those fears intensify, luxury brands are losing their shine, at least in the eyes of investors. ③Luxury bosses’ unease expressed at an industry pow-wow on May 22nd provoked a sell-off that wiped $65bn, or 7%, from the four luxury groups’ collective market value. ④Once shareholders stop quaking in their Louboutins, they may pay closer attention to two things in order to assess their luxury stocks’ prospects.

?①that：指代上文四大集團(tuán)大賺特賺的景象

fan vt.煽動(dòng)

而這些繁榮景象以后，是持續(xù)的通脹和為了對(duì)抗通脹而上調(diào)利率，這激起了人們對(duì)于全球經(jīng)濟(jì)衰退的恐慌。

②如今，隨著恐慌的加劇，奢侈品品牌逐漸失去光芒（=盈利逐漸減少），至少在投資者眼里是這樣。

③pow-wow n.碰頭會(huì)，聚會(huì) unease n.不安

sell-off 拋售

奢侈品老板們?cè)?月22日的行業(yè)峰會(huì)上表達(dá)了不安，引起了一場(chǎng)拋售，抹去了四大奢侈品集團(tuán)的650億美元、也就是7%的共同市值

④quake in your boots（→Louboutins路鉑廷） 怕的發(fā)抖

一旦股東們不再穿著路鉑廷鞋發(fā)抖（→不再持股），他們或許就會(huì)為了評(píng)估奢侈品股票的前景而更加關(guān)注兩件事——

①The first is a brand’s positioning within the luxury business. ②Mid-market houses that target the merely affluent, such as Ralph Lauren, a maker of polo-themed apparel, are more sensitive to economic headwinds than top-end brands catering to the obscenely wealthy. ③This was already evident last year. ④Shoppers who had shelled out up to €1,000 on designer goods before the pandemic cut their average spending in half in 2022, according to Bernstein, a broker. ⑤By contrast, the truly loaded more than doubled theirs. ⑥These days just 5% of buyers account for two-fifths of global luxury sales.

①positioning n.產(chǎn)品品牌定位

第一個(gè)就是產(chǎn)品在奢侈品行業(yè)的市場(chǎng)定位

②mid-market a.中端市場(chǎng)的，house n.（某種生意的）公司，apparel n.服裝，obscence a.不公平的，駭人的

以剛達(dá)到富裕階層的人為目標(biāo)的中端市場(chǎng)公司，例如做馬球主題服裝的拉爾夫·勞倫，比為富得流油的人服務(wù)的高端品牌對(duì)經(jīng)濟(jì)逆風(fēng)更加敏感。

③這在去年已經(jīng)很明顯了

④shell out 付（一大筆錢），designer xx名牌設(shè)計(jì)的，broker n.經(jīng)紀(jì)人

按照Bernstein經(jīng)紀(jì)公司的數(shù)據(jù)，在疫情前愿意為名牌設(shè)計(jì)服裝付高達(dá)1000歐元的消費(fèi)者們?cè)?022年將平均支出削減至一半。

⑤more than不止 loaded infol.有錢人

相比之下，真正有錢的人在對(duì)奢侈品的開銷上翻了不止一倍

⑥現(xiàn)如今，僅5%的消費(fèi)者占了全球奢侈品銷售額的2/5。

①Exposure to China, one of the world’s biggest luxury markets, is another factor. ②Luxury merchants counting on a sharp rebound from years of harsh zero-covid lockdowns to raise sales have been disappointed by Chinese shoppers’ unobliging restraint. ③Brands including Estée Lauder, a pedlar of pricey cosmetics, have slashed their outlook for the region.④ Burberry, a British maker of beige coats, generated less than a third of sales from Chinese shoppers, down from 40% before the pandemic. ⑤Things could get worse for American and European brands in China if Sino-Western geopolitical tensions ratchet up.

①第二個(gè)因素是在全世界最大奢侈品市場(chǎng)之一的中國(guó)的曝光度

②unobliging a.不愿合作的

奢侈品商指望著從（中國(guó)）好幾年嚴(yán)厲封城后（購(gòu)買力）的急劇回升來提升銷售量，而中國(guó)消費(fèi)者不領(lǐng)情的克制讓他們很失望。

③pedlar n.流動(dòng)小販 pricey a.價(jià)格高的

許多品牌，諸如賣高昂化妝品的雅詩(shī)蘭黛，已經(jīng)放低對(duì)中國(guó)市場(chǎng)的預(yù)期

④beige coat 淡棕色大衣

做淡棕色大衣的英國(guó)品牌巴寶莉，與疫情前40%相比，在中國(guó)消費(fèi)者身上只賺得不到33%

⑤geopolitical a.地緣政治 ratchet up 加劇

若地緣政治的緊張局面持續(xù)升高，情況對(duì)于美國(guó)和歐洲品牌只會(huì)更糟糕

①Luxury houses are already searching for new engines of growth. ②These include India, which though mostly poor has growing ranks of the super-rich, and sub-Saharan Africa, where last year Chanel became the first European luxury brand to stage an African fashion show, in Dakar, the capital of Senegal. ③But these markets will take years to reach China’s scale, if they manage to do so at all. ④In the meantime, investors are likely to become as discerning about their luxury stocks as they are about their posh wardrobes.

①奢侈品公司已經(jīng)在尋找新的銷售助力了

②ranks pl.（團(tuán)體）成員

這其中包括印度，盡管大部分的民眾都很窮，但極度富裕群體的人數(shù)不斷增多，和非洲撒哈拉沙漠以南的地區(qū)，去年香奈兒就在塞內(nèi)加爾的首都達(dá)喀爾舉辦了非洲時(shí)尚秀，成為了第一個(gè)這樣做的歐洲奢侈品品牌

③但是如果他們竭盡全力，這些市場(chǎng)仍需要很多年才能達(dá)到中國(guó)市場(chǎng)的規(guī)模

④discerning a.有辨別力的 posh a.豪華的

與此同時(shí)，投資商很可能變得像對(duì)他們的豪華衣櫥（里的衣服）一樣對(duì)奢侈品股票挑剔