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Metrosexuality – “Guilty” for the Rise in Sales for Products and Sservices Dedicated to Men
Opportunities 26 February 2009
More and more experts agree on the reason for the rise is sales for luxury products and services dedicated to men. At the start of 2000, we could see a change of direction towards gay for all luxury industry brands, especially those in accessories and fashion. Extremely loud, almost feminine collections have become notorious. Marketing executives justified themselves by saying that the gay segment is more oriented towards shopping, gay couples usually having greater budgets than hetero couples. Second in line was the influence of the “gay friend” in hetero couples that did not value personal image that much. However it looks like things changed starting with 2005/06. Most of the brands have realized that the male hetero segment is going through important changes especially in emergent markets, where gay oriented people did not possess the necessary income. This is how the metrosexual image was born, the hetero male that is extremely attentive to its personal image. Medics, bankers or athletes, they all shared the same interest towards fashion and cosmetics, hairstyles, and so on.
In Eastern Europe and also in Romania metrosexual models made an appearance on the market, raging from various fields: TV hosts, football players, musicians. Pictorials of Cristian Chivu, Adrian Mutu or Gica Hagi from glossy magazines were the main attraction for women and gay people but it also motivated the admirers. It is not unintentional the rise in sales recorded by AVENE, and neither the launch of the VICHY line, premium brand of L’Oreal. DG, Gucci and Vuitton have become must-haves, most of the Romanian metrosexuals being concerned with the latest releases.
We must also mention the underworld segment, the so called VIPs of “manele” who appear in public dressed with luxury brands, even if some of them might be counterfeit or from old collections. It is almost impossible to ignore the men who dress up with white pants, are excessively perfumed and patrol the city malls, making appearances in nightclubs and café bars as often as possible. Fashion retailers should be aware of the ways in which to communicate with this segment. We consider that it was a mistake the fact that SCABAL (Casa Frumoasa) centered its PR campaign on the fact that Gigi Becali is their number one customer. There is no doubt that associating Brioli with Gigi Becali will only do worse for the future monobrand. This is the same mistake made by the Bulgarian company who owns Versace Jeans Couture on Calea Victoriei, considered to be an exclusive store for the “manele” VIPs.
It is very possible that in three to five years we will see equality between the sales for the segments of both men and women, or even an exceeding male segment. In emergent economies, this means obvious social status for men. With the crisis against the background, this status will be less easy to acquire by buying the latest auto model, but will be available to use through the means of fashion and accessories.
In Eastern Europe and also in Romania metrosexual models made an appearance on the market, raging from various fields: TV hosts, football players, musicians. Pictorials of Cristian Chivu, Adrian Mutu or Gica Hagi from glossy magazines were the main attraction for women and gay people but it also motivated the admirers. It is not unintentional the rise in sales recorded by AVENE, and neither the launch of the VICHY line, premium brand of L’Oreal. DG, Gucci and Vuitton have become must-haves, most of the Romanian metrosexuals being concerned with the latest releases.
We must also mention the underworld segment, the so called VIPs of “manele” who appear in public dressed with luxury brands, even if some of them might be counterfeit or from old collections. It is almost impossible to ignore the men who dress up with white pants, are excessively perfumed and patrol the city malls, making appearances in nightclubs and café bars as often as possible. Fashion retailers should be aware of the ways in which to communicate with this segment. We consider that it was a mistake the fact that SCABAL (Casa Frumoasa) centered its PR campaign on the fact that Gigi Becali is their number one customer. There is no doubt that associating Brioli with Gigi Becali will only do worse for the future monobrand. This is the same mistake made by the Bulgarian company who owns Versace Jeans Couture on Calea Victoriei, considered to be an exclusive store for the “manele” VIPs.
It is very possible that in three to five years we will see equality between the sales for the segments of both men and women, or even an exceeding male segment. In emergent economies, this means obvious social status for men. With the crisis against the background, this status will be less easy to acquire by buying the latest auto model, but will be available to use through the means of fashion and accessories.