多年涨价之后，奢侈品牌把运气推得有点太远了。买不起路易威登和古驰的顾客们把钱花在了别处：时尚的中端市场，优衣库和 Zara 等品牌正迎来风头。
After years of price hikes, luxury brands have pushed their luck a little too far. Customers who can no longer stretch to Louis Vuitton and Gucci are taking their money elsewhere: fashion’s mid-market, where brands like Uniqlo and Zara are having a moment.
尽管 LVMH 在最近几个月的销售额下滑幅度超出市场预期，优衣库的销售却一路高歌。其母公司快时尚零售集团（Fast Retailing）在截至 8 月底的财年里收入增长近五分之一，超过了其自身最近的扩张步伐。即便是曾是九十年代购物中心常客的 Gap，也因更高端的 Gap Studio 线的增长而重新流行起来。据麦肯锡称，服装领域增长最快的正是中端市场细分。
While LVMH’s sales slid more than the market expected in recent months, Uniqlo’s are going gangbusters. Its parent Fast Retailing increased revenue by almost a fifth in the year to the end of August, beating its own recent pace of expansion. Even Gap, the nineties mall staple, is back in vogue thanks to the growth of more upmarket Gap Studio. The fastest growth in apparel comes from the mid-market segment, according to McKinsey.
这种情况相当罕见。中端时尚——广义上指价值介于 50 美元（约 64 新元）和 300 美元之间的服装——一直处境艰难，与中端酒店和中端餐厅一样，既不如奢侈品牌那样诱人，又比平价大众品牌更贵。但奢侈品牌算错了账，涨价幅度超出了顾客的承受能力。据贝恩公司（Bain & Co.）的分析，大约五分之一的奢侈品牌顾客—— presumably 那些把 Lady Dior 包视为奢侈享受而非日常必需的人——自 2022 年起就已转离高端店铺。
That’s an unusual state of affairs. Mid-market fashion, broadly defined as apparel worth between US$50 (S$64) and US$300, has suffered — alongside mid-market hotels and mid-market restaurants — from being less alluring than luxury brands and more expensive than the pile-em-high brigade. But luxury maisons have miscalculated and hiked prices more than their customers can stomach. A fifth of them, presumably those for whom a Lady Dior bag is an indulgence rather than a staple, have deserted high-end stores since 2022, according to analysis by Bain & Co.
Zara 的售价和毛利率一直在上升，这反映出中端时尚品牌的定价力正在增强。
Selling prices and gross margins at Zara have been rising, reflecting the growing pricing power of mid-market fashion brands.
这些顾客对向上流动的中端品牌来说是个黄金机遇。为吸引他们，优衣库推出了与 JW Anderson 的合作系列——JW Anderson 是现任 Dior 艺术总监乔纳森·安德森（Jonathan Anderson）创立的奢侈品牌；而 Mango 则转向了维多利亚·贝克汉姆。优衣库和 Zara 的售价正在上涨，毛利率也在提升，这可以视为品牌定价力的一个代理指标。
Those shoppers are a golden opportunity for the upwardly mobile mid-market brand. In an attempt to woo them, Uniqlo has launched a collaboration with JW Anderson, the luxury label founded by current Dior director Jonathan Anderson, while Mango has turned to Victoria Beckham. Selling prices at both Uniqlo and Zara are going up as are gross margins, a proxy for a brand’s pricing power.
奢侈品能否重新赢回被其高价排除在外的客户？投资者似乎认为不行：五年前，快时尚零售商迅销（Fast Retailing）相对于LVMH的溢价，按市盈率（前瞻）计算大约只有三分之一。而现在，根据S&P Capital IQ的数据，这一溢价已经超过两倍。
Can luxury win back the customers it priced out? Investors seem to think not: five years ago, Fast Retailing’s premium to LVMH was roughly a third, on a forward price-to-earnings basis. Now, it is well over double, according to S&P Capital IQ.
这反映了奢侈品公司提价比降价更容易的事实。那些本来就处于市场较为亲民端的品牌，比如博柏利（Burberry），可能还能略微调低价格，但对那些售价高达1万英镑（约合13,268美元或17,000新元）的手袋品牌而言，哪怕只是暗示打折，都可能对品牌造成毁灭性打击。
That reflects the fact that for luxury companies, raising prices is easier than cutting them. Those already at the more affordable end of the market, like Burberry, may be able to flex their prices down a little, but for anyone charging £10,000 (US$13,268; S$17,000) for a handbag, the merest hint of discounting would be perilously brand-destructive.
奢侈品最后的依托或许在于强调品质：工艺与魅力，以及文化与尊贵感，过去正是这些因素共同构成了其溢价的正当理由。但如今，这些传统名门与紧随其后的竞争者之间的区分度正在减少。那些看中Zara秀场款式或珍爱Uniqlo休闲裤的顾客，可能永远不会回头。对许多时尚达人而言，曾经象征精英地位的东西，如今仅仅意味着一个令人咋舌的高价标签。
Luxury’s last refuge might be to emphasise quality: workmanship and allure, as well as just culture and cachet, are part of what has in the past justified a premium price. But there is now less to differentiate the storied maisons from those snapping at their heels. Customers who look to Zara for catwalk looks or cherish their Uniqlo slacks may never turn back. For many fashionistas, what used to connote elite status now just signifies a whacking great price tag.
© 2026 The Financial Times Ltd.本文首发于《金融时报》。
© 2026 The Financial Times Ltd. This article originally appeared in The Financial Times.