Tuesday 28 July 2009

law and order

"the commission must do its part.... it must not rely on one vendor, it must not accept closed standards, and it must refuse to become locked into a particular technology – jeopardizing maintenance of full control over the information in its possession."
neelie kroes

neelie kroes
european commissioner for competition

karl lagerfeld
head designer and creative director
chanel, fendi and karl lagerfeld

bernard arnault
chairman and ceo
lvmh sa, christian dior sa and groupe arnault sas

luxury goods makers moet hennessy louis vuitton sa and chanel sa may have won greater control over how web-based retailers sell their products thanks to some last minute lobbying over a draft european union regulation.  earlier proposals allowed ebay inc traders to sell unlimited quantities of of their goods on the internet which, they argued, would undermine expensive investments in brick-and-mortar operations located in upmarket areas and degrade brand image.  the revisions grant brand owners the right to dictate the ratio of offline vs online product offerings although not in states where a distribution system does not already exist (ie. in countries where there are no stores, ebay can sell as much as it wishes). “selective distribution, whether real or virtual, has always been fundamental for luxury brands,” andrea ciccoli, a fashion industry analyst for bain & co milan, said in an interview about an earlier version of the law. “not just anyone can sell products by chanel and prada in stores and there’s no reason why they should be able to on the web.  it would be like giving people a license to print money.” the latest version is scheduled for release today.

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all runway photographs care of style.com