Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein Ranked Most Popular But Not Most Prestigious Among Wealthy Shoppers

Men and women earning at least $150,000 a year shared detailed opinions on 30 Ready-to-Wear luxury fashion brands in the latest Luxury Brand Status Index (LBSI) survey from the independent and objective New York-based Luxury Institute. LBSI scores comprise average (1-10) scores on product quality, customer service, social status and ability of the brand to deliver special customer experiences.

Chanel earns the highest LBSI score (7.49) from women, ranking comfortably above Louis Vuitton (7.29) and Prada (7.21). Chanel is also the leading brand for delivering the best customer experience, and the one most deserving of charging premium prices. 

Among high-income men, the highest ranking brands are three from Italy: Canali (7.84), Brioni (7.80) and Ermenegildo Zegna (7.72). Canali earns the highest overall rankings for product quality and service experience, and it's one of the top three brands most deserving of charging premium prices, along with Zegna and Brunello Cucinelli.

Brand prestige and popularity are two different matters. The top two brands purchased in the past year by both men and women are Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren, and Ralph Lauren is the brand most mentioned as one wealthy consumers will buy in the coming year. Zegna ranks second for intended purchase among men.

"With luxury Ready-to-Wear, wealthy consumers certainly place tremendous weight on product quality, but those brands that combine great products with excellent service are the ones delivering superior overall experiences," says Luxury Institute CEO Milton Pedraza. "Consistently delivering that kind of experience is at the heart of sustaining premium pricing."

About the Luxury Institute (www.LuxuryInstitute.com)
The Luxury Institute is the objective and independent global voice of the high net-worth consumer. The Institute conducts extensive and actionable research with wealthy consumers about their behaviors and attitudes on customer experience best practices. In addition, we work closely with top-tier luxury brands to successfully transform their organizational cultures into more profitable customer-centric enterprises. Our Luxury CRM Culture consulting process leverages our fact-based research and enables luxury brands to dramatically Outbehave as well as Outperform their competition. The Luxury Institute also operates LuxuryBoard.com, a membership-based online research portal, and the Luxury CRM Association, a membership organization dedicated to building customer-centric luxury enterprises.