Luxury brands are facing backlash over ‘Made in China’ claims

“People obsessed with luxury are insecure,” reads a line from a blog I came across as I looked into the controversy about Chinese manufacturers claiming they are the makers of European luxury handbags many around the world shell out a fortune to own.

In case you missed it: in several viral moments, social media videos by representatives of Chinese manufacturers alleging that European brands simply slap logos on goods made in China, marking up prices and calling it “luxury”, have littered the internet recently. Spurred by Donald Trump’s trade war with China (and the rest of the world), this is a trend that began with a single TikTok video by one Wang Seng, who claimed to be speaking on behalf of a Chinese handbag manufacturer. In a video which gained more than six-million views — before it was deleted and then reposted by other accounts — Seng claimed “80% of luxury bags in the world are made in China”, Euronews reports.

Thousands more similar videos soon popped up all over the internet as Chinese manufacturers urged consumers to buy directly from them instead of spending $38,000 (R655,617) on a bag that cost $1,400 (R24,154) to make, per claims made about Hermés specifically.

But is there any truth to the claim that brands such as Hermés make their products in China? The answer is a complicated one because no single brand works the same. It becomes less complicated when we zero in on individual brands. If the brand in question is Hermés, for example, the answer is a straight-up “no”, their products are not made in China. While there are many brands who do manufacture parts of their products in China, slapping a “Made In Italy” on a bag made in China is illegal. The “Made In Italy” tag only applies to products whose entire manufacturing process, from raw material to end product, takes place in Italy.

Whatever the facts, this debacle has cast a bad light on luxury brands that are in the midst of a multipronged struggle against fast-changing perceptions about luxury. It doesn’t help that the price of luxury has exploded in the past few years, and Trump’s global war on trade is setting off alarms as economists predict a global recession unlike any we’ve seen since the Great Depression. It remains unclear if said recession can be arrested by any miracle of sensibility on the part of the Trump administration.

While it’s highly doubtful that luxury consumers are going to be swayed towards abandoning luxury as we know it, it’s plausible that many who covet these brands won’t opt for cheaper knock-offs produced in China and elsewhere in what could be a rebellion against high prices at a time where profits are falling sharply for the traditional luxury conglomerates. Not to mention the ever-increasing opposition to the current state of capitalism, which makes public discourse fertile ground for the proverbial annihilation of luxury brands and their price points.

The debate around luxury and the perception thereof also comes at a time when smaller players around the world are increasingly changing the narrative around luxury. In Africa, brands such as Maxhosa and Winston Leather are increasingly leaning on heritage-based storytelling, quality, sustainability and traditional craftsmanship rather than exorbitant price tags as a basis for luxury.

Many of them are retelling history in ways that are captivating and at least tentatively tied to popular discourse around colonialism and how it distorted the historical record to favour Europe as the centre of modern civilisation. This is not removed from the prevailing perception of European goods as superior.

But when people find out about Nigeria’s rich history of leather production that dates back to pre-colonial times, for example, it’s quite plausible that this may contribute to the fundamental shifts happening in the mainstream perception of what luxury is or ought to be. Is it about price, quality or bang for your buck? Is it fuelled by the insecure who buy into brand names due to the promise of exclusivity? Some would say all of the above, and today this is not the exclusive purview of European — or even American — luxury brands, who are largely reliant on the historical significance of their labels to set them apart.

All of that appears to be falling apart at the seams. At least for now.

Wanted