Aug

31

MiuMiu – Risky or Bland?

Filed Under Brand Wave, Celebrity Watch, Designer Sunglasses 


Prada’s latest designer line for a younger crowd is more affordable, more risky and catering a little more towards the future Paris Hiltons of America. So, should MiuMiu be rewarded for filling this niche market with their quasi-designer sunglasses or should young women everywhere avoid the MiuMiu mantra and simply buy the real deal (Prada) or else another brand all together?

When Dolce and Gabbana launched D&G for youths, the market received the new line well. D&G is still going well, but to a certain degree it lowers the overall prestige of the Dolce and Gabbana name. To what extent could Prada actually suffer for launching a lower prestige brand? These questions must have been on the lips of everyone on the board at Prada, and to many in the fashion world it seemed a strange time for Prada to attempt a minor duplicate company.

Are MiuMiu sunglasses even that different than Prada’s already existing line? Is the point simply that Prada sunglasses are unaffordable because of the brand recognition and prestige so Prada decided to corner more of the market by offering essentially the same thing at a lower price—thus reaching younger people (a key demographic in the fashion world, to be sure). If so, then MiuMiu sunglasses are a great buy. You get the same designs but under a different, less well known, name. This makes me wonder if simply adoring anything produced by a single design house isn’t foolish. The value of Prada is only important so long as people pay more for them simply because it is generally agreed that they are important. Miumiu sunglasses offer an identical product under a different name that is not yet deemed important by the market. Indeed the mix of fashion and brand valuations has always been intensely interesting, and Prada’s method of having the cake and eating it too is somewhat admirable.

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