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October 18, 2010 at 10:57 AM
Dismal economy? What dismal economy? No belt-tightening here—at least not if your belt is made of African ostrich leather. So says a new study released by Bain & Co. at the behest of Italy’s Fondazione Altagamma, the trade group for high-end producers.
In fact, if you’re wealthy, according to the study, you’re making up for all that lost time in 2009, when luxury sales dropped 8%, and maybe things didn’t look quite so rosy—all that self-denial has to be purged.
Luxury goods sales, including designer clothing, jewelry, watches and other items, are expected to gain 10% around the world, coming in at a hefty $236.7 billion; sales in the U.S. alone have jumped by 12%, with wealthy Americans, according to the survey, rebuilding wardrobes from a year of restraint. Europe gained 6%, but the real winner was Asia, surging by 22% and largely powered by “nouveau-riche Chinese” who have gone on an international spending spree; sales just in Asia alone were up by 30%. China is expected to become the third largest luxury market in just five years.
