Pierre Cardin is a son of Italian immigrants who never retired until the end of his life, which makes him a symbol of success and achievement. He introduced the concept of ready-to-wear in the luxury industry in order to differentiate himself from his competitors and in order to democratize luxury and open up to a wider clientele. With the increasing evolution of the luxury industry, Pierre Cardin was able to create derivative lines with the development of more accessible products and also had the goal of reaching out to millennials by offering products that follow the new trends.
However, what differentiates him and allows him to enrich his fortune is undoubtedly his strategy of developing licenses. Indeed, with more than 700 licenses, Pierre Cardin allowed companies to use his name and received a certain commission on each sale. For the designer, this strategy was a dilemma between "making a profit" and gaining notoriety while keeping his brand image and DNA. Nevertheless, it was a very risky double-edged strategy insofar as the brand saw itself diversifying but had to maintain a certain authenticity and credibility in the eyes of its most loyal customers. He used his fame and his luxury image to create derivative products, however there was clearly a lack of coherence within his diversification, some products did not represent the established luxury image and associated codes which resulted in one, a deterioration of his image with a loss of authenticity and two, a negative impact on his new products and finally a repercussion on his core business of ready to wear.
Unlike Pierre Cardin, some brands in the luxury industry manage to find a balance between keeping the rarity and uniqueness of their products while offering a wide enough distribution to always remain attractive to customers. One of the lessons we can learn from this failed strategy is to take the time to develop its brand image and especially to keep this image in all its products even if the brand decides to diversify its activity.
From this use, we can retain two concepts. First of all, brand stretching and as its name indicates, stretching its brand by proposing a category of products that is not that of the original activity as Pierre Cardin did with the development of licenses. The second concept is "cardinization" which is now used in the language and field of marketing, to illustrate the dangers and the trivialization of its image for a luxury brand by abusing licenses.
If we can present the positive points of this strategy of developing licenses, we can say that it represents much lower costs for Pierre Cardin insofar as the name of the designer is used by other companies. Indeed, by going through partnerships, the brand saves production costs as well as distribution costs while ensuring an income depending on the sales of the different companies. Thus, the designer develops new ranges while conquering new geographical markets by benefiting from the local experience.
We can see that the strategy of developing licenses has its advantages and disadvantages but in an industry like luxury, a mistake can cost a brand a lot. In order to keep its authenticity in a constructive way, Pierre Cardin has to opt for two solutions. Either the brand decides to keep the licensing system but has to find a partner and specialist that reflects the DNA of the brand while seeking a balance and above all coherence between the core business and the development of new products. Thus, the brand must not spread itself too thinly and, above all, must ensure that it retains the uniqueness and rarity of its luxury products. Another solution that can be adopted by Pierre Cardin is to go back and decrease or even stop the licensing system in order to regain control over the production and distribution of its articles.
I love drawing in the absolute, without constraints of angles, corridors, rooms or walls. Making dress sleeves or table legs is the same thing.Pierre Cardin
Finally, in this article we have seen that in spite of his successful career and notoriety, Pierre Cardin has not always had the best sales strategies or strategies that prove to be beneficial to his fortune but harmful to his brand image. However, this reflects his desire to always create without limits in order to satisfy the needs of his customers, which made him the creator that he was.
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