This week, a look at Louis Vuitton’s evolving Neverfull strategy as leather goods’ growth wanes. Plus, the fashion-approved furniture newly making waves, the rise of runway collection pre-orders and a fashion show playlist some loved more than the clothes.
There’s been no shortage of tote-style handbags on the spring 2025 runways or in their corresponding front rows. Along with Jacob Elordi’s tomato-colored Andiamo style at Saturday’s buzzy Bottega Veneta show, there were Tod’s new colorways of its Di Bag Folio and Swing styles, debuted on September 20, Ferragamo’s new “softened and reconstructed” takes on its Hug shoulder bags, best described as totes, and the list goes on.
But two bags have long dominated the designer tote conversation, and according to social media, they remain each other’s sole competition.
In an August 25 TikTok video by Brigette Pheloung, who posts as @acquiredstyle (1.1 million followers), “The Goyard tote is over, and the Louis Vuitton Neverfull is the new Goyard tote.”
“This was the ‘it’ bag when I was in middle school,” Pheloung adds, referring to the Neverfull. “She’s back.”
The post, which has been viewed 1.4 million times, has earned 70,000 likes and 1,100 comments. The latter is full of people taking sides, defending their choice $2,000-plus purchase.
With some well-timed product rollouts, Louis Vuitton is doing its part to stoke its supposed edge.
On September 20, Louis Vuitton introduced five new iterations of its ubiquitous Neverfull style. Most can be turned inside out to reveal a new look and are available in multiple colorways. And some address popular pain points among Neverfull styles, with leather, versus canvas, construction and thicker straps.
There’s the Inside Out MM, or medium-sized model, offering a solid leather exterior and a classic logoed canvas exterior. There’s also the smaller “BB” model offered with solid black, pink and “dark fango” leather exterior options. Both styles have a detachable pouch. In addition, there are the Bandoulière Inside Out MM, BB and larger GM styles, which feature cotton exterior options, as opposed to leather.
Louis Vuitton confirmed for Glossy that this month marks the first time it has introduced a reversible version of the Neverfull style. The Inside Out range is being promoted across digital channels in a campaign featuring actress Sophie Turner.
“As prices rise and budgets tighten, consumers are placing more value on functionality and versatility, looking for more value in the products they buy,” said Beth Goldstein, footwear and fashion accessories analyst at Circana. “The designer space is not immune to this, so it makes sense that Louis Vuitton is incorporating more value into its new bags. Function has become fashion, so this is a step in the right direction — especially as sales in the designer space have slowed.”
Also this month, Louis Vuitton brought back its Epi Leather MM style. It comes in four colorways, including green and black, and features small style updates, like an added hook for a bag charm.
Reportedly, the brand will follow up these launches with another Inside Out MM option in November — this time, a “Colormania” style with bright-colored leather trim matching the cotton exterior option. And, in January, it will roll out the two styles that debuted on its menswear spring 2025 runway in June. Creative director Pharrell Williams showed a “Never Ever Full” style with a zip closure, thicker straps and a luggage tag attachment that will reportedly sell for $5,000. He also revealed a style with a colorful take on the house’s classic Damier print, also with a zip closure.
Based on Louis Vuitton’s recent habit of doling out his and hers options of new launches, it’s a safe bet that more Neverfull bags will be previewed come the brand’s October 1 womenswear fashion show for spring.
In its latest earnings statement, for the first half of 2024, Louis Vuitton parent company LVMH reported an overall revenue decline of 1%, with its fashion and leather goods category eking out 1% growth year-over-year. Comparatively, for all of 2023, LVMH reported a 14% annual boost in its fashion and leather goods division, equating to “record levels of revenue and profits,” according to the company.
Also last year, as reported by Glossy, Louis Vuitton moved to a waitlist model for its Neverfull totes, making it harder for shoppers to buy the style. As of June 2023, the waitlist stood at 2-3 months, according to a Louis Vuitton store representative. Customers were required to join a waitlist, and then — at the end of the waiting period — they were given 24 hours to purchase the bag, which had to be done in a Louis Vuitton store. The waitlist is no longer in effect.
Goyard’s Saint Louis tote is a clear Neverfull competitor, earning more respect among some fashion fans thanks to entering the market first — in the 1930s, compared to 2007 for the Neverfull. Like the Neverfull, it comes in GM and MM sizes, but it’s available in more colors — currently, 11. Like Louis Vuitton with the Neverfull, Goyard regularly releases limited-edition Saint Louis styles. Most recently, this month, it introduced the bag in three ocean-inspired colorways: Pearly Coral, Pearly Blue and Pearly Green.
New Goyard bags cannot be purchased online, which, some say, makes it more exclusive.
A significant share of the tote handbag market is worth battling for. The tote bag market is expected to be worth $3.6 billion by 2030, according to Data Bridge Market Research. According to new hashtag-based research by the handbag company Classic Leather Bags, totes are, by far, the most popular handbag style on Instagram, pictured in 22.3 million posts. At No. 2 are clutch-style bags, with 2.7 million posts.
How furniture entered the fashion month conversation
The Ark bean-bag chairs
Regarding that Jacob Elordi appearance at the Bottega Veneta show, … The actor — like everyone else in attendance — had the opportunity to perch on a bean-bag chair shaped like the animal best matching their personality, reportedly. “I think that’s really cute,” Elordi said, when he realized he was matched with a rabbit.
The seats went viral, an opportunity Bottega Veneta was prepared for by making them immediately available on its e-commerce site, under the collection name “The Ark.” Many of the 59 versions, available in a smaller size for $7,500 and a medium size for $10,000, quickly sold out, though a waitlist has since opened up. Five hundred of each style were originally offered.
The chairs, commissioned by Bottega Veneta creative director Matthieu Blazy, were inspired by the Zanotta Sacco chair designed in 1968 by Piero Gatti, Cesare Paolini and Franco Teodoro.
Regarding why the chairs struck a chord among luxury shoppers, Annie Genovese, co-founder and creative director of vintage furniture and contemporary art retailer Forsyth, said, “They are so fun and unique, and everything Matthieu Blazy touches turns to gold.”
She pointed out that Blazy also commissioned custom Gaetano Pesce chairs, for Bottega’s spring 2023 show, which, likewise, drove buzz and were later offered for sale.
“The show sets have become just as interesting and cool as the clothes,” she said. “It creates a whole living, breathing world of the brand. And that’s what luxury shoppers want — not just the brand around the arm/shoulder/body, but to live with it in their home, too.”
The Louis Vuitton bed trunk
Ten thousand dollars is steep for a bean bag, but not so fast. …
This week, Louis Vuitton announced that its men’s creative director, Pharrell Williams, and women’s artistic director, Nicolas Ghesquière, have designed modern takes on the brand’s bed trunk — a suitcase-style trunk housing a foldable bed. The design was originally released in 1868 and meant for explorers. Williams’s version will be available to purchase, for $221,000, while Ghesquière’s will sell for $257,000.
“It’s probably the most expensive bed, and it’s fascinating,” said Dr. Daniel André Langer, executive professor of luxury strategy at Pepperdine Graziadio Business School. “It creates desire because there’s history and a beautiful story around it, and it’s an authentic product — Louis Vuitton had a patent on it. No other company could sell that, and I’m almost certain there are already lots of orders for that bed.”
Trend watch: Runway pre-orders
Once a novel concept introduced by Moda Operandi, selling runway styles on pre-order as they debut is catching on. For spring 2025, brands offering this service, so far, include Patbo; Sportmax, via a single handbag; Kate Barton, with styles from its Goldfish collaboration; and Bottega Veneta, with those chairs.
“With the kind of work that I do, involving a lot of handwork and craftsmanship, I don’t think I’ll ever sell with a see-now-buy-now [model] — it seems impossible for me to do,” Patbo designer Patricia Bonaldi said on the Glossy podcast. “But my customer places pre-orders and they wait three or four months for a style because they know it’s a very special thing that’s worth the wait.”
For your entertainment: A runway playlist
As posted by @stylenotcom’s Beka Gvishiani while recapping Milan Fashion Week, “Great soundtracks can make a great show, but not a great collection.”
According to the comments under his post recapping the show, both received mixed reviews at Gucci — though the sentiment around the soundtrack seemed slightly more positive.
On Tuesday, Gucci sent its spring 2025 runway show playlist to customers in an email that also contained links to the featured looks and beauty products. Now on Spotify, the soundtrack — mixed by Mark Ronson and Julian Dobson — features songs by Rogé and Jamie xx, among others.
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