Starting your own global luxury brand? Here is some insight from Hermés and Pagani.

"We're artisans; our goal is to make the best products in the world. We're not in luxury, we're in quality" - Bertrand Puech, fifth generation director of Hermés.

"...so everything had to come together as if it was a car carved out of a block of carrara marble.." - Horacio Pagani, on his latest Huayra Roadster.

So what does it take to create a global luxury brand that people will desire year in, year out? How do you create that pent-up demand for your luxury product and charge a premium for it? Just because you want to price a leather purse you just designed at $15,000 and artificially limit its quantities does not mean you will be able to sell it at that price, unless...
Well, let's just say that there are a few criteria that need to be met beforehand.

Let's break those criteria down into four categories.
Craftsmanship, Rarity, Focus and History.

Craftsmanship
Does the product you are creating derive from a unique knowledge that you have devised that is hard to duplicate? Many brands throw around the term "craftsmanship" but how does that translate into real life?  Is it craftsmanship of the PAGANI kind?  - Wanting the softness of a lady's handbag coupled with the durability for everyday usage, founder Horacio Pagani resorted to creating his own methods in achieving the desired result. It took a whole year and hundreds of tests to get the leather just right. Or what about the car's gauges being milled out of a single piece of aluminum?  All these are true testaments of authentic, proprietary craftsmanship, that make Pagani sportscars some of the most coveted in the world.

The leather used on the front seats of the Pagani Huayra took
a year to develop and hundreds of tests to achieve the
durability and suppleness desired by founder Horacio Pagani.

And since we are talking about cars - is the craftsmanship of your new product the likes of German engine manufacturer Mercedes-AMG? Where each engine built, bears the signature of the individual craftsman who has been in charge of its construction from start to finish? Talk about putting your signature on something. 

Each engine built at the AMG factory in Affalterbach, Germany
 bears the signature of the craftsman in charge.

Rarity
Value only comes with "authentic" rarity. Logic dictates that the longer it takes to make a product, the less of it will be available at any given time. Let's take the Hermés Birkin bag as an example. The Birkin handbag was created by the company in 1984 for the actress Jane Birkin. The wait list for the bag can stretch to five years.  One Birkin takes 18 to 25 hours to make and the Paris showroom produces only five or so a week. Everything takes time.  From the sewing to the color, texture, and durability of the leathers used, it is all as important as the design itself. No wonder they only make just 260 bags a year! And that quantity supplies all the Hermés stores worldwide! Talk about rarity... You could argue of course if they make more then they will sell more, however, that is not the philosophy at play here. Patrick Thomas, the Chief Executive at Hermés once said, 'If you tell me I have to double the profit of Hermés, I will do it tomorrow. But then you'd have no Hermés left in five years."

The design is in the details. The legendary Hermés Birkin Bag.

Jane Birkin and her namesake bag

Focus
"A brand becomes stronger when you narrow the focus" - Al Ries.

Indeed. Focus embodies a quest for depth rather than superficiality or breadth thus driving the pursuit of excellence. That focus should subsequently permeate the DNA of all the products you create down the line.  Let's go back to the Birkin bag for a second. Knowing what you know now, about what goes into creating the handbag, I guarantee that you will never look at another Hermés product the same way again. So, if you decide you want to start a global luxury t-shirt line you better make sure that you source the finest yarns, the most exclusive dyes and develop your own processes. Great branding and packaging design goes a long way too! Then you must be diligent and disciplined enough to carry those processes to any other products you develop, without ever compromising quality. People who can afford your product don't care that much about price but rather the quality, DNA and  craftsmanship of your product.
Italian designer Brunello Cuccinelli started his company with a pure focus on cashmere and has since then become synonymous with that fabric. But what put him on the map, was the proprietary dying of the fabric itself, utilizing his own processes and methods.

Brunello Cuccinelli started his company in 1978 with a focus on dying cashmere

History
Unfortunately, the longevity and history of a brand is the one variable that cannot be manufactured and can only be achieved by the passage of time. But don't fret, many a brand have established themselves quickly employing the other three characteristics mentioned earlier. A great example is Tom Ford. He established his company in 2005 and now goes head to head with Gucci (est.1921) Fendi (est.1925) (Yves) Saint Laurent (est.1961) Mr Ford's success is obviously closely related to the fact that he was the creative director at GUCCI for many years, but one argue that many a designer left big houses and never made it quite as big on their own.

So are you ready to go out and create the next global luxury brand? Be diligent, disciplined and fastidious. Do what you do best. If you need help, delegate to the best people you can find and don't forget that saying by George Eliot, "It's never too late to be who you might have been."