People walk past an Hermes store in Seoul, Wednesday. Yonhap
Luxury fashion brands in Korea are set to increase retail prices for their products in the new year, further pushing high-end goods out of reach for average consumers in the country.
The expected price hike comes amid the country’s scaled-up market prices across retail industries throughout 2024. It is speculated that luxury brands are focusing even more on their loyal consumers who live lavish lifestyles.
Italian brand Loro Piana said it would raise the prices of its products starting Saturday. Price hike percentages will differ depending on the category of the item, with some popular Loom handbags increasing by 8 percent from the current price of nearly 6.9 million won ($4,688). Some clothing items will become more expensive by as much as 23 percent, it added.
Hermes is expected to increase the prices of its luxury items as well in 2025. The brand usually raises the prices of its products once a year, but it had already done so twice in 2024. After raising the prices of its shoes and handbags by 10 to 15 percent in January, it also hiked prices of its Garden Party bag lineup in June 2024.
The brand, for the first time in its 27 years of operation in Korea, held a large-scale pop-up store in May in front of Lotte World Tower in Seoul’s Jamsil area.
Chanel, which raised the prices of its watches and jewelry twice in 2024, will likely raise its prices again in the new year, according to market observers.
Luxury watch brands have also already announced that they will raise their prices in 2025.
TAG Heuer and Breitling said their products will come with more expensive price tags in January. Rolex, after having raised its prices every beginning of the new year, is expected to do so again. Some of the brand’s product prices went up by 8 percent in January 2024.
The expected price hikes of luxury brands have prompted some consumers to seek secondhand products for cheaper prices.
Kangkas Department Store, a popular outlet mall for used luxury fashion items in Seoul’s Gangnam District, has seen an increasing number of consumers. A market expert said that secondhand outlets in the country have seen a particular uptick in young consumers, from millennials to Gen Zers in their 20s and 30s, who seek both premium quality and affordable prices.
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