RESTLESS PURSUER OF LUXURY IS FUTURE

RESTLESS PURSUER OF LUXURY IS FUTURE

Sydney toledano (dior's Chief executive) is one of the longest serving chief executives in the luxury industry.

As the industry goes global, the must balance the demands of shareholders and the values of a historic label, the need for exclusivity and the need for expansion.

He routinely communicates with his demanding boss, Bernard Arnault, main shareholder of Christian Dior, and a number of creative types, including dior´s clothes designer John Galliano and jewellery designer Victorie de Castellane.

The bet advide i ever got was that, when times are had, you need to get out the office, when things are good you can spend time on the organisation, says Mr Toledano who travels almost every week to one of dior's 224 stores round the world. You have to look for newness, look for what is happening next. Forget the calculator. understand the people from different countries and what they want .

It was by spending time en China in the 1980s, for example, when he worked at the French leather.goods house Lancel that Mr Toledano first realised China would one day be prime territory for luxury.

I meet some factory owners, and they were working so hard, but then they would bring you to a restaurant and it was clear they wanted to enjoy life. he days. And i thought one day these people are going to have money and they are going to spend it.

A few years later, Bernard Arnault contacted him. The interview took 15 minutes. He knew exactly what he wanted says Mr toledano to take a small couture house he had bought out of bankruptcy and build it into the biggest luxury group in the worl. Mr arnualt has used dior to create. LVMH( Louis Vuittin Moel Hennessy, the world's largest luxury groups)

Christian Dior can double in five years he says. There may be difficult times coming, but if you look at the Middle East, China, even Europe. i believe there is growth coming, and we have to develop our network and perfect our supply chain. The next wave of luxury buyers is now in the new territories, the Middle East, Russia, Hong Kong and South Korea.

Mr Todelano believes not only that a brand should go to its customers but that is shiolud anticipate their needs and invest early in markets that may not show real gwoth for up to six years.

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