It’s in the bag

It’s in the bag

Everyone likes limited edition stuff. But who’s buying all the stuff ‘inspired’ by Dubai and the region?

March 15, 2011 4:47 by kippreport

Carolina Herrera has launched a Palm limited edition day bag to celebrate the opening of its new store in Dubai Mall. If you’ve for pocket change amounting to about $852, this bag can be yours.
CH is a premium brand so the price, although a little bit more than what Kipp has lying around in their pockets (okay, a lot more), did not catch our attention as much as the actual design of the bag.
It shows the coastline that shows the Palms Jumeirah and Jebel Ali (both drawn as completely built) and the CH logo where the Palm Deira is supposed to be—clearly a fantasy depiction.
But this isn’t really the first time that a global brand pulls at the heartstrings of the UAE crowd. Ralph Lauren had the UAE flag emblazoned on its polo shirts last year.Meanwhile the region’s cultural influences have wafted into the fragrance industry with the likes of Armani/Privéand Juliette has a Gun creating a variety of oud-based perfumes.
Our thoughts are: Isn’t it a bit tacky to have these regionally inspired designer items? Seriously, it’s only one step removed from an I ‘heart’ Dubai t-shirt. Would you buy any of them?

But then, we’re probably not the target audience. It’s more likely brands are catering to the serious cash brought in by the increasing rush of Russian and Chinese tourists in the region.

Kipp has heard on separate occasions that some 5-star hotels in the UAE, for example, are actively recruiting Chinese-speaking staff and more discussions on luxury retail stores thriving on purchases from Chinese tourists.In addition, the Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority has reported that Sharjah attracted 204,340 tourists from Russia in 2010, second only next to German visitors, which peaked at 300,000.

We’ll just assume that the Chinese and Russians really like this stuff. Maybe the Germans, too…