Luxury Briefing: ‘Niche luxury’ the new ‘quiet luxury’

Pop culture icons Kylie Jenner and Sofia Richie are reportedly developing quiet luxury brands. And, thanks to HBO’s “Succession” and Jennifer Lawrence’s buzzy glow-up, the names “Loro Piana” and “Brunello Cucinelli” are now rolling off tongues like “Louis Vuitton” and “Gucci.” With affluent shoppers valuing being part of an exclusive circle that “knows” — that is, in the context of “if you know, you know” — quiet luxury is becoming too loud. 

“Our culture is obsessed with [individually] discovering objects of extreme expense and extreme craft,” Ian Schatzberg, co-founder of branding agency General Idea, said in a Glossy focus group in April. As such, “a new generation of niche luxury brands may become the antidote to big luxury houses, and we’ll see health in the space of niche luxury.” 

Schatzberg pointed to 8-year-old Jacque Marie Mage, the L.A.-based eyewear brand that’s recently replaced Tom Ford among Hamptonites. On its e-commerce site, the company, which sells sunglasses for $750-$2,300, spells out its premium materials and elaborate production process, carried out in 300 steps by 100 artisans.

The trend tide is already turning, said fashion influencer Charles Gross. “The wealthy consumer who may be fatigued of Hermès and Chanel is leaning toward smaller brands,” he said. And, as this shopper clearly sets trends, other demos would be smart to follow suit. “If you get in now, you can be ahead of the curve.” 

But for young brands looking to reach influential, affluent consumers, the challenge comes in setting the stage for discoverability. 

For its part, 3-year-old Courser is focused on getting its $595 sneakers on the feet of non-obvious influentials and people one degree away from its target end customer. 

“The person that’s adorned from head to toe in Louis Vuitton is not going to buy Courser,” said Tyler Fairchild, the brand’s managing director. “We’re for the consumer that maybe has a couple of things from Louis [Vuitton] and Prada, but they’re typically early adopters of new brands that are trying something different and pushing the envelope a bit. And they’re willing to do a deeper dive to make sure they’re getting a true luxury product.”

Fairchild said he’s borrowing from the marketing playbook he leveraged while working 11 years for Bowers & Wilkins, a maker of luxury audio equipment including $30,000 speakers. Courser’s primary investor, Joe Atkins, founded the company. At one point, to get into “a room filled with guys with hundreds of millions of dollars who constantly wear the coolest, most stylish gear possible,” he gifted a pair of the brand’s $500 headphones to the equipment manager of the L.A. Lakers. The plan worked, in that several players were soon wearing them.  

“You don’t want to seem loud and pushy in the [luxury] space. But also, as a new brand, you need to do something to be heard,” Fairchild said, adding that Courser will never run promotions. He described his approach of getting “the right people in the right places” to wear the brand as “quiet seeding.” Those who have tagged themselves wearing the brand on Instagram include the founders of Jack’s Wife Freda, a popular brunch spot in NYC’s SoHo. The brand’s marketing budget largely goes to PR and paid social. 

Courser was founded by Johnny Kraljevich, who also serves as creative director, building on his footwear design experience at brands including Puma, Ralph Lauren and Rag & Bone. Since the brand’s launch in 2020, Kraljevich’s worked to “plant a flag” at the intersection of luxury and performance, where he sees white space. While all of the top luxury brands make sneakers, at this point, he said they’re “heavy” and lack both comfort and performance features. 

“They’ve done streetwear, and it’s only a matter of time before they come for performance,” he said.

Slow growth is the name of the game for the brand. Courser currently has just five employees and sells one style, the Uno sneaker available in 11 colorways. 

“You can make a lot of mistakes when you grow too quickly,” Fairchild said. “We’re in it for the long game, so we’re taking a very methodical approach; we want to take our time and do it right.”

When designing the Uno, Kraljevich said that, for the first time in his career, he focused on making the best shoe, with materials he loves, rather than leading with parameters based on a target retail price. Each pair is hand-crafted in Italy using materials including 0.5-millimeter nubuck leather. With every round of small-batch production, Courser makes updates to the shoe’s performance features, embracing advancements as they roll out in Italian factories, which are catching up to Asia.

“We knew this wasn’t going to be easy,” Fairchild said. “Because you can’t just launch a product in the world of all the other fashion houses that’s driven by labels and heritage. [Those brands] can put out anything, and if it has their label, it’s going to sell. … But [as we see it], if you make a better product, that will sell. And for us, it’s all about our product.”  

That sentiment was echoed by Lola Banjo, founder of the 4-year-old handbag brand Silver & Riley, which launched with styles for up to $1,500. “A luxury brand’s reputation is typically earned over years of people being able to try the product in stores and see it on the street,” she said. “And earning that ‘luxury’ label requires a lot of upfront costs.” 

Even so, Silver & Riley has reached profitability, which Banjo owes to the quality of its Italian-made products. Forty percent of its customers are repeat shoppers. Banjo is currently exploring ways to get the bags in more shoppers’ hands, including offering the opportunity to trial styles at home. 

Banjo said she prioritizes offering luxury-level quality across touchpoints, from product packaging to marketing imagery. However, compared to a larger brand, that’s required an outsized percentage of company revenue to be spent on marketing. For example, the last Silver & Riley photoshoot cost $45,000, “a drop in the bucket for a brand like Dior.” But she called such investments worth it.

“‘Luxury’ is a feeling people want to have; they want to feel like they’re part of something unattainable, in a way,” she said. “They’ve worked hard to get it, so they’re rewarding themselves with these things. So you want to make sure you’re offering a luxury experience.”

On the same note, next-level customer service, which includes offering a 60-day returns policy, is a focus for Courser. To tighten the bond with its early customers, the brand is in the process of developing a customer advisory board, of sorts. It will offer members “surprise and delight” moments, as well as opportunities to weigh in on product development. Kraljevich said the brand is building a foundation in footwear, but it will make accessories and apparel in the future.

Courser mostly sells direct-to-consumer, though the Uno is also available on Saks.com and through Farfetch’s Private Client program. It will soon expand to “tastemaker boutiques” as a marketing play versus a moneymaker, Fairchild said. They’ll likely include Fred Segal in L.A., as well as shops in Miami and the Hamptons. The brand currently focuses on the U.S. market, though it will launch in Asia and grow its presence in Europe early next year.