Garment Care Products on the Rise in 2010 with New Consumers Looking to Lengthen Their Wardrobe’s Lifespan

Los Angeles, CA, June 01, 2010 --(PR.com)-- With the economic recovery seeming ever further from grasp, American consumers are forced to protect their investments in luxury goods to insure that they last for the long term. With the decline of luxury brands, who have been slashing jobs in recent months, consumers are turning to quality luxury care products and preventative measures to protect their pricey wardrobe investments.

While luxury brands are working to revitalize their business model to stay competitive in the ever changing luxury market, consumers are looking to continue wearing their coveted and well-maintained luxury goods while also monitoring their retail spending.

In recent months repair products have seen a dramatic rise in revenue, starting first with luxury closet organizing manufacturer, Cache-Cachet. Founder Rosemary Crites, who began her career in apparel merchandising at Nordstrom, and quickly discovered that while luxury brands created expensive products, particularly sweaters retailing upwards of $400 per garment, there were few products on the market that paralleled in caring for quality products in the same way.

Since launching her brand in 2008, Crites has seen a rise in her sales, just as the market took a dive. As she explains, “my product retails for $39 and $49, the economic climate hasn't affected my sales in the slightest." Crites insists instead that consumers care for their products in a more efficient manner, “we are protecting what consumers already have in their closets so they do not have to replace their garments due to destruction by moths. Clothes need protection from dust and moths in order to be used and reused season after season; my product, Cache-Cachet ‘covertures’, fully address this storage solution in a beautiful, organic, non-toxic way”. It is this attitude and approach that has contributed to rising sales for garment care.

Cache-Cachet is among a slew of emerging brands that are capitalizing on consumers economic fears, providing products that not only protect but care for their garments in new and innovative ways. Even products that had already existed pre-recession have been given a new twist with luxurious touches and despite a higher price point, consumers are grabbing hold. Kirby Allison’s hanger project has taken the traditional shoe horn and added cedar wood as well as brass detailing to give shoes the best fit. Similarly, better tailors have seen a rise in repairs among their customers.

Despite a 2009 projection from Milan-based Bain & Company that 2010 would signal a recovery in the luxury goods market by a 4% market share gain, consumers have been more apprehensive. To date, sales on luxury goods have stagnated, in the market which includes cosmetics, perfumes, leather goods, fashion and others, has had a markedly stifled share of the economic growth of 2010. It seems that notwithstanding a large shift in growth, consumers will continue to focus on luxury care products over shopping for high priced merchandise.

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