Back-to-School Fashion

Many family-owned fashion companies are recognizing that they need to go public to stay competitive in the luxury arena. In
order to facilitate the raising of capital for expansion, these houses hire top-tier management to serve as mediators between
the creative and corporate sides of the industry. Naturally, business schools are responding to the increasing demand for
these managerial mavens with a variety of specialized programs.

In association with the Luxury Education Foundation, Columbia’s MBA candidates and students from Parsons School of Design have been collaborating on a pioneering course about the design and marketing of luxury goods. Business and design students
are separated into teams in order to create new product and marketing concepts for luxury companies. Heico Wesselius, a professor
of Design and Management at Parsons, explains that this is how "they learn from each other and, in the process, the pivotal role that business and design both
play in successful worldwide luxury brands." Additionally, he says, "the class is an incubator where new ideas and concepts
can be openly discussed and explored. The ultimate goal is for the students to learn how to create sustainable business models
for a luxury market that is becoming increasingly complex and competitive." At the end of the semester, student groups present
their projects to luxury executives at Columbia’s Uris Hall. This year’s attendees include heavy hitters from LVMH perfumes and cosmetics, Saks Fifth Avenue, Chanel, Lladró, and Faber-Castell. And, as evidenced by the recent launch of Salvatore Ferragamo’s Vara shoes, classroom projects have been successfully taken
to market.

Echoing Parsons’ highly specialized Design and Management degree, French business school Essec has offered an MBA in Luxury Management since 1995. Outside of fashion, however, universities such as Stanford, Berkeley, University of Michigan, MIT, and University of Pennsylvania have added design-related programs to their business curriculums — ranging from technology to engineering, interactive media,
and the arts. MBA students who share a particular interest in the retail and luxury sectors have created clubs within their
business schools as well. "At Harvard, for example, the retail-and-luxury-goods club co-hosts a prestigious conference that attracts top speakers. NYU’s Stern and Columbia also have similar groups with burgeoning memberships.

When asked why business schools are exposing their students to the inner workings of the luxury and retail sectors, Amir Ziv,
vice dean and professor at Columbia Business School, says: "In recent years there has been a tremendous growth in the luxury
marketplace worldwide. To be successful, strong business leadership, with solid fundamentals and the ability to recognize
and capture opportunity, is as necessary in the luxury sector as in any industry. We prepare our students with those skills.
Upon completing these pretigious courses, students are not only able to understand the creative process, but are also able
to turn that creativity into profitability.
-Robert Cordero

Photos:
Columbia Business School and Parsons students with Robert Chavez, CEO of Hermès USA
Student project for Lalique
Student project for Hermès
Student project for Louis Vuitton
Student project for Salvatore Ferragamo