Why Did Consumers Go Crazy for Louis Vuitton’s 26,700 RMB Inflatable Vest?

Recently, an inflatable vest from Louis Vuitton went viral on Chinese social media. The vest is sold between 26,700 RMB – 31,000 RMB. If you want to wear it, you have to inflate it first.

But honestly, the vest is barely practical for wearers. First, it makes people look like turtles after wearing it. Second, though it is inflated and looks like a life vest, someone on Douyin tested it and found out the Louis Vuitton vest can only float for a little while and then it deflates.

Why would LV launch such an item? What do consumers think?

Luxury Brands Becoming Addicted to Launch Weird Designs

It’s not only Louis Vuitton, many other luxury brands are enthusiastically launching weird products. For example, Bottega Veneta. Accessories from its spring and summer 2021 collection gained a lot of attention on Chinese social media as well.

It has a bracelet, which looks like girls’ hair bands. A regular hair band is sold at around 1-2 RMB, and when it comes to Bottega Veneta, it was sold at 8,850 RMB. Crazy! Its earrings, which have similar design, are sold at 6,000 RMB.

The contrast earns the brand lots of attention on the Internet. People are saying why not spend 1-2 RMB on a hair band and DIY it as a bracelet or a pair of earrings.

Back in 2018, pre-Hedi Slimane, Celine once launched a transparent PVC plastic bag with its logo CELINE on it. Inside the bag is its classic handbag. This became one of the most popular fashion items in 2018 and it was sold for up to 6,000 RMB.

And more recently, Tiffany’s is selling a dog leash, collar, and bowl set for 6,160 RMB, and playing cards for 1,150 RMB.

The formula for those luxury brands’ buzzed-about items is: slightly adjusted everyday items sold at an extremely high price. This really generates lots of buzz for an item and for a brand.

But is the Attention Good? 

Take the example of the inflatable vest from Louis Vuitton. It looks similar to the inflated bags used for protecting products during shipping. Because of this, many people jokingly DIY their own vest and put LV’s logo on it. They upload these videos or images on social media and mock those who spend 26,700 RMB to buy the vest.

Many KOLs are actively joining the trend and filming videos of them visiting Louis Vuitton’s stores to see the vest. There are also comedians making jokes about the vest, for example if you wear this vest during Chinese New Year you don’t need to buy firecrackers, just pop the vest. 

There is a saying in the marketing industry that all press is good press and the scariest thing is no one talking about your brand, but for luxury brands does this statement hold true? So far, none of these weird products have hurt these brands’ reputations…but they haven’t exactly helped them either. 

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