Mansur Gavriel is...

Sold out. Everywhere. 

NYFW SS16

Mansur Gavriel is a design house based in New York that rose to It-status in the blink of an eye. In 2010, Rachel Mansur and Floriana Gavriel met. By 2012, amateur photographs of their Bucket Bag were being sent off to buyers for major retailers. June 2013, Mansur Gavriel was stocked in stores. Only one month later, Mansur Gavriel Bucket Bags were completely sold out. In December 2013, the fashion house’s e-comm platform launched—in only one hour, 95% of its stock was sold out.

GoogleInsight Mansur Gabriel

Trickling down

Major changes were underway in the fashion industry at the time Mansur Gavriel was launching; consumers were consistently choosing pieces that were inconspicuously branded rather than the logo-saturated styles that had been popular for so long. Aspirational snaps on Instagram of fashion’s favourite It-girls parading around the streets in New York during Fashion Week toting their Mansur Gavriel bags brought the brand to the masses. Trendy flat lays and perfectly lit pictures of bucket bags and pretty flowers flooded the #mansurgavriel feed. Major fashion blogs raved about the brand’s esthetic, and many posted articles titled along the lines of, “How to shop Mansur Gavriel Before It Sells Out.” Popular in every major fashion city, the Mansur Gavriel aesthetic quickly trickled down into mainstream society.

Copy Cats

Mansur Gavriel vs. Steve Madden

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Not everyone can have a Mansur Gavriel bucket bag; however, those who wished to signal their ability to stay in vogue could get their hands on a bucket bag at just about any retailer during the summer of 2015. Taking advantage of the trickle down effect and fashion’s fickle nature, fast fashion brands like Zara and H&M were able to capitalize on the bucket bag trend before other more traditional retailers. Soon after bucket bags appeared at these retailers, the style was everywhere. Today, Aldo, Steve Madden, Nine West and Matt and Nat all include the bucket bag in their product line up. Fortunately for Mansur Gavriel, brand names carry heavy weight in the fashion industry and the brand continues to sell through 100% of their inventory relatively quickly—despite massive amounts of competition.

Is it just a trend?

Although fashion blogs and websites like Refinery29 and Fashionista hail the bucket bag as the new staple handbag, I don’t think the general public feels the same way quite yet. Walking around in malls today, I see less and less bucket bags displayed in store windows or merchandised in pretty store displays. Over the course of the summer, it seems that the bucket bag flooded the market, and while still kind of popular, is edging into the decline stage before disappearing altogether. I would say that the bucket bag itself is more of a fashion than a trend or a staple. It’s been here for a while, will be here for a while longer, and then consumers will find something to replace it.

Despite their inability to keep stock on the shelves, Mansur Gavriel seems to have their sights set on long-term success. The brand's debut footwear collection launched just last week, and they are constantly expanding the variety of handbag shapes in their product line. Buyers for major retailers fight to stock the products both in their brick and mortar stores and through their e-commerce channels. As far as I can see, Mansur Gavriel is not going to disappear from fashion's spotlight any time soon.

Sources:

http://fashionista.com/2016/02/mansur-gavriel-fall-2016

http://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/intelligence/mansur-gavriel-created-first-post-recession-bag

https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/mansurgavrielbucketbag/

http://lawyerinlanvin.com/steve-madden-copies-mansur-gavriel-bucket-bag/

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