On Everything #88

On Everything is a weekly newsletter from Eugene Rabkin, our founder and editor.

Announcement: I will be in Europe for the men’s season for the next two-plus weeks, so I may not be able to write the newsletter, but I may treat you to something different this time. If I have bandwidth, and it’s a big if, I will try to write a daily Paris Fashion Week diary just for you guys. Cool?

WHY LVMH IS GUNNING FOR JAPAN

Last week the world of independent fashion freakdom shuddered at the news, broken by Highsnobiety, that L Catterton, the investment arm of LVMH, has taken a majority stake in Kapital, the darling of the aforementioned fashion freaks. To them it was a marriage made in hell. Think pieces and complaints followed. In what world does it make sense, the biggest European luxury conglomerate acquiring a Japanese cult brand? What does LVMH’s kingdom of haute polish has to do with Kapital’s grunge, people wondered. Can LVMH scale Kapital to be a billion-dollar brand? The Business of Fashion asked.

To truly understand what’s going on it may help first to breathe out, and then to zoom out. Because L Catterton’s move may not be about Kapital per se, but about its home country.