Abstract
This chapter explores the notion of secondhand luxury fashion in Dubai. We investigate the unique characteristics of the secondhand luxury market defined by this rapidly growing, nouveau riche region, with a focus on the challenges and opportunities for the sector. Qualitative data informs this chapter, collected via a series of key informant interviews with consumers, experts and retailers from Dubai, as well as significant secondary data. Luxury retail in Dubai has grown rapidly in the last 20 years. Secondhand luxury is an even newer concept in Dubai and has only been in existence as a ‘sector’ for the last 2 years. Social status is critical in this new consumer market, and thus, wearing luxury brands is an important indicator of status. Super-rich consumers of luxury represent a relatively small group and tend to only wear items once, so articles can become secondhand very quickly, often ‘in season’, giving rise to the notion of ‘luxe fast fashion’ which, combined with an increasing interest in social responsibility and sustainability amongst the super-rich, has created a critical mass of items flowing through to the secondhand market. The research identifies three tiers of luxury consumer in Dubai, all of whom are culture bound which influences what, how, where and why they purchase luxury fashion. The primary tier made up of the super-wealthy social elite of Dubaians and expats, who would only ever consider purchasing new luxury items. These primary luxury consumers become the sellers of secondhand luxury and have distinct characteristics heavily influenced by local culture and social status. The secondary and tertiary tier luxury consumers are increasingly accepting the purchase of secondhand luxury. The secondary tier made up of wealthy expats, who are keen to convey their rising social status via conspicuous consumption of luxury brands, whilst the tertiary tier is characterised by the low-paid immigrant workers, who purchase secondhand luxury from ‘jumble sales’.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bagwell, L. S., & Bernheim, B. D. (1996). Veblen effects in a theory of conspicuous consumption. The American Economic Review, 86(3), 349–373.
Barnes, L., & Lea-Greenwood, G. (2010). Fast fashion in the retail store environment. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 38(10), 760–772.
Beraja, P. (2016). Analysis of the Middle East fashion and luxury market: Success of UAE through the prism of economic development and consumer behavior transformation. Master’s degree thesis, Tesi di Laurea in Luxury management, LUISS Guido Carli, relatore Alberto Festa.
De Mooij, M. (2004). Consumer behavior and culture: Consequences for global marketing and advertising. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Euromonitor. (2018). Consumer lifestyle in the United Arab Emirates. Euromonitor [online]. Retrieved January 25, 2018, from http://www.euromonitor.com/united-arab-emirates.
Fionda, A. M., & Moore, C. M. (2009). The anatomy of the luxury fashion brand. Journal of Brand Management, 16(5–6), 347–363.
Kamal, S., Chu, S. C., & Pedram, M. (2013). Materialism, attitudes, and social media usage and their impact on purchase intention of luxury fashion goods among American and Arab young generations. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 13(1), 27–40.
Kapferer, J. N., & Bastien, V. (2012). The luxury strategy: Break the rules of marketing to build luxury brands. London: Kogan Page.
McCormick, H., Cartwright, J., Perry, P., Barnes, L., Lynch, S., & Ball, G. (2014). Fashion retailing—Past, present and future. Textile Progress, 46(3), 227–321.
Miremadi, A., Fotoohi, H., Sadeh, F., Tabrizi, F., & Javidigholipourmashhad, K. (2011). The possible effects of need for uniqueness’s dimensions on luxury brands: Case of Iran and UAE. International Journal of Marketing Studies, 3(3), 151.
O’Cass, A., & McEwen, H. (2004). Exploring consumer status and conspicuous consumption. Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 4(1), 25–39.
Okonkwo, U. (2009). Luxury fashion branding—trends, tactics, techniques. Journal of Brand Management, 16(5), 413–415.
Richins, M. L., & Dawson, S. (1992). A consumer values orientation for materialism and Its measurement: Scale development and validation. Journal of Consumer Research, 19(3), 303–316.
Singh, H., & Prashar, S. (2013). Factors defining shopping experience: An analytical study of Dubai. Asian Journal of Business Research, 3(1), 36–53.
Sychyk, I. (2016). Emerging market champions: Dubai rivals developed markets. Retrieved August 22, 2017, from http://www.portal.euromonitor.com/portal/analysis/tab.
Whitehouse, A. (2008). Closet secrets. Time Out Dubai, 11–18 September 2008, p. 27. Retrieved August 22, 2017, from https://www.dubai.com/v/history/.
Acknowledgement
The authors would like to thank all the research participants for their valuable contributions to this research.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Barnes, L., Lea-Greenwood, G. (2018). Pre-loved? Analysing the Dubai Luxe Resale Market. In: Ryding, D., Henninger, C., Blazquez Cano, M. (eds) Vintage Luxury Fashion. Palgrave Advances in Luxury. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71985-6_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71985-6_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-71984-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-71985-6
eBook Packages: Business and ManagementBusiness and Management (R0)