Golf Bags and The Most Powerful Luxury Brands

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When the average golfer sets out to purchase a new golf bag,  he's generally concentrating on practical concerns: size and weight... portability, durability and configuration of pockets.  These are are the factors that tend to drive purchasing decisions.

However there's a select group of golfers who place a premium on more ethereal qualities... qualities like exclusivity, refinement and je ne sais quoi... and those discerning individuals, if they have the means, often to turn towards traditional luxury brands.

Luxury Daily reported today on a survey undertaken by Milward Brown, a global brand strategy firm. It ranked the world's most powerful luxury brands, as they now stand, in the wake the economic slump of the past two years.

It just so happens, each of the top three produce... or have at one time produced... golf bags:  

1. Louis Vuitton is the brand that emerged as the most valuable luxury brand over the last five years.  It somehow manages to resonate with trending-at-the-moment celebrities, while maintaining the authenticity and timelessness it's been known for for over a century. A number of years ago I wrote about a vintage Louis golf bag that was up for auction on Ebay and the post remains one of my most popular to date.  A contemporary version of the iconic monogrammed bag can be found on the Louis Vuitton website and I found the Damier model on the luxury shopping site Malleries.

2. Hermés - has chosen to focus on its heritage, which isn't surprising since the company is still essentially family-owned and its history is so distinctive and unique.  I found a Hermes golf bag in white on the French luxury consumer site First Luxe, and one in black on Lecrin,  the website of a Japanese store that specializes in Hermes products.

3. Gucci - is the world's best-selling Italian brand  Despite a tumultuous management history and family infighting during the 70's and 80's. It's reputation and prestige was threatened for a period, but the brand was able to return to its roots as an elite Italian fashion house, and recently teamed up with Christie’s to appraise vintage Gucci luggage and handbags, and I found a 1970's vintage Gucci golf bag on auction site, Live Auctioneers.

Though each of the above bags costs more than most golfers would consider paying, these top three luxury brands have core customers who cherish the feel of the finest materials and craftsmanship... as well as the cachet of iconic luxury brands with rich histories... and they don't hesitate to pay a premium for them.

Unlike other luxury brands that have attempted to target a wider market with more popularly priced lines, each of the above companies... according to the study... has dealt with the global recession by focusing on their core consumers.  This trend is expected to continue, which means that Louis Vuitton bag I've wanted for all these years will continue to remain just way beyond my reach.