A survey of Chinese, Japanese and Russian travel shoppers by tax refund specialist Global Blue reveals that Louis Vuitton and Gucci have lost the most allure among top luxury brands in the past 12 months.

 

Global Blue asked a sample of 200 Chinese travellers, 151 from Japan and 150 from Russia: ‘what is your dream luxury fashion brand?’ and allowed the respondents multiple answers.

 

Chanel performed the best, coming top for both the Chinese and Japanese but dropped to third place for the Russians.

 

Louis Vuitton was in second place for the Chinese, but it had 14 fewer people selecting it than in 2013, the biggest reduction alongside Gucci which is now the Chinese sixth-placed dream brand (see table below for full details and click to enlarge).

 

 

The biggest gainer was Dior, which scored 15 extra votes and is now ranked third by the Chinese followed by Hermès, with no change in its popularity, and Cartier in fifth place with six extra votes. Armani and Rolex have also fallen out of favour in eighth and ninth place respectively.

 

For the Japanese, four out of the top five (Chanel, Hermès, Louis Vuitton and Gucci in order) saw their popularity drop while fifth-placed Rolex saw a slight surge.

 

Russians meanwhile, were more consistent in their desire for luxury brands with Italian houses maintaining a strong grip in the top 10. Dolce & Gabbana remains the brand that Russians most aspire to – although it lost some ground, with Armani in second place and Gucci rising to equal third with Chanel.