Michael Kors and his knockoffs

Michael Kors is probably the most well known American designers in the world now. His company Michael Kors Holdings has divisions of runway collection, women and men’s sportswear collection and accessories. His business has been around for sixteen years now. Unlike other American brands such as Juicy Couture and Betsy Johnson, which shifted hands recently due to poor performance, Michael Kors has remained to be strong. The company’s share price has risen more than 60% in one year, while competitors like Coach have failed to deliver any increase at all. In addition, the last quarter was the first quarter ever in which Michael Kors exceeded the $1 billion mark in revenue. Giving all these, international market remains a key area for its growth.

But what bothers me is that Michael Kors are constantly knocking off others’ designs. He had copied Louis Vuitton and Hermés old versions for his new collection in the past without much alteration. And now he had put up one that almost look exactly like the one of Louis Vuitton. See it yourself.

But clearly his obvious copied designs did not stop Michael Kors’s revenue. In fact, this might be the reason for his growth. Because consumers do not care where is the idea originally from, especially Asian consumers, who do not know western luxury brands well. If they could spend $500 dollars for the almost same designed bag, why would they spend $2000 dollars?