Critical Success Factors in Strategic Brand Management in Luxury Fashion Markets: The Case of Isaia

This chapter examines the critical role of branding in sustaining the competitive advantage of firms in the luxury fashion markets. This can include brand communication, the flagship store, channel relationships, the customization and the event marketing. The chapter sets out an analytical framework that can be used to identify the main critical success factors in the fashion luxury market. Adopting the case study method, we validate this framework by studying a pilot firm, Isaia, which is a traditional Italian firm operating in the fashion luxury industry (clothing for men). Isaia is an interesting case study of the branding strategies of a niche fashion firm in the face of global competition. Through the original framework, we have identified the company's main critical success factors that--in the exploratory stage of our research--support the work purposes. In particular, the main findings from the case study demonstrate that Isaia's competitive advantage is found on customized products (luxury traditions), events (dinner parties, in-store entertainment, etc.) and retail strategy (flagship showrooms in Milan and Moscow).