Why I won't buy luxury bags in 2024
Why won't I be buying luxury goods or bags in 2024? First of all, you do not need to know my opinion because this is based on my personal lifestyle and may have nothing to do with your life. In addition, I encourage you to explore and examine your needs without being influenced by others. However, if you are interested in observing at a psychological level what's going on in other people's mind, you may find something echoing your beliefs or reassuring your doubts and concerns.
Generally, I am not a typical luxury brand customer. I started collecting bags about two and a half years ago, and soon afterward, I purchased my first Louis Vuitton ONTHEGO GM. I loved the bag but did not enjoy the experience of purchasing it. That setback gave me a pause when I considered buying a luxury handbag. I continued to collect and hoard excellent quality contemporary bags and handmade full-grain leather bags from some US craft makers. At some point, I made a move from Austin to Pennsylvania. If you compare Austin's metropolitan lifestyle to countryside life in Pennsylvania, you would find the change is drastic, affecting my buying habits. Before you click away thinking country life has nothing to do with you, I would encourage you to read further because it is about changes in life, the unpredictability, and how those experiences, thoughts, and elements may apply to others' conditions.
When discussing the decline of luxury goods, mentioning the shift in consumer values in 2024 is unavoidable. The Pandemic and lockdown had prompted us to lean in on buying luxury goods because that uncertainty in life expectancy made us want to splurge with our life-savings. We wanted to feel good and didn't care about the price. Coming out of the Pandemic, we are like Cinderella taking off the glass heels. We are back to work, and many have returned to the 9-5 office life. Before we knew it, we were dealing with regular bills and expenses that we didn't need to entertain when we were stuck at home worrying about being alive. Without the imminent threat of the Pandemic, we are somewhat realistic again and hopeful about life and the future. We want to travel, and we want to buy a house and maybe have a baby. With various needs moving into our list, purchasing luxury goods can feel a little meaningless. Of course, if you are a billionaire, you could care less about what I mentioned. The top 1 percent don't worry about whether they should buy luxury goods; they are fighting for something bigger, like power, influence, and control. Luxury brands depend on the rest of us; even Chanel and LV have mentioned how they appreciate the "aspiring" consumers.
Since the government announced we were done with the Pandemic, life has been chaotic for me, and I am so busy that I haven't switched out the 2023 calendar on my desk. Ideally, I don't want to worry about anything beyond my backyard. Still, with occasional news sipping through my TV, I can't avoid noticing global events and crises that have been happening. Even though I don't follow the news closely, I have heard about Japan starting to release radioactive wastewater into the ocean and how the Ukrainian war has affected the world economy. Even within the US, we are dealing with political uncertainty. I love older people, but I don't even trust my mom to manage my life, and I have to depend on politicians who are over 80 years old; maybe I am the one who has dementia. In addition, endless trade disputes and the tension among egotistical world leaders is rather depressing. Your financial adviser may tell you otherwise, but we deal with high-interest rates and market volatility. Nobody who had dealt with the financial crisis would say they saw that coming. They wouldn't have sunk into that if they were more prepared and were not so naive. I do think most adults are getting smarter with their investments and expenses. Unfortunately, that leads to a decline in sales for luxury brands.
Saying all that, you would understand I have concerns. Having all the bags sitting on the shelves in my office, I still delusionally claim to be practical, and I can explain that. Moving to a whole new, different place caused significant emotional distress. I may be laughing on my YouTube channel, but in reality, I have severe depression and am trying a million ways to remedy that. Buying bags is one of my "passions" that I escape to rather than using drugs and doing harmful things to myself. Not that I need to explain; it is therapeutic for me. Also, I am careful with what I buy; I evaluate and know the loss I have to handle when I resell my bags someday. Moreover, I can create plenty of YouTube videos from the bags I own, sharing my shopping experience with my friends and subscribers.
Being a practical person, I am generally slowing down in buying bags in 2024, on top of not considering luxury bags. Whoever has seen my collection would agree I don't need more bags. I have bags that can last me a lifetime. Unless I see a great deal on a bag I like or a new style that I don't own, which is unlikely, I am not typing in my credit card information. Luxury brands have the genius idea of creating exclusivity and limited editions to entice us and create the FOMO impulse buy. But things get old after being tricked numerous times. We have realized how brands send free bags to social media influencers and celebrities to promote their products and to draw us in. Often, we don't see them using those items when they are caught in paparazzi pictures. Remember those tiny bags we bought? And now, fashion brands are pushing in the opposite direction and telling us to purchase oversized bags because they know we don't have many oversized bags after following the tiny bag trend. To the least, storing away our tiny bags doesn't take up much space. If those low-quality polyurethane materials don't break down in 20 years, I am sure the trend will return. When it is popular again, I will probably be old enough to use it to store my hearing aid.
Have you noticed that when a salesperson tries to justify the value of a product, you will start to hear the stories and the brand's heritage? The real story I need to hear is that the quality has declined, and why don't they mention the juicy story on their recent year's crazy price increases? Don't let the stories fool you. Yes, you hear stories about those billionaires, but it doesn't mean their lives have anything to do with you. The last thing that will get you closer to those billionaires is buying that overpriced item. I tell myself I matter, and my story is more essential than those I may never encounter. The goal I set for myself in 2024 is to create more and buy less; with that, maybe I am one step closer to becoming a real practical person. Are you thinking I would say one step closer to becoming a billionaire? Who am I kidding? I may need to buy a lottery ticket, but that would be another story, right?
