Balenciaga

Premium fashion in the 20th century

The Balenciaga brand was founded in 1937 by Cristóbal Balenciaga in the French capital Paris. In the period from the 1940s to the 1960s, the brand was the epitome of upscale French fashion and repeatedly set very groundbreaking trends in the fashion world during this time. However, this changed with the death of founder Cristóbal Balenciaga in 1972. From this point on, the company changed hands several times and began to increasingly say goodbye to the fashion world. Instead, Balenciaga increasingly focused on the perfume sector.

The renewed ascent after the new beginning

It wasn't until the end of the 20th century that the company changed its strategy again. From 1997 onwards, various new designers were hired at Balenciaga, who initiated the fashionable reboot of the brand.

Initially the main focus was only on fashion for women, but from 2002 Balenciaga also began producing men's fashion and luxury accessories. Through this change in strategy, Balenciaga managed to climb back into the top league of the fashion world, so that the brand now stands for luxury fashion like few others.

Balenciaga's extraordinary strategy

A big factor in Balenciaga's impressive rise since the late 1990s is the company's extraordinary strategy. For a while, unlike usual in the fashion world, Balenciaga held not four, but “only” two fashion shows a year.

This move resulted in Balenciaga's fashion hanging in its stores for a longer period of time than the competition's collections. This forced the respective retailers to sell Balenciaga fashion more actively in order to be able to sell the products on offer over a longer period of time. In doing so, they took some of the marketing away from the brand itself. This step also reduced the likelihood that Balenciaga's products would be sold at reduced prices in a sale, as they were part of the current collection for much longer. This means that the overall profit margin for the products increased significantly.

Balenciaga buy at Buddy&Selly

Balenciaga also repeatedly relies on controversial designs. For example, the brand made a shirt that resembled the work clothes of a DHL delivery man or designed a bag that could pass as a copy of the blue shopping bags from the furniture store Ikea - with the difference that the bag from Balenciaga not only costs 50 cents, but cost 2,000 euros. Since these designs attracted a lot of attention and were reported on by internet portals and magazines around the world, the brand received a huge amount of advertising and attention without having to pay for it.

If you also want to take part in this unconventional lifestyle of the cult brand, take a look at our designer second hand selection at Buddy&Selly and choose one of the cool Balenciaga looks.