原文標(biāo)題：

The luxury business
Keeping their shine
Some bauble merchants are more recession-proof than others
奢侈品行業(yè)
保持光芒
一些奢侈品牌商比其他公司更具有抗經(jīng)濟(jì)衰退的能力

Champagne lifestyle
Not all high-end brands will lose their shine
香檳式生活
不非所有的高端品牌都會失去光芒

[Paragraph 1]

HERMèS IS A byword for exclusivity.

愛馬仕是獨(dú)一無二的代名詞。

Its signature Birkin bag, one of which sold for $450,000 last year, cannot be bought from the luxury firm’s website or by simply walking into a store.

愛馬仕經(jīng)典柏金包去年售價(jià)45萬美元，你不法從公司官網(wǎng)上購買，也無法直接進(jìn)店購買。

There are neither ads in fashion magazines nor glossy campaigns on Instagram. For the not-so-famous, owning a Birkin can involve a years-long waiting list.

既沒有在時(shí)尚雜志上打廣告，也沒有社交媒體上大肆宣傳。對于普通人來說，可能需要等上幾年才能買到柏金包。

[Paragraph 2]

Part of the reason for the wait is constrained supply, which Hermès manages with the precision worthy of its stitching.But another part is booming demand for all manner of luxury goodies.

造成等待的部分原因是供應(yīng)受到限制，愛馬仕以其精湛的手工縫制技藝來管理供應(yīng)。但另一部分原因是人們對各種奢侈品的需求激增。

Last year net profits of Kering, which owns fashion labels such as Gucci and Balenciaga, rose by 14%.

去年，擁有Gucci和Balenciaga等時(shí)尚品牌的開云集團(tuán)的凈利潤增長了14%。

Those at LVMH, owner of Tiffany and Louis Vuitton, among other brands, grew by nearly a quarter.

擁有蒂芙尼和路易威登等品牌的LVMH集團(tuán)，其凈利潤增長了近1/4。

Hermès and Richemont, which owns Cartier, among other baubles, each saw theirs surge by more than a third.

愛馬仕和歷峰集團(tuán)（擁有卡地亞和其他品牌），它們的凈利潤都增長了1/3以上。

Together, the four groups raked in over €33bn ($35bn) in profits, on combined revenues of around $130bn.
這4個(gè)集團(tuán)的凈利潤總額達(dá)330億歐元（350億美元）以上，營收總額約為1300億美元。

[Paragraph 3]

That, though, was before persistent inflation and rising interest rates to combat it fanned fears of a global recession.

不過，那是全球經(jīng)濟(jì)衰退前的業(yè)績。由于持續(xù)的通貨膨脹和應(yīng)對通貨膨脹的利率上升加劇了對全球經(jīng)濟(jì)衰退的擔(dān)憂。

Now, as those fears intensify, luxury brands are losing their shine, at least in the eyes of investors.

如今，隨著這些擔(dān)憂的加劇，奢侈品牌也漸失光芒，至少在投資者眼中是如此。

Luxury bosses’ unease expressed at an industry pow-wow on May 22nd provoked a sell-off that wiped $65bn, or 7%, from the four luxury groups’ collective market value.

奢侈品牌老板們在5月22日的行業(yè)會議上發(fā)表的焦慮言論引發(fā)了股票拋售，4大奢侈品集團(tuán)的總市值蒸發(fā)了7% ，即650億美元。

Once shareholders stop quaking in their Louboutins, they may pay closer attention to two things in order to assess their luxury stocks’ prospects.

當(dāng)投資者不再驚慌失措，他們在評估奢侈品股票的前景時(shí)，可能會更加關(guān)注2個(gè)方面。

[Paragraph 4]

The first is a brand’s positioning within the luxury business.

第一關(guān)注的是品牌在奢侈品行業(yè)中的定位。

Mid-market houses that target the merely affluent, such as Ralph Lauren, a maker of polo-themed apparel, are more sensitive to economic headwinds than top-end brands catering to the obscenely wealthy.This was already evident last year.

以富人為目標(biāo)受眾的中端市場品牌，如馬球標(biāo)志服裝制造商拉爾夫.勞倫，對經(jīng)濟(jì)衰退的敏感度高于服務(wù)巨富人群的高端品牌。這在去年已經(jīng)很明顯了。

Shoppers who had shelled out up to €1,000 on designer goods before the pandemic cut their average spending in half in 2022, according to Bernstein, a broker.

據(jù)金融機(jī)構(gòu)伯恩斯坦稱，在疫情前，購買1000歐元奢侈品的顧客，他們在2022年的平均支出降低了一半。

By contrast, the truly loaded more than doubled theirs. These days just 5% of buyers account for two-fifths of global luxury sales.
相比之下，真富人的消費(fèi)額是他們的兩倍多。如今，僅5%的買家就消費(fèi)了全球40%的奢侈品。

[Paragraph 5]

Exposure to China, one of the world’s biggest luxury markets, is another factor.

第二關(guān)注的是中國市場，因?yàn)橹袊鞘澜缟献畲蟮纳莩奁废M(fèi)市場之一。

Luxury merchants counting on a sharp rebound from years of covid to raise sales have been disappointed by Chinese shoppers’ unobliging restraint.

奢侈品商家期望疫情后銷售額會大幅反彈，但中國購物者的克制態(tài)度令他們失望。

Brands including Estée Lauder, a pedlar of pricey cosmetics, have slashed their outlook for the region.

雅詩蘭黛等高價(jià)化妝品銷售商，已經(jīng)降低他們對該地區(qū)的預(yù)期。

Burberry, a British maker of beige coats, generated less than a third of sales from Chinese shoppers, down from 40% before the pandemic.
英國米色風(fēng)衣制造商巴寶莉在中國的銷售額占比不到1/3，低于疫情前的40%。

[Paragraph 6]

Luxury houses are already searching for new engines of growth.

奢侈品公司已經(jīng)在尋找新增長市場。

These include India, which though mostly poor has growing ranks of the super-rich, and sub-Saharan Africa, where last year Chanel became the first European luxury brand to stage an African fashion show, in Dakar, the capital of Senegal.

其中包括印度市場（雖然大多數(shù)人都很窮，但超級富豪的隊(duì)伍在不斷壯大）和撒哈拉以南的非洲市場。去年香奈兒成為第一個(gè)在塞內(nèi)加爾首都達(dá)喀爾舉辦非洲時(shí)裝秀的歐洲奢侈品牌。

But these markets will take years to reach China’s scale, if they manage to do so at all.

但是，這些市場要達(dá)到中國的市場規(guī)模可能需要幾年時(shí)間，有可能根本無法達(dá)到。

In the meantime, investors are likely to become as discerning about their luxury stocks as they are about their posh wardrobes.

在此期間，投資者對待奢侈品股票的態(tài)度，可能會像對待他們的豪華衣柜一樣挑剔。

（恭喜讀完，本篇英語詞匯量564左右）
原文出自：2023年6月3日《The Economist》Business版塊
精讀筆記來源于：自由英語之路

本文翻譯整理: Irene本文編輯校對: Irene
僅供個(gè)人英語學(xué)習(xí)交流使用。

【補(bǔ)充資料】（來自于網(wǎng)絡(luò)）
愛馬仕（Hermès）是一家法國奢侈品牌，創(chuàng)立于1837年，以手工制作的高級皮革制品和奢華的配飾聞名于世。它最著名的產(chǎn)品系列之一是柏金包Birkin bag。這是愛馬仕推出的一款經(jīng)典手袋，因?yàn)橛輪TJane Birkin在一次和公司創(chuàng)始人Jean-Louis Dumas的飛行旅行中提到了自己希望擁有一個(gè)容易使用的手袋而得名。這款手袋采用高品質(zhì)的皮革和精湛的手工制作，每個(gè)細(xì)節(jié)都經(jīng)過精心設(shè)計(jì)和制作。愛馬仕對Birkin bag的生產(chǎn)嚴(yán)格限制，每年生產(chǎn)數(shù)量有限，因此很難獲得，而且價(jià)格也非常昂貴。

開云集團(tuán)Kering是一家法國奢侈品集團(tuán)，旗下?lián)碛卸鄠€(gè)知名品牌，包括Gucci、Balenciaga、Saint Laurent、Bottega Veneta等。集團(tuán)成立于1963年，總部位于巴黎，并在全球多個(gè)地區(qū)設(shè)有分支機(jī)構(gòu)。Gucci是Kering旗下的一個(gè)意大利奢侈品牌，成立于1921年。Gucci以其標(biāo)志性的雙G logo以及高質(zhì)量的皮革制品而著名。

歷峰集團(tuán)Richemont是一家瑞士奢侈品集團(tuán)，成立于1988年，總部位于瑞士日內(nèi)瓦。集團(tuán)旗下?lián)碛卸鄠€(gè)知名品牌，包括Cartier、Van Cleef & Arpels、Montblanc、IWC等。卡地亞Cartier是歷峰集團(tuán)旗下的一個(gè)法國奢侈品牌，成立于1847年，總部位于法國巴黎?？ǖ貋喴云鋬?yōu)雅、奢華和時(shí)尚的設(shè)計(jì)而著名，其產(chǎn)品線涵蓋珠寶、手表、皮具、香水等多個(gè)領(lǐng)域。

【重點(diǎn)句子】（3個(gè)）
Part of the reason for the wait is constrained supply, which Hermès manages with the precision worthy of its stitching.But another part is booming demand for all manner of luxury goodies.
造成等待的部分原因是供應(yīng)受到限制，愛馬仕以其精湛的手工縫制技藝來管理供應(yīng)。但另一部分原因是人們對各種奢侈品的需求激增。

By contrast, the truly loaded more than doubled theirs. These days just 5% of buyers account for two-fifths of global luxury sales.
相比之下，真富人的消費(fèi)額是他們的兩倍多。如今，僅5%的買家就消費(fèi)了全球40%的奢侈品。

But these markets will take years to reach China’s scale, if they manage to do so at all.
但是，這些市場要達(dá)到中國的市場規(guī)?？赡苄枰獛啄陼r(shí)間，有可能根本無法達(dá)到。