《经济学人》双语：奢侈品行业受全球经济寒冬影响吗？

原文标题：

The luxury business
Keeping their shine
Some bauble merchants are more recession-proof than others
奢侈品行业
保持光芒
一些奢侈品牌商比其他公司更具有抗经济衰退的能力

Champagne lifestyle
Not all high-end brands will lose their shine
香槟式生活
不非所有的高端品牌都会失去光芒

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HERMÈS IS A byword for exclusivity.

爱马仕是独一无二的代名词。

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.

爱马仕经典柏金包去年售价45万美元，你不法从公司官网上购买，也无法直接进店购买。

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.

既没有在时尚杂志上打广告，也没有社交媒体上大肆宣传。对于普通人来说，可能需要等上几年才能买到柏金包。

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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应受到限制，爱马仕以其精湛的手工缝制技艺来管理供应。但另一部分原因是人们对各种奢侈品的需求激增。

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

去年，拥有Gucci和Balenciaga等时尚品牌的开云集团的净利润增长了14%。

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

拥有蒂芙尼和路易威登等品牌的LVMH集团，其净利润增长了近1/4。

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

爱马仕和历峰集团（拥有卡地亚和其他品牌），它们的净利润都增长了1/3以上。

Together, the four groups raked in over €33bn ($35bn) in profits, on combined revenues of around $130bn.
这4个集团的净利润总额达330亿欧元（350亿美元）以上，营收总额约为1300亿美元。

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

不过，那是全球经济衰退前的业绩。由于持续的通货膨胀和应对通货膨胀的利率上升加剧了对全球经济衰退的担忧。

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

如今，随着这些担忧的加剧，奢侈品牌也渐失光芒，至少在投资者眼中是如此。

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.

奢侈品牌老板们在5月22日的行业会议上发表的焦虑言论引发了股票抛售，4大奢侈品集团的总市值蒸发了7% ，即650亿美元。

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

当投资者不再惊慌失措，他们在评估奢侈品股票的前景时，可能会更加关注2个方面。

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

第一关注的是品牌在奢侈品行业中的定位。

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.

以富人为目标受众的中端市场品牌，如马球标志服装制造商拉尔夫.劳伦，对经济衰退的敏感度高于服务巨富人群的高端品牌。这在去年已经很明显了。

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.

据金融机构伯恩斯坦称，在疫情前，购买1000欧元奢侈品的顾客，他们在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，真富人的消费额是他们的两倍多。如今，仅5%的买家就消费了全球40%的奢侈品。

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

第二关注的是中国市场，因为中国是世界上最大的奢侈品消费市场之一。

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销售额会大幅反弹，但中国购物者的克制态度令他们失望。

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

雅诗兰黛等高价化妆品销售商，已经降低他们对该地区的预期。

Burberry, a British maker of beige coats, generated less than a third of sales from Chinese shoppers, down from 40% before the pandemic.
英国米色风衣制造商巴宝莉在中国的销售额占比不到1/3，低于疫情前的40%。

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Luxury houses are already searching for new engines of growth.

奢侈品公司已经在寻找新增长市场。

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.

其中包括印度市场（虽然大多数人都很穷，但超级富豪的队伍在不断壮大）和撒哈拉以南的非洲市场。去年香奈儿成为第一个在塞内加尔首都达喀尔举办非洲时装秀的欧洲奢侈品牌。

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

但是，这些市场要达到中国的市场规模可能需要几年时间，有可能根本无法达到。

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

在此期间，投资者对待奢侈品股票的态度，可能会像对待他们的豪华衣柜一样挑剔。

（恭喜读完，本篇英语词汇量564左右）
原文出自：2023年6月3日《The Economist》Business版块
精读笔记来源于：自由英语之路

本文翻译整理: Irene本文编辑校对: Irene
仅供个人英语学习交流使用。

【补充资料】（来自于网络）
爱马仕（Hermès）是一家法国奢侈品牌，创立于1837年，以手工制作的高级皮革制品和奢华的配饰闻名于世。它最著名的产品系列之一是柏金包Birkin bag。这是爱马仕推出的一款经典手袋，因为英国女演员Jane Birkin在一次和公司创始人Jean-Louis Dumas的飞行旅行中提到了自己希望拥有一个容易使用的手袋而得名。这款手袋采用高品质的皮革和精湛的手工制作，每个细节都经过精心设计和制作。爱马仕对Birkin bag的生产严格限制，每年生产数量有限，因此很难获得，而且价格也非常昂贵。

开云集团Kering是一家法国奢侈品集团，旗下拥有多个知名品牌，包括Gucci、Balenciaga、Saint Laurent、Bottega Veneta等。集团成立于1963年，总部位于巴黎，并在全球多个地区设有分支机构。Gucci是Kering旗下的一个意大利奢侈品牌，成立于1921年。Gucci以其标志性的双G logo以及高质量的皮革制品而著名。

历峰集团Richemont是一家瑞士奢侈品集团，成立于1988年，总部位于瑞士日内瓦。集团旗下拥有多个知名品牌，包括Cartier、Van Cleef & Arpels、Montblanc、IWC等。卡地亚Cartier是历峰集团旗下的一个法国奢侈品牌，成立于1847年，总部位于法国巴黎。卡地亚以其优雅、奢华和时尚的设计而著名，其产品线涵盖珠宝、手表、皮具、香水等多个领域。

【重点句子】（3个）
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应受到限制，爱马仕以其精湛的手工缝制技艺来管理供应。但另一部分原因是人们对各种奢侈品的需求激增。

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，真富人的消费额是他们的两倍多。如今，仅5%的买家就消费了全球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，这些市场要达到中国的市场规模可能需要几年时间，有可能根本无法达到。