Brand Loyalty: Yay or Nay?

Loyalty is typically a trait associated with positive acts and feelings. You would use it to describe your best friend, whether person or dog. So "brand loyalty" seems like it would also be something positive - a mutually beneficial relationship between brand and customer. But where is the line between "brand loyal" customer and "slave to the brand"?

Brand loyalty should mean a genuine appreciation for a brand, whether it be the craftsmanship, design talent, overall value, philanthropic endeavors, or other qualities that generate a positive feeling among loyal customers. In theory, we should all want to be loyal to our favorite designers or those who subscribe to parallel ideals.

But brands, particularly luxury brands, have meaning that reach far beyond our personal tastes and preferences. A Louis Vuitton logo bag and black Christian Louboutin pumps are symbols of status rather than manifestations of loyalty. Rather than convey our priorities or values, many brands express our economic stature.

Personally, I would love to splurge on a pair of Christian Louboutin pumps. But not the nauseatingly basic status heels that are only differentiated by their red soles: I would get a work of art. True brand loyalty is to appreciate the work the designer is capable of, not to show off how much money you spent by perpetually conterfeited products.

 

So during the summer in Italy, I opted for the once-in-a-lifetime Dolce & Gabbana booties over the constantly-reinvented Prada and Miu Miu options. Because although I have an immense appreciation for the design aesthetic of the latter, they weren't worth it. I didn't just want to have expensive shoes: I wanted shoes that were worth the big bucks I paid, ones that I wouldn't find anything comparable to at a lower price point or in a future season.

If you allow any brand to enslave you, luxury or otherwise, you lose a very important part of your style: your individuality. Brands like to provide an identity for the consumers to slip into and a "fashion victim" will easily fit this mold. But just because Miuccia Prada and Karl Lagerfeld are genius designers doesn't mean that we have to love everything they send down the runway (although we might). So although I'd encourage brand loyalty (I own a shirt with Karl Lagerfeld's face on it from his Impulse collections at Macy's and I'm not ashamed), I think it's important to really consider why you're being loyal.

Why I Love New York... By A New Yorker

          

       

    Today was one of those amazing days: I remembered why I live here in New York City. It’s easy to forget, in the hustle and bustle of city life, about everything that makes New York inspiring. But I’d recommend that, if and when you have a (planned or unexpected) window in your schedule and the weather’s tolerable, you get out of your apartment – or dorm room, in my case – and simply be a New Yorker.      

   Sometimes New York City life can simply feel like a hassle. Due to construction on the only subway line within 10 blocks, I have to walk an inconvenient distance in order to get downtown. (Just to note: nearly everywhere worth going is downtown from my residence on 97^th street.) But I have to admit that, walking to work on Saturday morning, I realized that weekend mornings are perhaps the best time to be in New York. The commuters aren’t here, the tourists are still asleep, and the tri-state day-trippers have yet to arrive. Those few of us who work in weekend-inclusive fields such as retail get to enjoy the quiet atmosphere, which is so pleasantly unexpected in the city that allegedly never sleeps.

     It’s extremely hard to work in retail and bring any money home to put towards food, rent, or other practical expenses. You spend all day picking out things you want. If you like the merchandise sold in the store you work in, you probably drop most of your paycheck right back into the company’s funds. Luckily for my wallet, I am currently working as a sales associate at a sample sale retailer. Sample sales are the hidden gems of the New York retail scene: on the last day, prices can drop to 10% of retail. I scored $1,300 worth of DKNY apparel for just $130! 

            Since I was out of work two hours earlier than expected and it was starting to feel like spring outside, I decided to forgo my usual routine and head to Union Square for my groceries. I figured I’d pay a visit to the Farmers’ Market before heading to Whole Foods – and it was certainly worth the trip. I passed right by Grace Coddington, the fashion director of American Vogue! She is most definitely my idol – in no small part, surely, due to my in-group bias towards gingers. Although I mostly respect Coddington for her work and her looks are not exactly to be envied, there’s just something about the way that nobody who’s ever seen her could possibly miss her presence. There’s simply nobody else that you could mistake for her.

 Some things can simply only happen in New York. You can find luxury goods at impossible-to-resist prices (including shoes I saw at the unrivaled DSW there, but I had more willpower than money!) and shop for groceries with your personal idols. No, I don’t like carrying groceries on the subway, but most of my food is too perishable for delivery to be a viable option. I’m extremely stubborn when it comes to paying for cabs, but extremely generous when it comes to handing over that gold card at Starbucks. New York can be extremely annoying, but tries to make itself as convenient as possible for its ubiquitously impatient inhabitants. And sometimes, when you’re not in a rush, you can learn to appreciate that. 

            I don’t know if I’ll live in New York forever. But I’d rather love New York forever. I may have to live somewhere else – another town, another country – in order to come back and truly appreciate it. I don’t want to live here until it drives me crazy or makes me “hard”. But I could also imagine myself never leaving – after all, I’ve wanted to live here since I can remember my first few independent thoughts (not that I ever had any other type of thoughts). Either way, I’ll always be a New Yorker at heart. After all, I may have been made and raised in Connecticut, but I was made and raised by New Yorkers. And the city, at the end of the day, feels like home.