Street Signs: Luxury Brands, Retailers Cop Streetwear Tactics

LONDON — Playing hard to get has worked for eons in the game of love, and now it’s proving the strategy du jour for brands and retailers hoping to woo a younger, impatient audience that’s chatty, community-minded — and easily bored. Selfridges, Barneys New York, MyTheresa.com, Stylebop.com, Louis Vuitton, Givenchy and countless others have been swiping strategies from sneaker and streetwear brands, using push-pull tactics on customers, nurturing a sense of belonging and creating a halo of rarity around products to fuel desire and sales. Those tactics are not exactly new, as anyone who has witnessed the sleep-deprived — and defiant — customers gathered outside H&M stores ahead of its big designer collaborations, would attest. The thrill of being right there when the Stella McCartney, Jimmy Choo, Versace, Marni — and now Erdem — merchandise drops, and the buzz of buying something rare — and maybe resselling it at a profit — can be hard to resist. Nike, Adidas and Puma have long been pros at pumping out limited-edition footwear collaborations, teasing them on social media and then watching as products evaporate from shelves, only to be resold online at 10 times the price. It’s no mystery, then, that the big brand names have been following

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