When you hear the word “luxury,” you may think of diamonds, marble floors and expert tailoring. While these are all features, a club in Boston University’s Questrom School of Business wants its members to dive into the business beyond the glamour.
The Retail, Luxury and Consumer Association, founded last fall, seeks to connect students with the world of luxury through talks with professionals from luxury industries, an alumni mentorship program and a consulting program partnered with prominent luxury brands.
Min Choi, founder and president of RLC and a Questrom senior, said her vision for the club was to “bridge the gap” between students and the luxury industry.
“Students have the perception that the luxury industry is very hard to break into,” she said. “[RLC exists] really to provide a lot of opportunities for students to get hands-on experience.”
This semester, RLC partnered with LVMH — one of the biggest luxury conglomerates in the world, owning brands such as Christian Dior, Louis Vuitton, Givenchy and Loewe — for its consulting program.
RLC members are currently working with two of LVMH’s 75 maisons, or luxury brands — RIMOWA, a luxury suitcase brand, and Acqua di Parma, a fragrance, hygiene and home goods brand.
For this semester’s consulting program, 42 seniors and juniors were divided into teams, each with the goal of marketing pitches for promotional pop-ups associated with RLC’s brand partners, which they will present to Questrom professors at the end of the semester. The professors will then select the team with the best pitch, and present it to marketing teams from the two brands.
Questrom juniors Tiffany Nguyen and Xenia Politis, vice presidents of curriculum for RLC, lead weekly meetings for members of the consulting program to learn about business principles and how to apply them to their pitches.
Choi said she wants students to know that the luxury and fashion industries welcome everyone, not just those interested in the marketing and public relations side of it.
“This industry is so diverse, and there’s a function and a department for everyone, from engineering to sourcing to data,” she said. “It’s a huge industry, and people should really take all the different opportunities that [are] offered.”
Within RLC, Choi said there are students across all the schools and colleges at BU, including Questrom, the College of Communication and the School of Hospitality Administration. There are also students in the program studying engineering, computer science and other STEM fields.
For students in Questrom, RLC helps broaden the scope of business beyond its conventional paths, Choi said.
“When I came into Questrom in my freshman year, I felt really pressured that I had to pursue the traditional path of finance and consulting,” Choi said. “I really wanted to show that I don’t have to follow that path, and I can choose an industry that I am passionate about.”
Amid wider economic trouble, the luxury market is currently experiencing its first “luxury slowdown” in 15 years, with an estimated market shrinkage of 2% to 5%, according to Women’s Wear Daily.
Nonetheless, RLC’s leadership is still confident about the industry’s future.
“[In] this industry, people who buy luxury will always buy luxury, so I think the consumers will always stay,” Choi said.
While talking with her RLC mentor about the history and future of luxury, Nguyen said she realized the industry is not going anywhere.
“Luxury is a state of mind. It’s how you carry yourself, how you dress and I think generally, people want to be perceived as pretty put together,” Nguyen said. “So I think luxury is gonna always be around.”
